Translated by Nick R
Rosemary is an aromatic and medicinal plant highly desired for its various uses. Besides, it’s pretty hardy to all kinds of weather and can live for many years.
If you want to know all of its properties and how to plant it in your garden or home garden, we invite you to continue reading this blog.
Here we’ll talk about all the medicinal uses of rosemary for the skin, hair, and body. Also, we’ll show you the steps to follow to plant it and take care of it to have it in a pot or directly in the ground with no inconvenience.
Table of Contents
What is rosemary?
It’s a woody evergreen shrub, which means its lifespan is longer than 2 years.
The scientific name of the rosemary plant is Salvia Rosmarinus. Until 2017, it was called Rosmarinus officinalis, but now it’s just a synonym.
It’s native to the Mediterranean and Asia and belongs to the Lamiaceae family, which comprises many other medicinal and culinary herbs such as mint or oregano.
As for its botanical description, its leaves are dark green with a white tone on the underside. They grow abundantly and have a needle-like shape. Its flowers are white, violet, pink or blue. It’s a plant that can grow up to 1m or grow taller in warm climates.
As you may know, rosemary has been widely used as an aromatic herb in cooking. Because of this, it’s not only used in tea preparation but for seasoning meats, flavoring soups, beverages, stews and much more.
Additionally, rosemary has been incorporated into cosmetic preparations to improve skin and hair health.
Methods to extract rosemary’s nutrients
Infusions to extract rosemary benefits
You’ll need just-boiled water, and the quantity will depend on how much you want to prepare. For example, a cup of tea or a tonic to store and use for several days.
Then, add several rosemary leaves to the hot water, but not on the stove, and let it stand for at least 15 minutes. If you intend to consume it orally, you need to strain the infusion, but if you want to make a tonic, you can keep the leaves and branches in the container, its nutrients will continue to be extracted.
The tonic can last for more than 1 week as long as you keep it in the refrigerator. It should maintain its natural smell and color too. To store it you can use glass or plastic containers. What matters is that they are hermetic. We also recommend using a diffuser or atomizer to facilitate application.
Oils to extract rosemary benefits
You can use carrier oils such as coconut oil, olive oil, argan oil, almond oil, or the one of your choice. Or you can purchase essential oils such as lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, and others. However, carrier oils are used to dilute the essential oils as they are stronger and can cause irritation when in contact with the skin.
What you should do is take a hermetic container and introduce several rosemary leaves, and then add the oil or mixed oils; if you want to use several of them. Also, keep the container in a cool place with no direct sunlight.
You can start using the oil as soon as you put the rosemary in it or let it sit for at least 21 days, which is when its properties will have been extracted.
Extraction of rosemary benefits in shampoo, conditioner or creams
All you have to do is take your hair care products, such as shampoo, conditioner, combing creme, and so on, body creams will also work. Now, you simply add rosemary, either by placing its leaves or adding a couple of oil drops.
Medicinal uses of rosemary
Next, we’ll talk about the remarkable properties of rosemary and the benefits you’ll obtain from it. Also, we’ll show you other methods to consume it or use it externally on your body.
Use of rosemary on the skin
The use of toner, oil, or incorporating rosemary in your facial or body lotions will help you to:
- Fight acne: Rosemary’s powerful antioxidant and antibacterial properties will help you treat skin imperfections such as acne and control oil output.
- Relieve redness and irritation: Its anti-inflammatory properties serve to reduce swelling and redness from burns, including sunburn. It provides a cooling effect as well.
- Prevent premature aging: Provides stimulation, oxygenation, and a cooling sensation that invigorates the skin and gives it a radiant glow. Also, it stimulates cell growth to prevent wrinkles or fine lines.
- Repel insects: That’s right, it is thought that mosquitoes hate the smell of rosemary, and that’s why you can prevent bites. Similarly, it repels lice.
Now, to use rosemary on your skin, you can sprinkle the tonic on your face with a diffuser every morning or occasionally whenever you feel like freshening up. You can also wipe your face using a cotton swab dipped in this infusion. Another option is to add a few drops of the oil or the rosemary itself to your face or body cream and use it as usual.
Now we’ll recommend 2 face masks with rosemary:
For the first, you’ll need ¼ cup of rosemary infusion and ¼ cup of aloe vera gel. Then you just need to mix both products and apply the mask evenly to your face. After letting it act for 15 to 30 minutes, rinse with plenty of water. Repeat this 2 to 3 times a week.
This mask is great for all skin types, but especially for dry skin and those who suffer from dryness. Aloe contains vitamins that moisturize and protect your skin. Besides, it reduces blemishes and is able to penetrate all 3 skin layers, so it’s easily absorbed and will nourish your skin.
For the second mask, take ½ cucumber, peel it and blend it with 1 egg white and 2 tablespoons of rosemary oil. Apply the mixture to your face, let it act for 20 minutes, and wash your face thoroughly. Repeat the process 2 to 3 times a week.
If you have problems with oily skin, we strongly suggest this mask. Its purpose is to control and reduce excess oil with the help of the cucumber’s astringent properties. On the other hand, the egg white removes impurities, and therefore, together, they prevent acne.
Use of rosemary on the hair
The use of rosemary in your hair helps to:
- Strengthen and promote its growth. As we mentioned in our blog about plants for hair care, rosemary improves blood circulation to the scalp. In this way, its natural antiseptic properties strengthen hair follicles and enhance hair health, influencing hair growth.
- Rejuvenate the scalp and prevent hair loss. As we said already, rosemary nourishes the hair follicles and generates stronger hair. Therefore, you’ll have a restored and shinier hair.
- Soothe dry scalp. So, it’s also good for preventing and fighting dandruff. This is thanks to its moisturizing and cleansing effect on the scalp, plus it relieves itching and helps with flaking.
Rosemary can be used in the hair through the tonic we showed above. You should apply it on wet or dry hair and don’t rinse it out. You can do it every time you get out of the shower. On the other hand, you can apply the oil directly on the scalp, make a gentle massage and let it act as long as possible before showering.
Finally, you may also put rosemary leaves or oil drops in the hair care products you use to care for your hair. We recommend you to use it in all the products you use for better results.
On the other hand, we recommend a spectacular rosemary hair mask. The products you’ll need are the following:
- Fresh rosemary
- 2 tablespoons rosemary oil
- Aloe gel obtained from half an aloe vera stalk ( don’t forget to extract the “iodine” by leaving the leaf lie vertically in a container with water overnight).
- 6 to 8 tablespoons of your current mask or treatment, or you can also opt for a conditioner.
The first thing to do is to place several rosemary leaves in a blender with about ½ cup of water. After blending very well, use a filter paper or a tissue to strain the liquid so that no residue remains.
You can mix the rest of the products directly into the mask or place 6 to 8 tablespoons in another container, if you prefer. That said, add the rosemary extract, aloe vera oil and aloe vera gel.
Apply this mask to your hair, preferably clean, from roots to ends and leave it on for at least 1 hour. If you want, massage gently and wear a shower cap for comfort. You can repeat this process 2 to 4 times a month.
Use of rosemary in the organism
If you consume rosemary orally, it would be good to:
- Reduce stress: Rosemary is commonly used in aromatherapy as its scent has a positive outcome in reducing anxiety and stress. It also improves sleep quality and improves concentration.
- Support the immune system: This herb is a rich source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, which are considered to help boost the immune system to fight and prevent infections, as well as improve blood circulation.
- Improve digestion: It’s helpful to support the digestive process by reducing abdominal distension, heaviness or fullness sensation, and even lack of appetite. It’s also a good natural diuretic.
To prepare rosemary tea, simply follow the steps we gave you previously. You can sweeten it naturally with honey or accompany it with cinnamon cloves to make it tastier.
You can drink a cup of tea daily. Although it’s ideal that, if you have been consuming rosemary for 3 months, you should take a 1-month break to avoid any of those counterindications that we’ll mention at the end of this post.
How to have a rosemary plant at home?
Well, if you have decided to have your own rosemary plant in your garden or home garden, we’ll show you everything you need to know in order to succeed in the attempt.
Reproduction of rosemary
Rosemary is easily reproduced by cuttings. For it, you must take a stem of about 10-15 centimeters and remove a few leaves from the bottom. We suggest taking 2 or 3 cuttings at a time and placing them in a glass half full of water, preferably enough to touch some of the leaves.
If the water level drops, it’s imperative that you refill the glass. In the same way, it’s also good to renew the water every time you see it a little dirty or weekly. After 15 days, you should see the white roots coming out. Do not worry if any stem didn’t thrive but rather dried out, that’s why placing more than 1 is good.
Clearly, it’s also possible to use seeds; however, this method is not common because it’s much slower and not always successful. If you want to try it, place 2 to 3 seeds in each hole of a small container as a seedbed. These may take 2 to 3 weeks to germinate.
Sowing process of rosemary
If you’re in a warm area, you can plant rosemary at any time. But if temperatures are cooler or winters are too harsh, plant it in spring at least a week after the last frost date.
For planting, you can start with a small pot to place the cutting in and enlarge it as the plant grows, or place it all at once in a large container.
To start, simply fill the pot a little more than halfway with compost and see if the cutting is well-positioned or if you need to add a little more soil to make it havier. If yes, hold the stem with one hand, and with the other, add more soil to the sides, without putting too much pressure, but making sure it is firm.
Finally, give the plant plenty of water to moisten the whole substrate, but without waterlogging it.
Now, if you’re going to plant it in the garden, select a place with good space because rosemary, as a bushy plant, can grow to be very large. Then, what you should do is dig a small hole, place the cutting and gather some soil around it.
You can also buy a larger rosemary plant in a nursery or garden store. If you’re going to transplant it, try to make a hole appropriate to its size. This is rather ideal for planting directly into the soil.
Care of rosemary
Container
The most essential point is to have a pot with draining holes to avoid excess moisture in the soil. But in case it doesn’t have them, you can put stones at the bottom; however, it’ll always be better to use a container with openings at the bottom.
We recommend terracotta pots as they are ideal for their porosity, which allows proper soil aeration and thus, easier water drainage.
Soil
Rosemary does well in sandy soil, which doesn’t retain water well. You can use potting soil but be sure to follow the guidelines for the type of container and frequency of watering.
Potting soil can be purchased at florists, garden stores, or online platforms like Amazon.
Watering
From what we have already told you, you have probably noticed that rosemary doesn’t tolerate soil moisture, as this can cause the roots to rot. Then, water the plant only when the soil has dried out. Keep this in mind, especially if you have rosemary in a pot.
Climate
Locate the plant in a place where it receives 6 to 8 hours of direct or indirect sunlight. Rosemary itself is quite hardy and can withstand extremely cold climates; however, it’s best not to keep it outdoors in temperatures below -1° Celsius.
For that, rosemary is better grown in pots, as this way, you can simply move it indoors during the winter.
Pests
As for pests, this plant is not prone to contracting insects. However, in case it happens, you’d only have to spray rosemary with a homemade insecticide or, our previously recommended neem oil with potassium soap, which also works as a preventive measure.
Harvest of rosemary
Rosemary can be harvested almost any time, but its leaves have a stronger aroma and flavor right before flowering. Also, it’s best to pick the youngest stems for freshness.
Use garden shears to cut the stems but harvest only up to ⅓ of the rosemary so that the plant won’t have any issues and may continue growing. Also, when you prune rosemary like this, you’re encouraging branching.
You can let the stems dry or take them from the plant and use them directly in your preparations. This depends on what you’ll use it for.
Final recommendations
As always, never over-consume any plant; extremely large doses can cause side effects, even if they are rare. These include vomiting, spasms, and even pulmonary edema. Besides, neither pregnant women nor children should consume rosemary.
Additionally, rosemary tea can interfere with diuretic or anticoagulant medications. Therefore, if you have any prescription, consult a doctor before consuming it.
In conclusion, we hope you've enjoyed this blog, but specially that you have learned something new and that you've gotten inspired to have a home rosemary plant. In addition, we trust that you'll try some of the preparations we recommend so you can enjoy all the nutrients that this herb has to offer. - You won't regret it!
