About Hydrosols vs. Floral Waters
Important Note About Hydrosols vs. Floral Waters:
Marketing confusion has been ingrained into the general public’s minds to the point that people now assimilate any fragrant water with a Hydrosol.
1.The term Hydrosol refers exclusively to the product obtained when steam-distilling aromatic plant material. Leaves, stems, roots, or flowers. At the end of the distillation process, 2 products are obtained: One is the highly concentrated Essential oil of the plant, the other is the hydrosol, which is in fact the condensed steam turned into an aromatically charged liquid, the distillate or hydrosol.
2.Although some hydrosols may come from the distillation of flowers, not all Hydrosols are “floral” distillate.
- The terms Floral waters, infused waters or Fragrant waters often indicate a blended product, created by combining distilled, spring or tap water with essential oils and a solvent or a dispersant (alcohol, glycerine). Water with added fragrances, even natural and organic, must not be mistaken with hydrosols. “Waters” aromatised or scented are used to make face & hair mists, body splashes, linen sprays, and other water-based fragrant products.
A lot of floral water found on the market are made by mixing synthetic fragrances with water.
Check your product labels.
A pure, natural Hydrosol (and its label) should contain just the name of the plant (Common and Latin name), the plant part it is extracted from along with its unique method of obtention, that is steam-distillation.
A good natural aromatized water will read: water(Aqua), essential oil(s) with the plant name(s) and, since water and oil don’t mix, the name of the agent used to bind the two or to dissolve the essential oil ( it could be Ethanol/alcohol or Vegetable glycerine).