By Dot and Lil on 2009-01-01

Floral waters (also called hydrosols or flower distillate water) are great because they are so incredibly versatile. For centuries they have been used on the skin to refresh, tone, hydrate and scent. They are commonly used as linen spray, subtle room spray or perfume, toner, astringent, or as an additive to bath water. It is truly luxurious to soak in a bath that has floral water added to the water, or slip into sheets that you have sprayed with it. My favourite use for them is as a skin toner. After washing my face every night I spray some rose water onto a cotton ball and swipe it over my face and neck. I know that it does great things for my skin, but more important to me is that it feels great! We carry floral waters in both rose and lavender, but floral waters can actually be made from any distillable plant matter.

Generally, floral waters are a by-product of the essential oil distillation process. So what exactly is an essential oil? It's a liquid obtained by distilling plant matter (in some cases it is expressed with a solvent) such as leaves, stems, roots or flowers. These are put into a still over water, and the still is then placed over heat. As the water heats up, steam passes through the plant material and breaks down it's cells. The resulting liquid then flows through a coil to a chamber where the oils (essential oils) are separated from the water (floral water). Some producers will distill plant matter specifically to get the floral water.

While it is possible to buy stove top stills (alembics) for home distillation of floral waters and essential oils, we felt that this was something we were better off leaving to expert producers (at least for now!). We purchase high quality floral waters in bulk from a well regarded producer, and rebottle them to make them appropriately sized for home use.

Our floral waters are 120 ml and are available in rose and lavender. They sell for $7.00 CDN. If you would like to order some, or any other Dot & Lil product, please request our order form at dotandlil@gmail.com.

I will be blogging more about essential oils and what we use them for at Dot & Lil in my next post.......and Happy New Year!