I use hydrosols often in my practice for all age groups of patients. I get many questions about what they are and how they can be used. I’m adding a couple of before and after photos in this blog thus if you are squeamish you might want to just read on and skip those. However the effects they had on these two patients was quite phenomenal.

Hydrosols are often called hydrolats or floral waters though actually other parts of the different plants make the oils and then the hydrosols not just the floral parts. When the plant material is made into essential oils the process of distillation reveals the oil that will come out of one tube and out of another tube will come the distillate water or the hydrosol. It is the therapeutic water of the plant that contains properties of the essential oil yet more subtle but can still be quite potent. It is considered a micro-dose of the therapeutics of the plant and is a wonderful remedy to have on hand.

It should be stated that hydrosols contain all of the plant in every drop, it’s not just the run off or a waste byproduct. Most of the time, the hydrosols are clear and look just like water, German chamomile is one exception that comes to mind as it is sometimes a faint light yellow color.
I like to use hydrosols as facial toners, throat sprays for sore throats, remedies for insomnia, PMS, skin issues and digestive disorders, calming room sprays, air cleansing and more. It is wonderful to travel with a small spray vial of lemon thyme just in case of a sore throat.

Rose hydrosol can be spritzed into water for a lovely cooling drink for those pesky hot flashes and or to add some Yin to your nutrition.

This first picture you are going to see is a little one with some angry hot eczema, we had just done an acupuncture treatment and I used some hydrosols of calendula, German chamomile and lavender and the next picture you see if one day later.

After treatment:

This next picture is of a young woman with a severe, excoriated rash under her arms in the axilla. The patient also had a very weakened immune system and could not tolerate most natural or general medicines. For this case I used only one hydrosol and that was Helichyrsum italicum and tried it on one part and let her continue to use only if it seemed to help.
As you can see from the second picture it helped immensely.