Rosemary

A natural history

Rosemary clings to the dry, rocky coasts of the Mediterranean, where sea spray beads on its needle leaves; its very name comes from the Latin for dew of the sea. The Greeks and Romans tied the herb to memory and clear thinking, and students are said to have woven sprigs of it into garlands worn during examinations to sharpen their recall. Physicians from Dioscorides onward called it warming and used it steeped in oil.

The herb has carried the meaning of remembrance for two thousand years. Shakespeare handed the line to a grieving Ophelia, rosemary, that's for remembrance, and sprigs were laid at weddings and funerals alike. By the fourteenth century rosemary was the heart of Hungary water, one of Europe's first alcohol based perfumes, named for the queen who was said to swear by it for the look of her skin.

What it does for your skin

Rosemary is dense with antioxidant compounds such as carnosic and rosmarinic acid. In a six month randomized trial, rosemary oil massaged into the scalp raised hair count about as much as a common reference treatment, with less scalp itch along the way.^[1] In laboratory and animal testing, a rosemary extract gel reduced markers of ultraviolet induced oxidative stress in skin, supporting its role as an antioxidant that helps defend a healthy look.^[2] In a formula it brings a clarifying, invigorating character to both skin and scalp.

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