Hydrosols, hydrolates, floral waters,distilled waters and aromatic waters are widely interchanged terms used to refer to the same or completely different ingredients. The number of fake hydrosol in the market is increasing. They use synthetic compounds to achieve the flavour but have no real therapeutic or health benefits compared to the real hydrosols. You deserve the best, you deserve the real experience. So how do you spot a fake hydrosol?

What are authentic hydrosols?

Hydrosol have been used for centuries as home remedies and traditional medicine in some parts of the world. But the western world has been treating hydrosols as unwanted by-product of distillation and discard them (except rose water). Although recently their popularity is increasing together with the rise of natural remedies and organic skin care’s popularity. These ingredients have INCI names like:

• Rosa damascene flower water

All Alambika and Oshadhi hydrosols and hydrolates are created from steam distillation, herbs and flowers are steamed with natural spring water which is re-condensed with the extracted essential oils in a vessel. The essential oils float to the top of the recaptured, and now plant infused spring water and the oils are separated for sale as essential oils. The captured steam contains some of the compound of the oils and additional compounds that are water soluble. Because the steam is sterile and destroys any micro-organisms while traveling through the plant material, hydrolates and hydrosols are sterile and can be used internally and externally. All our products are wild crafted or certified Organic by ECOCERT, The Eu Organic certification organization. Our products contain no added ingredients, artificial fragrances or additives. Just the plant extracts derived form steam distillation. No preservatives or solubilizers or stabilizers.

• Artemisia montana leaf water

• Citrus aurantium amara flower water

An authentic hydrosol is a by-product of the process of steam distillation when essential oils are made. In this process, the herbs and flowers are distilled with spring water. It is heated through streaming that captures all the essential oils with small amount of aromatic compounds that dissolves in water. Once the essential oils separate and float on the surface of the water, the Hydrosols are left behind. Almost nomicroorganism can tolerate the temperature of stream making the ingredient sterile on its own. These waters can be used internally and externally.

Here comes the confusing part.

There are at least three other ingredients sold under the name of ‘hydrosols’, ‘hydrolat’ or ‘floral or herbal waters’that can refer to completely different products and procedures. It is likely that you purchased one of these fake hydrosols instead of the by-product of steam distillation, not unless you ask for the exact and complete INCI name of the ingredients and the manufacturing procedure.

Fake Hydrosol 1: Floral or Herbal Waters with a Solubiliser

A lot of people have mistaken this as anauthentic hydrosol but it is not. The supplier just adds essential oil and solubiliser to water in order to create a fake hydrosol. Essential oil (usually  less than 1%) is mixed with water and kept in solution by application of a solubiliser. Best case scenario the manufacturer uses a naturally produced solubiliser but in most cases they use PEG-based solubilisers such as Polysorbate-20 or PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil as the solubiliser.

We don’t recommend applying this type of fake hydrosol. They have no real therapeutic or health benefits compared to the authentic hydrosols, and often contain synthetic solubilisers which may not mix well with your brand’s essence.

Most suppliers shamelessly sell their fake hydrosols as “authentic hydrosols” without disclosing the added ingredients of these fake hydrosols. You can check if your hydrosol does not contain solubilisers by shaking the bottle. Solubilisers will foam when you shake your solution. An authentic hydrosol will not foam when you shake it.

Fake Hydrosol 2: Infused Floral Water

Infused Floral Water is very similar to the last example, but it does not contain a solubiliser. They are blend of distilled water, 0.1% of an essential oil and usually a preservative system.They are often sold under the name floral or herbal waters. You can tell if you purchased an authentic hydrosols if your supplier disclose the full INCI name as well as the ingredient’s manufacturing procedure.

The INCI name of this fake hydrosol should look like this: Aqua, Essential Oil name + Preservative listing.

Fake Hydrosol 3: Condensed Water

Condensed water contains water condensed from the process of drying herbs, flowers, leaves and fruits, but are still not true hydrosols. These herbal waters are sold as Peppermint water, ginger water,orange water, etc. but doesn’t have the same INCI name as an authentic hydrosol. The water is marketed as organic because the original plant is of organic quality.  

How to spot a Fake Hydrosol

You can’t tell if the hydrosol is fake with just looking and smelling it. These fake hydrosols still contain some of the evaporated ingredients of the plant but with much lesser extent. The only way to spot a fake hydrosol is asking your supplier information about the hydrosol.

We guarantee you that the hydrosols produced by Oshadhi and Alambika are authentic. They are the result of stream extraction of compounds in the plant via passing through the plant material in an ‘Alambik’ and then re-condensed into a catchment vial that separates the oil from the water. The water is full of compounds that exist in the oil together with other beneficial compounds that are water soluble and are only present in the hydrosol. If you want to make sure you’ll purchased authentic hydrosols, we’re here to provide you with 100% authentic hydrosol. Give us a call, and get your supplies from a trusted supplier.