Organic Rose Geranium Essential Oil

Yes, 100% pure Pelargonium graveolens var. roseum, nothing added or diluted, grown in Egypt, bottled in the UK and GC/MS tested.

Worth knowing which part of the plant it comes from, because almost everyone guesses wrong: geranium oil is distilled from the leaves and young stems, not the flowers. The showy pink blooms are nearly scentless. All the aroma sits in tiny glandular hairs on the leaves, which is why brushing past a scented pelargonium releases it and why the crop is cut for its foliage around flowering time rather than for the petals. You will still see the INCI written as "Flower Oil", which is a quirk of the naming convention rather than a description of what goes in the still.

One more naming trap: the plant is a Pelargonium, not a true Geranium. True geraniums are the hardy cranesbills in British borders and they are not used for essential oil at all. Every geranium oil on the market comes from a pelargonium.

Same species, different cultivar and a different smell. Both are Pelargonium graveolens, and both are sold as geranium oil:

• Rose geranium is the roseum type, selected and grown for a higher proportion of the rosy molecules, citronellol and geraniol. It smells softer, sweeter and markedly more rose-like.
• Plain geranium covers the other commercial types, usually Chinese or Reunion Bourbon. They carry more isomenthone and read greener, sharper and mintier, with the rose further back.

You can see it in our own batch GC: citronellol 32.9% and geraniol 14.1%, so 47% of the oil is the two rose molecules, against isomenthone at only 5.4%. A greener commercial geranium carries noticeably more isomenthone and less of the pair. Ours is the rose type, grown in Egypt, which sits between the two in character: properly rosy, but with the fresh green edge that stops it being cloying.

If you are choosing between them, pick rose geranium for perfumery and skincare, plain geranium where you want a crisper, more herbal floral.

And it is not rose oil. Rose is Rosa damascena, a completely different plant that happens to share those same two molecules. Geranium gives you a convincingly rosy character for a small fraction of rose's price, which is why perfumers have leaned on it for two centuries.

Standard care: ventilated rooms with an exit for the animal, never applied to fur, bottles out of reach. Geranium is on the lists of oils pets should avoid contact with.

This is the one. Of everything on our shelf, rose geranium is the closest in chemistry to citronella, because it is led by citronellol and geraniol, the two molecules that citronella products are built around. It is the oil to reach for if you want something that works outdoors and still smells like a perfume rather than a candle from a garden centre.

What it is used for

• Mosquitoes and midges: the main use, and the one Scottish midge season made famous. 2% in a carrier oil on exposed skin, reapplied every couple of hours.
• Ticks: rose geranium is the traditional choice for dogs' collars and walking trousers, though never applied directly to a cat.
• Flies and wasps: diffused or wiped around a garden table and doorframes.

A good outdoor blend: 15 drops geranium, 10 lemongrass and 5 lavender in 100ml of water with a teaspoon of witch hazel, shaken before use. For skin, the same proportions at 2% in fractionated coconut or sweet almond oil.

Geranium is gentler on skin than most repellent oils, which is why it is the sensible choice for arms and ankles where clove or oregano would be far too harsh. Patch test anyway, and keep it off cats.

Geranium is one of the most-used oils in homemade scalp and hair oils. It is not a treatment, but it is pleasant on the scalp, it is not drying, and it leaves a soft rosy scent in the hair rather than a herbal one, which is why people reach for it over rosemary when they want the smell as well as the ritual.

How to use geranium oil on hair

• Scalp oil: 6 drops geranium in 30 ml of jojoba or castor oil, massaged in and left for 30 minutes before washing.
• With rosemary: 3 geranium and 3 rosemary in 30 ml of carrier oil, the usual pairing, rosemary for the scalp and geranium for the scent.
• Hair mist: 2 drops in 50 ml of water with a splash of witch hazel, shaken each time.
• In shampoo: 4 to 6 drops stirred into 100 ml of an unscented base.

Geraniol and citronellol are skin sensitisers, so keep it at 1% or below on the scalp and patch test first.

Geranium is a middle note and a natural peacemaker: it rounds off anything sharp and gives body to anything thin. Best partners are lavender, bergamot, rose, palmarosa, sandalwood, clary sage, patchouli and the citrus oils.

Three geranium diffuser blend recipes

• Even the day out: 2 geranium, 3 lavender, 1 bergamot.
• Rose on a budget: 3 geranium, 2 palmarosa, 1 drop of rose if you have it.
• Warm and grounding: 2 geranium, 2 sandalwood, 1 sweet orange.

Diffusing geranium on its own works too, and is the easiest way to learn what it actually smells like: rosy at first, then green and slightly minty underneath. Keep it to 3 or 4 drops, it is stronger than it seems.

It is one of the most balanced skincare oils there is, and that is the whole point of it: it is comfortable in blends for dry, oily and combination skin alike, so a single bottle covers your whole shelf. That versatility is why it turns up in facial oils, creams, masks and body lotions far more often than its price suggests.

It is also not phototoxic, unlike the citrus oils, so it works just as well in a morning blend as a night one. Use 1 to 2 drops in 30ml of jojoba for the face, and patch test first, because citronellol and geraniol are both declarable allergens.

Geranium (and its geraniol) is a well-known natural deterrent, a favourite for garden-table diffusing on summer evenings.