Why I spritz rose water into my eyes

My grandmother was a real beauty in her time. And even though she was physically beautiful, it wasn’t just her looks that made her attractive. Of course she was pretty, but what made her stand out, was the dignity with which she carried herself. She was always strong, even when she had her bypass surgery, and even in her last days when her body was wrecked with cancer. She never complained and never created a scene. 

She also took great pride in her beauty rituals. She would dry orange peel in the sun that she would pound by hand into a mask, she would use besan and malai on her body to keep it smooth. In her last days my mother employed a masseuse to rub apricot oil on her body because we knew how much she loved her beauty routines. But one of her rituals - which at that time I was too scared to try - was putting drops of rosewater into her eyes. She said that rosewater made the eye whites so blindingly white that they would look almost blue. And I have to say that she did really have the clearest eyes. 

Now years after, I find myself doing the same. Because I’m always writing I find that my eyes get tired and burning. I don’t really want to put eye drops every day into my eyes. So, every morning I wake up and spray rosewater into each eye and all over my face. I do this first thing in the morning before I start meditating. It helps me feel feel wide awake, which also puts more energy in my meditation, as I’m not sleepy and sluggish.   

You’d think that spraying rosewater in your eyes would make them burn like crazy, but on the contrary it feels really cool and refreshing. I also keep a small bottle of rosewater to mist my face when I’m out, and another bottle in the refrigerator. If I have to go out in the evening and my eyes feel tired I just drench a cotton pad in chilled rose water and press a pad on each eye. It cools my eyes, removes puffiness and makes me feel ready for a night out.