Spiny Restharrow (Ononis spinosa) to help fight skin aging

Spiny Restharrow has value in helping to treat inflammation. Internally it is of great value as a diuretic and also in the treatment of kidney gravel. Inflammation is one of the contributory factors to skin aging, and with this in mind, Restharrow has a role to play in assisting to arrest premature aging, while the diuretic effect helps clear congestion and puffiness in the skin.

Spiny Restharrow is used in the following of our products Rejuvenating Toner

On this page

• General
• Description
• Effect of Restharrow
• Compounds contained in Restharrow
• Cosmetic classification

General

Although Restharrow is not commonly used in skin care preparations in topical form, and is mostly used internally for urinary tract infection, we have found that it compliments the other botanical extract that we have combined in our Rejuvenating Toner, and for this reason it is included in the formulation.

Description

The plant is a spiny subshrub of less than 1 meter (3 feet) in height bearing trifoliate leaves and bears attractive pink and white flowers in the summer, followed by small seedpods.

It originated in Europe, western Asia and North Africa. The root is the part used and it is then referred to as Ononis radix.

Effect of Restharrow

It has also been noted that a preparation of the root of this spiny plant has been used in traditional medicine as a wash for skin ulcers ^{REF 440}, while a decoction of the stem and leaves has been used to treat skin diseases ^{REF 441} - but we use an extract of the roots in our Rejuvenating Toner.

The root extract has a wide spectrum activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungi. ^{REF 438}

The roots of Ononis spinosa contains a glycoside," spinoni", possessing a novel skeleton, in addition to the known isoflavonoid glycoside, ononin [7beta-(glucosyloxy) formononetin] and the known pterocarpan, 7-demethoxy-7-D-(glucosyloxy)homopterocarpin which shows activity against some infections. ^{REF 439}

Compounds contained in Restharrow

Compounds present in the root are onocerin (also known as onocol), sitosterol and other phenolic compounds. Furthermore it contains isoflavones, ononin (formononetin 7-glucoside, formononetin, genistein and biochanin A 7-glucoside together with 6”-malonates) as well as small amounts of essential oil with trans-anethole, carvone and menthol.

Cosmetic classification

As a cosmetic ingredient, Ononis spinosa is classified as a biological ingredient.