Very few women head out to a special occasion without a dab of their favourite perfume. One of the great pleasures in life is surrounding yourself with gentle wafts of an exotic aroma that immediately transports you to somewhere special. Most likely you chose your perfume for its gorgeous smell, not for what it is made from. But, there is pretty well nothing natural, apart from water, in commercial perfumes.

 

The big problem with conventional perfumes is that they are so toxic! A serious hazard for anyone wanting to reduce their toxic overload is that a loophole in the legislation means that perfume manufacturers only need to list a tiny handful of the vast array of chemicals that their product contains. This is on the basis that their recipe is ‘a secret’ and disclosing all the ingredients would allow anyone to copy their product.

Make no mistake, this is at your expense. A vast number of the chemicals used in perfume manufacture have big question marks over their safety.

Convential perfumes may smell wonderful and exotic to some (although even the smell may be toxic to many others) but in reality they are just a blend of chemicals, fixatives and solvents straight out of the laboratory. These synthetic ingredients can cause hay fever, headaches, mood swings, reproductive and neurological damage, or skin irritations.

When you wear perfume you inhale a chemical cocktail as well as absorbing the same ‘chemical test tube’ straight into your blood stream through your skin.

Seriously…Not so sexy!

 

What Other Options Are There?

There are a whole lot of Natural Perfumes out there for you to choose from. Some you dab, some are roll-on, some are balms, but they are all made very simply from very few ingredients and contain none of the toxins found in normal perfumes.

Basically ‘natural perfumes’ are evry simple. They contain just two components – organic or natural essential oils or absolutes, and a vegetable carrier oil or a mixture of distilled water and natural grain alcohol. Some also contain botanical or herbal extracts. Balms are made from beeswax or shea butter.

The best thing is that the Essential oils used in these products are therapeutic and have healing elements that work on your body, mind and spirit to offer much more than just a beautiful smell.

Pure essential oils create wellbeing and can help you to feel relaxed, energized, or improve your concentration. Basing your selection on what health benefits, whether they are emotional or physical, as well as on your personal enjoyment of the aroma can be a simple but effective way to heal yourself.

Some Perfume Oils On The Market

The availability of natural essential oil based perfumes is growing. There are now many on the market to fit every preference and price bracket.

The Little Alchemist is an Australian artisan company that hand blends perfumes in small batches.  The perfumes contain a host of  plant extracts rich in antioxidants and vitamins. One of these is wheatgrass, and if you have Coeliac disease or sensitivity it would be wise not to apply these perfumes to open skin wounds. It is generally held that it is gluten that is ingested that is the problem but better to take care.  The Turkish Rose and Cardamom and the Passionfruit and Lime perfume oils are yum!

The Goddess Line has a selection of roll-on perfumes that contain only carrier oil and essential oil.  Saraswati is my favourite, a blend of jasmine, neroli and patchouli in grapeseed and coconut oil. They are a US company but are available online.

If you like a solid prefume balm the Dewi Perfume Balm by Indah is beautiful. It is 95% organic and combines coconut oil, beeswax and cocoa butter with essential oils.

If you want to take things to another level altogether an alternative option are the Aura-Soma Pegasus Parfum range – which combine the healing energy of colour, or chromotherapy, with the purest essential oils and herbal extracts. They are completely natural and free from chemicals. You select your one based on the colour you are drawn to, rather than the smell…as you do for Aura-Soma therapy. The carrier alcohol is certified organic.

There are many natural perfumes available online as well as in health food stores now. Just be careful to check the ingredients before you buy. Not all that claim to be ‘natural’ are non-toxic, remember petroleum and mercury are both natural ingredients!

The use of the word ‘organic’ on a product is no guarantee of non-toxicity either. When a product displays the word ‘organic’ it can mean that just one ingredient in it is organic and the others may be far from organic or even natural.  Check the other ingredients are safe too.

For your knowledge I am not affiliated with any of these products or companies, and offer this information for your interest only.

 

For Do-It-Yourselfers

You can make your own Natural Perfume…it’s easy.

Simply add a couple of drops of one or more of your favourite high quality essential oil to a carrier oil such as sweet almond, jojoba or even coconut oil. (about 5 drops to 10 mls of oil is a good ratio) Put it into a small preferably dark, glass bottle and then dab onto your skin as needed. The aroma is released as the oils warm on your skin. You may need to apply it more often than with chemical perfumes.

Make it up in small quantities and make more as you need it. I do one with an amazing therapeutic grade essential oil blend I love – it combines about ten different oils. But sometimes I want something simpler so I also love jasmine and vanilla, or ylang ylang, patchouli and sweet orange, or simply sandalwood alone. You can make up a signature blend which you always wear, but it is actually worth making a few different ones as then you can make specific use of the therapeutic healing qualities to suit whatever your mood at the time.

 

Safety With Essential Oils

Pure essentail oils have therapeutic qualities. Care needs to be taken as they may be contraindicated for certain people or conditions, such as pregnancy, high blood pressure or for children. Here are some guidelines to using essential oils including their safety.

 

 What You Need To Do Right Now

• Take a critical look at any perfumes and perfumed products that you use. If there actually is a list of ingredients ask yourself how many of them are natural…are any at all? If there are no ingredients be suspicious. Healthy perfumes have nothing to hide and will list their simple basic ingredients – a carrier oil and essential oil.

• Make the decision to ditch the chemicals that are added to your personal products. Remember they enter your body and are carried through to every cell in your bloodstream.

• Get out there and test some of the beautiful natural, healthy perfumes about, to find the essential oil that you love. If you feel inspired, make one up for yourself instead…I do, it’s a breeze!

What is your favourite Essential Oil?

Do you have a gorgeous natural chemical free perfume that you particularly love?

Make sure you let us know the name in the ‘Leave A Reply’ section below so we can go out and try it also.

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Essential Oils are not intended for use in the treatment for specific medical conditions. For treatment of health ailments, please consult with a licensed practitioner. Some Essential Oils are contraindicated during pregnancy. Please seek advice from your natural health care provider.