My friend A and I had a great time yesterday, sniffing aromatherapy oils. No, it wasn’t a way to get high, we were just comparing quality. A has just finished a full-time course in natural therapies in Carlow. She has started to make her own organic skin creams & other products, in addition to offering Indian head massage, reflexology, and yoga courses at her home. I tried a sandalwood hand cream… yummy. And she made me a shea-butter-based lip balm (I was running out of my conventional one) with rose and sandalwood. Fabulous. And she’s mixed another hand cream for me (she is an angel).
We were chatting about the benefits of organic and additive-free body products and she told me about a 14-year-old who found a lump in her breast. Can you imagine? What a horrible fright. And what causes such a disease in someone so young? Does our mind do it to us, or is it really the chemicals in our deodorant (and on our food, and in the air…)? In any case, that teenager’s mother sure made a quick switch to natural products.
But what’s “natural?” Read the label! If you’re not good at reading labels, subscribe to The Ecologist magazine! They do an article every issue on what’s in commonly used products. You’ll learn. (Your life may depend on it!) My friend had been learning about parabens and sodium lauryl sulfates and sodium laureth sulfate – cheap cleaners used in shampoos, soaps, etc, and said to be carcinogenic and irritants. She has no interest in cutting corners, is keeping her products absolutely natural and organic, and makes up bespoke products for clients based their needs.
Our sniffing exercise showed us the difference between really good quality organic essential oils, and cheaper ones. For the really good organic ones, have a look at obus.ie. Don’t faint at the prices – we compared price lists too and obus’s can be double the cheaper kind. It balances out when you realise you only need a drop of the good stuff to 2-3 drops of the cheaper stuff.
Anyhow, A uses the good stuff in her creams. What a difference it makes. Even 11 year olds can tell – mine nabbed my new lip balm to take it to school this morning. We agreed to share…
If you’d like to know more about A & her products drop me a comment – I’m not sure how willing she is yet to have her details posted to the world!
