We Love Lavender! Well, now that I know what it actually smells like...

[Guest guest]

Just some reflections on my latest adventure in EOs for your

entertainment...this time; Lavender!

I never was a fan of Lavender...why?..well it turns out because I had never

smelled the real thing..Surprise! Mind you I was the kid that would look in

horror at the seeming endless acreage of white wood, glass, and gold metal

trimmed cosmetic counters my mother would drag me though on the way into or out

of various department stores...a small army of disdainfull ladies in lab coats

wondering why she wasn't stopping and sampling their wares (she never was a

synthetic perfume fan and at one time was making my sister put on her teen-age

girl tropical scented bubble gum bug spray out in the garage so it wouldn't

linger in the house). It was always a test to see if I could hold my breath

while I ran the gauntlet till we were either out into the parking lot or to the

escalators. God knows how much synthetic Lavender I was assaulted with along

the way. Years later my mother and sister's annual trips to qaint New England

towns to load up on foul smelling soaps (and then have them out to display and

gas the masses) put the nail in the coffin with their various " Lavender " scented

odor bombs turning guest bathrooms into updated versions of the

how-long-can-you-hold-your-breath experience for me.

Well after smelling three different kinds of Lavender EO from my local

herbalist/aromatherapy store a few months ago for the first time (Cheryl's

Herbs...great place and website I must say) including one " High Altitude from

Italy " that has the sweetest powdery quality of all (and is the most expensive

of course), I decided to see what the big ol' Lavender Farm folks that dot the

NW coast had to offer, especially since it turns out they all have Lavender

festivals this time of year (did you know there is a series of how-to vidoes out

there on doing your own Lavender farm/oil/business?). I try to buy

" organically " grown and USA made products as much as possible so Liberty's

seemed an ideal place to start. They have in stock seven different Lavenders

did you say ?!....three different Lavendins ?!!....oh and we must try that Spike

of course we have heard so much about....anticipation !!!! Well you know how it

can be when you finally get that order; you rip off the seals, line up your

strips and go to it, wool sock/coffee beans/etc. nearby to clean the palate.

Now it has been said that too much of a good thing can be, well, too much, and

this ended up being the case as slowly ran through my strips with the various

Lavenders on them; I ended up getting uncharacteristically quesy after a few,

and then when I would go back to smell one as part of a more restricted

comparison between the French ones etc., they smelled totally different! I

obviously was experiencing some sort of sensory overload, if not a bit of an

overload internally from all the vapors so I set them all aside.

Comming back to sampling these I'm almost thinking that unlike some oils and

absolutes that I could practically drink straight for breakfast, Lavender is not

meant for me to use right out of the bottle. Yesterday I had spritzed my hands

with a 1.5% Lavender (only 1.5%!) in ethanol hand sanitizer spray I had whipped

up for use in the car and then a few minutes later as I was faxing something a

co-worker that walked by did one of those " Wow! What smells so good?! " . Now I'm

sure we all have experienced these moments being the ambassadors of some of

nature's finer scents that we are, and while they usually can't put their finger

on it till you tell them exactly what it is she got that it was Lavender after I

(somewhat embarassingly) mentioned it was just a hand sanitizer. Mind you it

was NOT one of the foul smelling concoctions people have come to expect that are

being constantly pooped out of those dispensers that are everywhere now. I

actually saw a woman use one on a Mall directory sign going INTO the Mall...not

sure I wanted to know why. Welcome to dermatitis western civilization !

I had thought that higher amount of Lavender were necessary to get the effect,

as well as overcome the smell of unrefined shea, etc. that I am working with,

but it seems that this is not the case. I havn't even started to mix some of the

stronger/more camphorous or whatever Lavendin into these various mixes, if I

ever do really, as the sweetness of Lavender is becomming one of my favorites.

I wonder how it is in jojoba...hmm...

So thank you all that take the time to grow and distill this great plant. I'm

not sure if any of that is in my future despite my (unrealistic I'm sure) day

dreams of the easy life of a Lavender farmer, but in the meantime I'll continue

to happily buy the results of your labors and research the (various

Linalyl/Linalool %, etc.) aspects of Lavender for my pleasure, and hopefully for

the pleasure of others !