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Let Perfume be Your Medicine

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), who's stated mission is to protect our health and environment, reports that many popular perfumes, colognes and body sprays typically contain a dozen or more potentially harmful synthetic chemicals, some of which are derived from petroleum.

"The average fragrance product tested contained 14 secret chemicals not listed on the label," reports EWG, which analyzed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetic's data. 'Among them are chemicals associated with hormone disruption and allergic reactions, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety in personal care products.' EWG adds that some of the undisclosed ingredients are chemicals 'with troubling hazardous properties or with a propensity to accumulate in human tissues.' Examples include diethyl phthalate, a chemical found in 97 percent of Americans and linked to sperm damage in human epidemiological studies, and musk ketone, which concentrates in human fat tissue and breast milk." (Scent of Danger: Are There Toxic Ingredients in Perfumes and Colognes?)

Those with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) know this all too well. Fortunately, we've heard from a number of our customers who struggle with these sensitivities that using essential oils is well tolerated and in some cases, helps them avoid sensitivity issues when they are in public around people wearing toxic perfumes, colognes or body sprays.

My friend who introduced me to using essential oils struggled with MCS. She was greatly helped by using Lemon and Peppermint, even in public situations where she was frequently exposed to synthetic fragrances.

Brandi wrote: "I am sensitive to chemical fragrances, they give me migraines: car fumes, air fresheners, cleaners and perfumes. But not a single essential oil has ever bothered me.

Katie wrote: I also have pretty bad sensitivities to synthetic scents, not migraines or anything, but they definitely cause me to get mild headaches, loose concentration and feel a bit sick (respiratory). I have been using many different essential oils for about 10 years off and on, and, while I did experience occasional issues with some of the MLM's oils I'd been using, I have never had any issues at all with any oils from Hopewell!

Many therapeutic essential oils have beautiful aromas that are suitable as perfumes and body sprays. We recently polled some of our loyal customers on Facebook asking for their favorite essential oil "perfumes." These essential oils and blends came out on top (in order of the most votes to the least).

TIP: To quickly pull up a list of oils noted by customers as their "perfume" oil, when on the Hopewell website, type "perfume" or "cologne" into the search field in the top right corner.

We have two small perfume bottle choices that might be handy:
Silver-Colored Perfume Bottle
Glass Perume Bottle

If you have some favorites to share, please let us know!

Many fragrant blessings!