DIY: Can you can you "refresh" the scent of a flaxseed pillow with essential oils?

We received a good question about out scented flax pillows the other day.  I'm posting it here so others can benefit from the answer.

How long does the scent last and can you "refresh" the flax with oils? I am an essential oil rep. and have a ton of oils and would like to be able to use different oils at different times. Is this possible?

The length of time that the scented herbs lasts really depends on how often you microwave it. I have pillows from over a year ago that still smell good when I heat them.

If you want you use essential oils, it is better to put just a drop or two on the pillow in a spot where you will be careful that it will not directly contact the skin after heating the pillow. You don't want to get undiluted essential oil on your skin, because it can make an allergic reaction and sensitize you to the essential oil. For that reason it would be the safest using one of our flax pillows that have washable covers, so that you could add a drop or two (no more than 2 drops) of oil to the inner pillow, and then insert the pillow into the protective cover. If the essential oil is pure, then it will not leave a residue on the pillow. You should test the purity of your essential oil first by putting a drop on plain paper. When a pure essential oil oil evaporates there will be no residue. This takes 24 hours or less depending on the oil. Fragrance oils are not beneficial for aromatherapy, and would also stain the fabric. 

Organic Cotton and Hemp Flax Pillow with washable cover.

A better way to refresh the pillow is to cut open the end seam, pour the contents into a bowl, and add a cup and a half of good quality dried Organic herbs. Mix them up and then set them aside until you have washed and dried your pillow sleeve. Then refill the sleeve using a funnel and then stitch down the end seam. You can use a mending kit if you don't have a sewing machine.

Natural Laundering Options - DIY Recipe

We have been using natural or fragrance-free laundry solutions for a number of years. Recently two different friends needed to borrow the washer and dryer, and I was overwhelmed by the smell of the chemical fragrances of the laundry solution and dryer sheets that they had brought over to use with their laundry.  The marketing on the dryer sheet box was very deceptive.  It said 'Lavender' and had pictures of flowers, but it was just scented with something synthetic.  Synthetic fragrances are made with proprietary ingredients, so it is hard to know what exactly is in them, but many contain harmful Pthalates and other ingredients which lead to allergic or asthmatic reactions.  An introduction to synthetic fragrances with more info can be found at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.  These fragrances wash down into the water supply and are harmful to the ecosystem.

In the past I used a variety of unscented powdered detergent from Arm and Hammer.  I alternated using it with soap nuts and soapwort root. I still use soapwort and soap nuts together in a mesh bag for very lightly soiled laundry, like sheets or towels, quilts, and darker colored items. I have found that you need to use the soapwort roots together with soap nuts otherwise whites will come out very dull looking.  

If you have children who like to get very messy or if you have diapers to wash, you probably won't find soapnuts and soapwort very satisfying.   But you might like this homemade laundry soap recipe from the Family Homestead.  I suggest following this recipe precisely, as it is not particularly forgiving to modifications.  

Lavender Lemongrass Hard Hand soap by AquarianBath

Homemade Laundry Soap 

1/3 bar of soap (We use about 2 oz of a hard hand soap)

½ cup washing soda

½ cup borax powder 

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size

Grate the soap and put it in a large pot.  Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.   Add the soap mixture and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.   Use 1/2 cup per load. 

You can also add a few drops of a deodorizing essential oil to the batch such as lemon, orange, cinnamon, or use Lavender essential oil.  Stir up the solution before using it each time as it will separate.  Do not use more than 1/2 cup per load or you may find the solution will fade out your colored fabrics.  Sometimes I will add a drop or 2 of essential oil to the load if there is anything stinky in the laundry.  This laundry soap is not a magic bullet for soiled items that need pre-treatment to prevent stains, but it does the job for regular loads.

I am a big fan of line drying laundry to save energy.  However when it is raining out or when I want to soften up the laundry, I like using felted wool dryer balls.  The balls bounce around in the dryer to help soften up laundry that has been out on the line.  They also eliminate static.  These dryer balls are from Bog Berry Dryer Balls.  Brooke provided these to me to review under no obligation.  They are very effective and I love the colors.  They came in a handy drawstring tote, perfect for travel to a laundry mat. These dryer balls are made from local wool.  

I like to add up to 4 drops of my Lemon essential oil to one dryer ball to deodorized any loads that need a little extra freshening.  The essential oil comes in handy for drying diapers, loads left in the washing machine a bit too long,  kitchen rags, or potty training clean up rags.  It feels good to know that the deodorizing essential oils, my favorite being lemon, actually help to remove odors instead of just masking them in the way that chemical fragrances do. 

With these natural and chemical fragrance free laundering options, is there any other pollutant in our wash that we need to look out for?   Nov 1, 2011 researchers concluded in an article published in Environmental Science and Technology that laundering of synthetic fabrics such as polyester and acrylic were contributing to microplastic pollution.  These microplastics are contaminating beaches and working their way up the food chain.  Even worse microplastics have been shown to absorb toxic chemicals such as PCBs, DDT, and dioxins.  Learn more in this article at Ecocoture.  Shop with ecologically safe laundering in mind.  Choose cottons, linen, hemp, or wool.  Skip the polyfleece.  

Weekend Production Streak: New Veggie Soaps, Balms & Perfumes

I had an extra looong weekend which started on Wednesday. It was so nice to be home working on restocking and making new products. First here is a little peak of what is put up to cure for December. The white soap at the top of the blog is a Lavender essential oil veggie soap. I used the same veggie oil formula that I use for my pumpkin poppy seed soap. That soap has a lot of repeat purchases and raves about it's very creamy and bubbly lather. So I decided it was time to make a few more soaps with this oil combo. Yesterday I also made a batch of veggie patchouli soap. I just cut it this morning. It has a pretty in the pot swirl made with cocoa powder as a contrasting natural colorant.


Rosemary mint was the second batch that I made yesterday. I decided to practice my bicolor layering, because I had a special request for 100 bilayer soaps over the weekend. Most of these green clay top layer soaps were perfect, but a couple like this one had a little dip into the white. Good thing I had a practice run. It's been a little while since I've made layered soaps.


Okay enough of what is curing and not ready to ship. I also made and listed some lip balms and perfumes over my long weekend. I was getting low on Sweet Orange and Licorice lip balms, so those are back in stock. Also brand new I have a Lavender Sweet Orange Lip balm. This is my first vegan lip balm made with Candelilla wax instead of Beeswax.


In the perfume department I added a single note Jasmine sambac perfume to the mix. It is strongly aromatic and long lasting.


A couple of more perfumes I actually added last week but haven't posted about yet, so I will mention them as well. The first is a single note Fine French Lavender essential oil roll on Perfume. The highly volatile Lavender is anchored with a small amount of vanilla-like Benzoin.


The second is a Spearmint roll on perfume also with Benzoin. The natural green comes from herbal Isatis tinctoria powder and alfalfa.


Lastly this beautiful Mandarin perfume is colored naturally with annatto seed and is a blend of Mandarin, Sweet Orange, Litsea, and Patchouli essential oils.

Abundant Neem Harvest at the Herb Farm and What I'm Doing With All of It

I spent another Saturday at Maggie's Herb Farm in St. Augustine teaching an advanced soapmaking class for Creating Shampoo Bars and Spa/Salt Soaps. The class itself when very well. I had some mild anxiety on the way up that I had maybe not packed all the ingredients that we needed, but everything was packed and it was a very smooth class.

The last time I was at the farm I finally noticed that there was a huge neem tree in one of the large green houses. When I talked to the owner on Thursday before the class, I asked her if I could harvest some for myself. She sounded very excited about the prospect and told me have her employee help me harvest it so that the branches would no longer be threatening to poke a hole through the top of the green house. So during our lunch break Julie climbed right up the tree and took down about 15 large branches that really needed to be pruned while I assisted. After our lunch break I brought some of the branches into class and we filled up jars with neem leaves and other herbs to make an apple cider vinegar based deodorant spray. Later, my husband helped me carry the cumbersome bundle into the house, I asked him how much he thought it was. He estimated 35 pounds. The weight of it had thrown him off balance, and I actually think maybe it was even more than that.

I'm in day three of processing all the neem. Saturday night I laid out two trays of leaves to dry, put up a quart of leaf in tincture, a quart of leaf in oil to cold infuse, a basket full of bark to dry, and a basket full of twigs to dry. Today I need to strip the rest of the bark from the large branches.

This is my first neem leaf harvest, though I have been growing baby neem trees in Central Florida for the last two years and using neem oil in my products and garden. I have read that dried neem leaves are helpful for repelling insects and can be added to dried rice, beans, and other dried herbs. The neem leaf is highly medicinal and is used for a various skin conditions such as foot fungus, psoriasis, scabies, acne, allergic reactions, small pox, chicken pox, and eczema. I'm preparing the leaf tincture to use as described in Natural Medicine in the Tropics by Hans Martin Hirt, which is to mix the leaf tincture together with vegetable oil for application as an ointment. I will likely use the infused leaf oil together with the tincture. I generally prefer to infuse herbs in oil on the stove top, but from what I understand the medicinal properties of the neem leaves are best extracted cold, so I simply will let them sit in my Extra Virgin Olive oil/ Coconut oil solution for a few weeks and then strain and decant. The jar of leaves and oil was very bubbly and oozing yesterday morning. Neem bark and twigs are particularly useful in dental care for keeping gums healthy. The dried bark I plan to grind in herbal friend's hammermill for use in tooth powder, and I may even put up some bark in alcohol to make an extract for application to gums today as well. I will be cutting up the little twigs into tooth-pick sized pieced for dental care as well.

I have more classes coming up at Maggies Herb farm in November and December. You can call the farm to preregister 904-829-0722:

Herbal Aromatics! Natural Incense & Perfumery Class.
Saturday November 14th 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Join us for an introduction to incense and natural perfumery. We will be making all natural cone incense with dried herbs and resins, as well as a room spray, cologne, and solid perfumes with pure essential oils. Learn the properties of various essential oils and how to combine them to repel pests, freshen a room, and more. We will be working with a variety of dried herbs including those available at the farm including Lemon Verbena, Lemon grass, and Patchouli. Bring a sack lunch $45

Herbal Bath & Body Holiday Stocking Stuffers Class!
Saturday December 12th 10:30– 2:30
Join us for a fun-filled day of sipping herb-mulled cider and creating herbal holiday gifts for friends and family. We will be making 4 sets of stocking stuffers with each gift bag including: 2 Peppermint and 2 Cinnamon stick lip balms in old fashioned metal slide tins, 4 Herb-infused Winter Dry Skin Shea butter balms infused with fresh picked herbs, and 4 sets of herbal bath teas. We will also make herbal decorations with fresh Rosemary to take home for ourselves! Bring a sack lunch. $40.00

Comparing Essential Oils with Chemical Fragrance Oils in Consumer Products: How and Why to Spot the Differences

Aromatherapy effects of dynamic natural plant essential oils cannot be duplicated by man-made chemical fragrance oils. Aromatherapy is a branch of plant medicine that has nothing to do with synthetic fragrances. However, because the health-promoting properties of true Aromatherapy are desirable, many companies use cheaper chemical fragrance oils that do NOT carry these benefits, but will mislead customers (knowingly or unknowingly) by using the terms aromatherapy or aroma to make it seem like they are the same thing. The most offensive promotion I have seen was an "herbal soap" made with chemical fragrance oils rather than herbal essential oils. In order for a product to have genuine aromatherapeutic properties is must be made with unadulterated plant essences, plant infused oils, or other plant based ingredients. Products labeled for example as "Lavender Fragrance Oil" you may assume are synthetic. A product made with Lavender essential oil will be labeled as such.

How can you tell if you are smelling a pure essential oil product or natural perfume? There are various ways to test an undiluted oil or essential oil for purity, but when it comes to diluted oils in body or or home fragrance products your nose is also a fine judge. When you smell a product made with pure essential oils you should feel drawn to inhale deeply. In contrast when smelling a chemical substitute you may feel like you want to immediately cease inhalation or even hold your breath. Just think of a trip down laundry or home fragrance aisle at the supermarket, which is often overwhelming for people even without chemical sensitivities. Using personal body products with chemical fragrances such as these may contribute to stress on the liver and development of chemical sensitivities over time.

In addition it is noteworthy that certain plant scents cannot be stabilized. Natural perfumery expert Mandy Aftel notes in her book Essence and Alchemy that following florals cannot be produced naturally: Freesia, Honeysuckle, Violet, Tulip, Lily, Gardenia, Heliotrope, Orchid, Lilac, and Lily of the Valley. Also you may find the following fruity 'flavor oils' in various lip balms, but I can assure you they are not essential oils. These are Cherry, Watermelon, Apple, Raspberry, etc. Citrus fruits flavors however can be condensed from collection of the essential oils from outer peel.



Lavender photo by Photo by Heron 15:46, 11 Jul 2004 (UTC). This photo is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.