Cognosco

I first started experimenting with essential oils about…6 or 7 years ago? That seems about right. I have a great guide book: The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils by Julia Lawless. Mine is the 1992 edition. I understand there is an illustrated version out now, which I would love to have, but never get around to buying. This one has little sketch drawing of plants, which is fine with me, really, because I don’t actually distill my own oils from their original plant source.

The first blend I made was for vaporization. A friend had recommended a blend of clary sage, lavender, and tangerine (any orange will do, really) to calm down a tense/cranky/wired/twitchy household. She explained the difference between bottom and top notes, and that I would use just a wee bit of clary sage with the lavender and go heavier on the orange because it would dissipate much more quickly than the other two. After this experiment, I was hooked.

I have amassed quite the collection over the years. My favorite blend for a bath is a simple pairing of rosemary and lavender. It feels great and makes you smell divine. When I was experimenting with other vaporization blends and perfume blends, there were several oils I absolutely fell in love with: benzoin (so very creamy), peru balsam, ylang ylang…it’s funny because looking at this list I see I was a big fan of creamy balsamy scents. I also adored all things citrus (such a mood lifter). Grapefruit is especially powerful for mood elevation and is included in many commercial perfumes–the light and fun ones, not the heavy ones. And although lavender was included in many of my blends, it was sort of the thing I added because it had so many versatile fantastic properties, and it blends with pretty much everything. It helps hold things together and exercerbates the effects of many other oils. But I never really appreciated it in its own right. I associated it with linen waters and old ladies. I really thought of it as quite boring.

Until now.

I have fallen head over heels with lavender in the last few weeks. It is apparently the oil for my pregnant body. I don’t even have to mix it with anything. I find myself craving it. It is such a non-glamorous, unassuming oil. It doesn’t have the ego of many of the balsams and more "complex" oils. It just quietly sits there, calming and soothing without announcing its presence via a PA system. I feel like a twit for overlooking its beauty in its own right all these years.

I am making a lavender hot sock this week. Although I know myself well enough to know that I will be unable to stop myself from adding at least one other oil–because I can. I am thinking clary sage and orange. I came across something somewhere that recommended clary sage for labor, so I figure what the hell. It’s a blend that has proven quite effective in calming my nervous ass down. But I might do one that’s just lavender in case other scents bother me at that time. I am also contemplating some bath salts for the labor pool.

I think I will also make a ylang ylang hot sock, because that has been recommended for labor as well. I don’t know if I’ll let it be on its own, or if I’ll add something to it. I don’t know what I would add. I’ll have to look up some possibilities. I welcome any suggestions from fellow lay or professional aromatherapists. By the way, "that" smell that permeates many of the aveda products–that’s ylang ylang. Kind of licorice-ish.

By the way, lavender is one of the few oils you can get away with using undiluted. I still dilute it, unless I am using it for a burn. Then, I put the lavender straight on. And trust me, it is amazing. I swear by it. I think it is more effective than aloe. Aloe is soothing at first, which is nice, but I try to then always follow the aloe with lavender. I don’t think I have ever had a scar from a burn that I put lavender on.