As I wrote in the About section, it all started with Patchouli. I love the scent. It calms me immediately. Back when I wore it regularly, I didn’t know that the reason the scent of the oil relaxed and grounded me was the chemical composition of the oil. I only knew that the physical effect it had was amazing.

I do not come from a background of herbalists or foragers. The closest thing to alternative medicine would have been chicken soup. Until I was ten, we lived in the city. I didn’t know anything about plant medicine. I had never heard of essential oils until I found patchouli.

The very first time I used essential oils for their therapeutic value was when my mom lived with us. She was diagnosed with Alzehimer’s not long after we moved her here. It was a very quick progression. One that we were not prepared for. Sundowing was a real eye opener. If you don’t know what sundowning is, it is “a state of confusion occurring in the late afternoon and lasting into the night.” (Graff-Radford, 2022)

The doctors were of no help. The Alzheimer’s Assoc has many suggestions to calm the person, which we tried. It continued to get worse until a friend loaned me her diffuser with some Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) and Lemon (Citrus limon) essential oils. I plugged the diffuser in behind her chair where she wouldn’t see it and each evening, I would turn it on. Like the patchouli with me, the scent of sandalwood and lemon calmed my mom right down. I was totally blown away. I knew I had to learn more.

The time for that came after my mom passed away. I went to college and earned an A.S. in Complementary Health Care. This introduced me to a world that I never knew existed. I became a Level III Reiki Master and found so many complementary/integrative/alternative ways to help the body and the spirit in the healing process. I knew this was where I wanted to be. However….

There are no good paying “jobs” in the help wanted ads for Reiki practitioners or people to plug diffusers in. I needed a paying job to take care of real world bills. I put my new found love on the back burner and continued with my regular job of driving a school bus.

It was also about this time that I began to notice a problem if the students on my bus wore strong perfume or body spray. My eyes would burn, it felt like my throat was closing up, and if I could not get fresh air, I inevitably would have a migraine. It wasn’t long that after that I would have to hold my breath just to walk down the laundry aisle. Forget being in a house that had those Gl*de plug ins. I couldn’t. We began switching to scent free soap, laundry detergent, even kitty litter. But my patchouli did not bother me.

I went back through my college notes and began researching essential oils. Ironically, there had been a presenter who was piloting a project for dementia care units using essential oils. I had spoken to her briefly and learned that she was going through the certification course at Aromahead Institute. I looked into the school and decided to jump in. Wade in is probably a better way to describe it. The program is a lot more in depth than I ever imagined and it kept getting put on the back burner. Until 2020.

When 2020 hit and I was sitting at home I dove back in and I also caught the herbalism bug. I have been studying both since.

Recently while searching for a topic for a research paper, I came across the subject of General Chemical Sensitivity. There doesn’t seem to be any “real” tests to confirm a diagnosis, so it seems it is not a “real” medical issue. Yet if you ask anyone who has a reaction to chemically scented products, they will tell you it is very real.

So, this is where Scented by Nature came from. My desire to offer people an option to the chemically scented products that are sold on store shelves. Sometimes it’s nice to have a beautifully scented bar of soap or a sunny room scent during the dark days of winter. I want to make that possible for people by introducing them to product creators that use natural scents and real ingredients.

My hope is that I can bring some scented happiness to others and some education about the wonderful plants that surround us.

References

Graff-Radford, J. (2022, May 27). Sundowning Late Day Confusion. Retrieved from Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/expert-answers/sundowning/faq-20058511#