WE ARE A SCENT FREE HOME
SUMMARY: Scent is the most potent of all our senses – it can activate pleasure or distress, even trauma. We ask all participants to prepare for their visits to us well in advance so everyone can breathe easy.
This work is designed to awaken your senses and open your sensitivity to others and the environment and assist you to return to your most natural state of being. All fragrances alter our consciousness in some way, they are that primal.
Manufactured fragrances include in a vast array of chemicals, not only to disperse those smells, but to adhere the scents to all surfaces, including our laundry machines, luggage, furniture, carpets and our skin, nasal passages and lungs. Manufacturers aggressively use scents to drive our primal urges to increase brand loyalty (addiction) and sales. We here at CWays Home, choose not to ingest all of that.
We will be in an enclosed space, sometimes breathing heavily. No one can get away from the scents you wear on your body, hair, clothing and sheets. Your fragrances become a strong imposition on everyone else’s experience. What may be your pleasure may be another persons poison so it’s great kindness to not assume everyone loves the same smells you do. For those sensitive to chemicals and smells, this can be extremely uncomfortable, triggering breathing difficulties, allergies and repugnance. I am super sensitive to all smells. It’s both a blessing and a curse. It certainly is not fun to have to wash off or change my clothing after hugging you, or to have to ask you to leave.
CHECK FOR FRAGRANCES IN YOUR:
- Shampoos, conditioners and hair styling products
- Skin lotions, shaving creams, make up
- Deodorants and sunscreens
- No essential oils (we use specific ones only in ceremonies)
- Refrain from odiferous food like garlic before you arrive
- NO SCENTED LAUNDRY DETERGENTS
- ABSOLUTLEY NO FABRIC SOFTENERS!
TOXICITY OF FABRIC SOFTENERS
- Scientific American reported the VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) found in fabric softeners are known to cause the following health effects: central nervous system disorders, headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, effects on blood pressure, irritation to skin, mucus membranes and respiratory tract and pancreatic cancer.
- VOC’s cause groundwater contamination and pollute all the organisms in surrounding ecosystems. If we have to wash out your fabric softener sheets, they poison our forrest.
- Heavy fragrance (50 times as much fragrance) is needed to cover up the pungent and strong-smelling chemicals in fabric softeners.
- Synthetic fabrics don’t smell good after they are heated in dryers or by our bodies, hence the need for even stronger fragrances, which is one reason why fabric softeners were invented.
The other reason they were invested was to reduce static, created by dryers, which never happened when clothes were hung in the sunlight to dry.
LAUNDRY ALTERNATIVES
- Given the strong scents and adhesive qualities of laundry products, START USING SCENT FREE PRODUCTS NOW, well before you arrive here so your clothes and sheets do not retain those smells.
- Clean your washing machine, dryer and luggage with vinegar initially.
- Use Dr Bronners or unscented hypoallergenic detergents.
- National Geographic’s Green Guide recommends adding either a quarter cup of baking soda or a quarter cup of white vinegar to the wash cycle. Either one will soften clothes, while the latter will also address static cling. (Be sure not to mix either with bleach, though, as resulting chemical reactions could cause noxious fumes.)
- Dry natural fiber clothes separately from synthetic materials. The combination of cotton and polyester is often the culprit behind static cling. Better yet, line dry clothing, especially synthetic fabrics.
- Use Wool Dryer Balls instead of fabric softener. If they pick up static, dunk in water to get quite wet, then towel dry to reuse. The humidity in the dryer reduces further static.
- Do not over dry clothes, it will produce static, even with dryer balls.