Important mead advice

[hyldemoer]

Yeah, Irish Spring(tm) soap is almost radioactive it's so strong. I know people who don't otherwise have allergies but who can't be in the same house as that stuff.

I usually buy the cheapest soap I find at the store, figuring that soap is soap, and only when I get home do I realize, "zOMG I just bought eight bars of Irish Spring."

Oh dear Caj, you really must learn to read labels.
I recently gave away 60 pounds of scented kitty litter because my husband didn't read labels when he stocked up on the stuff.

Last week he came home with garbage bags that even he had to agree (after I brought it to his attention) were worse stink pretty than that scented kitty litter.

I used to wonder it there was any truth behind Aroma Therapy and if the Western World was screwing itself up by making just about everything scented.

[djm]

Oh, just freakin' great! Now we've got ads for fancy smelling French Soaps appearing at the top of the screen!

djm

[Nanohedron]

I'm in the scentless-preferred camp, myself. Unfortunately that's almost entirely impossible in the US, especially if you have no choice but to shop at the usual type of stores. One time I bought a product marketed as "unscented". What an out-and-out lie that label was, and I've encountered the same phenomenon since with other items. I think there really ought to be a law about that, seriously. There are a couple of products that live up to their labelling now, though.

A deodorant soap that I hate is Dial. Never understood how people could stand the scent of it. Just recently bought a generic liquid soap, and what does it smell like? Yep. I'm thinking of just throwing it away and getting something else. The scent and taste contaminate my hands and what they touch for hours.

And by the way, I can't find unscented candles any more. I charge conspiracy. Vanilla. Pralines and Cream. Why? Why? Just because I buy candles, it doesn't make me freakin' precious. Bought a white candle marked "Cotton" once. I thought, Now, that ought to really be interesting.

Talk about things coming full circle: it smelled like yer basic laundry detergent. (← laugh of derision)

[emmline]

And by the way, I can't find unscented candles any more. I charge conspiracy. Vanilla. Pralines and Cream. Why? Why? Just because I buy candles, it doesn't make me freakin' precious.

Of course you're precious Nano.

To depart from our usual twin-think, otoh, I really like my Mexican Cocoa scented candle. In light of the fact that I sweeten iced tea, this is perhaps not so hard to believe.

[hyldemoer]

And by the way, I can't find unscented candles any more.

You might try plain 100% bee's wax candles. There is a slight scent but it isn't added or part of the product as it is with petrochemical candles. If you aren't allergic to honey products the slight bee's wax smell probably isn't going to be too intrusive.

For soap, I recommend Dr. Bronner's unscented.
Dr. Bronner's scented soaps aren't bad if the essential oil they fragrance it with is what your constitution needs. Unfortunately the average person has no idea or training to determine that.

[Nanohedron]

And by the way, I can't find unscented candles any more. I charge conspiracy. Vanilla. Pralines and Cream. Why? Why? Just because I buy candles, it doesn't make me freakin' precious.

Of course you're precious Nano.

To depart from our usual twin-think, otoh, I really like my Mexican Cocoa scented candle. In light of the fact that I sweeten iced tea, this is perhaps not so hard to believe.

Oh, OUCH, man.

Tooshay, tooshay. Carry on, all, while I go off into a corner and wait for my well-deserved red face to subside.

But Mexican Cocoa sounds nice, really. I just prefer tallow-colored candles for their color, and failing that, white. So it's vanilla, pralines-n-cream (gack), or freakin' "cotton" for me.

[Congratulations]

To depart from our usual twin-think, otoh, I really like my Mexican Cocoa scented candle. In light of the fact that I sweeten iced tea, this is perhaps not so hard to believe.

Yes, I live in the heart of Sweet Tea Land, and I can confirm that there is usually a scented candle somewhere in the vicinity. Somewhere.

They make me sneeze.

[hyldemoer]

So it's vanilla, pralines-n-cream (gack), or freakin' "cotton" for me.

Nano dear, I don't suppose those "cotton" candles are scented with real essential oil of cotton? A product refined from cotton seed oil was once tried as a male contraceptive but was discontinued because its effect wasn't always reversable when stopped.

I know lots of herb aware people who refuse to eat anything cooked in cotton seed oil because of that. (That plus the growers really blast cotton with all sorts of chemicals if its not being grown organically.)

[Nanohedron]

So it's vanilla, pralines-n-cream (gack), or freakin' "cotton" for me.

Nano dear, I don't suppose those "cotton" candles are scented with real essential oil of cotton?

No, check my big rant above. If they are, it's not so's you'd notice. Owing to where I buy my candles, my money's on artificial scent all the way.

But it's starting to look as if I'm going to have to stop buying my candles in supermarkets if I want to be free of the tyranny.

[gonzo914]

More than you ever wanted to know about candle fires.

Bottom line --

The annual average is

• 23,600 residential fires
  1,525 injuries
  $390 million direct property loss
  165 fatalities

Enjoy.

[Nanohedron]

More than you ever wanted to know about candle fires.

Bottom line --

The annual average is

• 23,600 residential fires
  1,525 injuries
  $390 million direct property loss
  165 fatalities

Enjoy.

Why worry about candle fires when we have you for a wet blanket?

[missy]

Soap:

Plain old Ivory bar soap. During the summer, plain old Safeguard, the tan colored bar. No fancy scents.

Also found someone who makes goatmilk and herb soap near here, that's very nice.


Candles:

I hate vanillia. Other than the beeswax, you can usually get unscented candles at places like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. Or make your own gel candles and don't put any scent in them. Although the gel is still a petroleum / mineral oil base.

And we have a candle maker here that uses soy as a base, and will make unscented upon request.

[hyldemoer]

Soap:

Plain old Ivory bar soap. During the summer, plain old Safeguard, the tan colored bar. No fancy scents.

But Ivory bar soap and Safeguard aren't plain. They're full of perfume. Perhaps you're just so accustomed to the smells that you don't realize how strong they are to others?
For most people, if they've around a smell long enough they stop noticing it. Their ability to smell things turns down (sort of like one's ears at a loud rock concert).
That doesn't mean it isn't still there as a strong scent happening.

[cowtime]

Soap is a real problem here. I am allergic to most of the regular soaps so I try to find glycerine based ones. Dove and Ivory really are the worst for me. When I can't get glycerine bars without a long drive, I resort to one of the cheapest- think your hotel room- Cashmere Bouquet. For some reason that makes me less itchy than any regular soaps. I'll agree, for a really stinky strong soap, Dial or Irish Spring are at the top of the list.

My husband has developed allergies to pretty much everything on earth, among them, scents. So I'm very picky about any scented candle I might get, usually from a friend of his who makes them. All laundry detergent has to be unscented.

I was going to suggest a craft store for unscented ones too Missy.

[chas]

Yeah, Irish Spring(tm) soap is almost radioactive it's so strong. I know people who don't otherwise have allergies but who can't be in the same house as that stuff.

I usually buy the cheapest soap I find at the store, figuring that soap is soap, and only when I get home do I realize, "zOMG I just bought eight bars of Irish Spring."

Oh dear Caj, you really must learn to read labels.

There are just too many things on the shelves of the damn grocery stores to read every word on every label, which is increasingly necessary. I'm not talking Irish Spring vs. any other soap, but take, say, Triscuits. There are about a gazillion flavors, fat levels, and salt levels. So I buy something labeled "Original Triscuits", and get it home only to discover that SOMEWHERE on the box it says low sodium. These are crackers, folks; we expect crackers to be salty. So low sodium should be in BIG letters. Possibly it's the store's fault, and there should be a low-sodium crackers section (remember health-food sections in supermarkets?). The worst part is that all these flavors of Triscuits are driving other crackers off the shelves. Between Triscuits and Wheat Thins, I think it's half the shelf space for crackers in many stores around here. C'mon, I'd rather have Zesta saltines available than olive oil and tarragon Triscuits.

Rant mode off. Hijack mode, too.