I wear an essential oil called Patchouli. I love the way it smells and use it instead of perfume.
I work at a clinic part-time and every time I enter, the big wigs upstairs say they can smell me and know when I am there or have been there. I have even been stopped at a museum by a French woman and asked if I had on Patchouli; turns out, Patchouli is the French name for my smell, too.
Picking up a cake for my son’s birthday, I was greeted with a question from the bakery supervisor, “Are you wearing Patchouli?” I put it on every morning, but don’t always realize or smell it like others do.
I haven’t always smelled good. In fact, I used to STINK.
I remember over the past several decades, since hitting puberty and that teen smell started, I have struggled to keep my STANKY smell at bay.
I have realized with each change in my life, hitting age milestones, having a baby, menopause, etc., that it seemed like my go-to deodorant would stop working. I would find a deodorant that I really liked, use it for a time, and then bam, all of a sudden, it stopped working, and there is no amount of Patchouli that will cover up the way I STUNK.
Let’s be honest. We all have THAT friend that when you hug, you step back and question, “Does she know that she smells like body odor? How can she not KNOW how she smells and does she wear deodorant? Does she not know that what she is wearing isn’t working anymore?”
So my search for the perfect deodorant began, after switching dozens of times when my fave stopped working. I tried EVERYTHING. The pastes, the lotions with the natural guarantee to make you not stink, and even the sprays. Nothing worked. I found that I had an allergy to baking soda when those natural deodorants made my armpit swell and scale and peel.
I had to then do a detox for my pits, meaning no deodorant at all.
Did you know that is a thing? Well, I did it for four long weeks until my pits were healed from my reaction to baking soda. It was awful and I STINK, STANK, STUNK! We were redoing a rental property at the time, and I was sweating in places that I didn’t know could sweat.
After my pits healed, I was timid to try anything else. I was searching on Amazon and came across a salt stone. I had nothing to lose except my stink, so I went for it, and in just a day or two, I had a new thing to try. I had tried everything else, but not the stone. I will never go back to a typical deodorant. The stone has changed my life and my pits.
A bit unconventional for sure, but it is a salt stone that you run under water and then rub on your pits 30-40 swipes. It works, and I have had zero reactions. I learned not to be afraid to try new things and to not stop until I find what works for me. So don’t be afraid to get rid of your stink.
My Patchouli essential oil is the main star of my smell, and that’s just the way I like it!
