What is Perfume?
Before synthetic fragrances were developed, perfume was created solely with essential oils and other aromatics that were distilled from nature. Modern perfumes that you'd buy at the department store fragrance counter are created with a complex blend of petroleum derived aromatic hydrocarbons and some isolated essential oils and constituents. These mixtures are diluted in a base of volatile refined alcohol at decreasing strengths to create either a perfume extract, perfume, or cologne. The most ancient perfumes on the other hand were created solely from nature-derived resins, oils and botanicals. Rather than alcohol, the carrier for the scent was often an oil, fat or wax.
Ancient perfumes would be made by steeping fragrant flowers, leaves and spices in an oil such as olive oil. Through straining the oil and recharging it repeatedly with fresh botanicals, increasing levels of aroma strength would be attained. Solid perfumes were created with seed and nut butters or a base of beeswax and/or resins melted into the aromatic infused oil. When the mixture cooled it would be semisolid at room temperature but melt when smoothed over the skin. Today's DIY perfume is as simple as hitting upon a complementary blend of essential oils and placing them in a base such as a carrier vegetable oil to make a perfume oil, or into a base of plain water to use as a perfume body mist.
The Benefits of Wearing a Perfume:
Picture Of Retro Red Perfume Bottle:
Although using of some types can be unsafe, perfumes have certain benefits (otherwise people wouldn't have use them for thousands of years). International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF) spent the last 20 years in trying to measure how aromas and fragrances affect us.
Here are some of beneficial effects of perfumes:
When you use perfumes you smell good. That is the primary reason why anyone uses perfumes. They also carry the smell of clean which sends the message that person wearing it cares about his/hers personal hygiene which makes that person more socially acceptable. Perfumes are not meant to hide existing bad smells but to enhance the smell of clean body.
Scent can help you remember things you want to remember. If you are feeling happy, buy a new perfume and start wearing it. Every time you wear it after that it will trigger happy memories from the first time because information of the scent is stored in long-term memory and has strong connections to emotional memory in the brain.
Odors can amplify the mood you are in if used wisely. Different smells boost different moods. A bit of experimenting is needed but you can acquire a palette of perfumes that can boost the mood you like only if you start with some of it and that use the perfume that will amplify that mood.
Odors can also create moods. They can relax you or make alert.
Except for mood, perfume can also boost your confidence. Your confidence is boosted by simply knowing that you smell good. It works in the same way as clothing in which you feel relaxed and/or pretty.
Many perfumes can work as aromatherapy. Odors of winter spices, citrus, flowers and other can relax you and lower your level of stress. Some scents are universal in this but, again, some experimenting is needed for you to find which ones suit you better. This will make you less stressed out, lower your blood pressure and (some say) even help you in healing.
Perfume can also make you attracted to someone or make someone attracted to you. Perfume doesn't have to have pheromones, it just has to be pleasant and sensual to that someone.
All this doesn't directly improve someone's health but creates positive feelings and lowers stress which indirectly affects health and make person healthier. Stress can cause a great deal of illnesses and lowering it is a good thing.
The Benefits of Fragrance:
The use and enjoyment of fragrances have endured throughout the centuries, from the rituals of ancient cultures to the diversity of today’s lifestyles. In fact, as we celebrate the second millennium milestone, fragrances continue to play a beneficial and purposeful role in adding to the quality of life - a tradition as old as mankind.
The fragrance industry is a multi-faceted one, with fine fragrances holding a celebrity status within it. For those who wear them, perfumes and colognes elicit feelings of joy, confidence and a sense of well being. They also present their wearers with an opportunity to create for themselves a virtually unforgettable, personal trademark. A subtle splash of fragrance - when mixed with a power of the sense of smell-has the ability to spark cherished memories and a wealth of emotions that can lift spirits, enrich romance, improve one's mood, and lead to an overall feeling of happiness. Fragrances help make life complete. They highlight the importance of the sense of smell, an often forgotten human attribute which, like sight and sound, adds a priceless vibrance to the tapestry of life.
But beyond the lure of the chiseled perfume bottle, fragrances are closely aligned with the benefits of other products, and, in fact, have come to enhance their effectiveness in the perception of those who use them. Researchers say that fragrances contained in household and personal products - from shampoo and cosmetics to laundry detergents and household cleaners-are near to synonymous with their perceived quality. Fragrances make clothes smell "clean", cosmetics "pretty" and households "well kept". Fragrances are key to building consumer confidence in the cleaning abilities of soap or multi-purpose cleaners, or the perceived skin improvement brought about by the use of cosmetics. In summary, fragrances enhance our enjoyment of using products of personal hygiene (e.g. toilet soap) and hence contribute to our cleanliness and general health.
