As mosquitoes haven’t been out much with the snow hitting Calgary this week, I have not been testing the spritzers so much for mosquito repellent this week. Instead, I tried them as pillow sprays to help us sleep, and as body sprays as a light perfume.
I decided to try making a mix of lavender and vanilla for the spritzers, which smelled absolutely delicious. We sprayed my daughter’s pillow with it before her nap, and she fell asleep rather quickly. Pleased with this apparent success, we sprayed all of the pillows before bedtime. Big mistake. It started with our daughter. By 11:00, she had been up about 5 times, and at 2:00 am, my husband brought her back to our bed. But she wasn’t the only one having problems sleeping. My husband and I were also up tossing and turning all night. The next day, I read somewhere that lavender essential oils, when blended with other essential oils, enhance any effects of the oils they’re blended with. My conclusion? Vanilla does not help you sleep, and the lavender enhanced that.
Anxious to sleep well the following night, I used the pure lavender Spritzer. The result was heavenly. I did not hear a peep out of my little angel all night long, and she slept in an hour later than usual. Since she’s been potty trained, she hasn’t slept much later than 6:00am. With the lavender scent on her pillow, she slept until 7:00. Thinking it may have been a fluke, I used it again the next night (last night), and the same thing. It’s 6:30 as I write this, and I still haven’t heard a sound from her room. As far as I’m concerned, they are a success for helping with sleep. (I had some on my pillow last night, and I slept much better as well.)
Now if only I can find a way to make it stop snowing, so I can use it as a mosquito repellent!
Saturday 29 May 2010
Friday 21 May 2010
New Natural Mosquito Repellents
Don’t get me wrong. I love our lavender dryer sachets. I think they’re wonderful for a natural mosquito repellent. But there’s something about having an independent 2 year old who insists on wearing the same outfit for a week that makes it less effective by day 3 or 4 for warding off the mosquitoes. And hanging my delicates to dry on the line posed an additional problem.
So when someone suggested making spritzers, I was intrigued. I found some bottles with spritzer tops and made a concoction of orange and lavender essential oils and created a spray. I added the orange, just for something a little different. I’ve sprayed it on myself and my daughter each time we’ve gone out, and even down by the river, it seemed to keep the mosquitoes at bay, and it’s a light spray, more of a mist, so it doesn’t feel heavy or oily when I sprayed it on.
The spritzers can be used as room sprays, pillow sprays, body spritzers, as well as for the mosquito repellent, but that’s where I began to question the orange mixed with the lavender. It smelled wonderful, but as a pillow spray, citrus is a stimulant, whereas lavender is a relaxant, also citrus can cause some sun sensitivity (although in those small amounts, it should be unlikely.)
However, with my husband, the landscaper, wearing a new outfit that hadn’t been put through the dryer with our lavender sachets, he was swarmed by mosquitoes, so I am making up some new spritzers for him and other volunteers to test them out before adding them to our line.
Check back next week to see our results!
So when someone suggested making spritzers, I was intrigued. I found some bottles with spritzer tops and made a concoction of orange and lavender essential oils and created a spray. I added the orange, just for something a little different. I’ve sprayed it on myself and my daughter each time we’ve gone out, and even down by the river, it seemed to keep the mosquitoes at bay, and it’s a light spray, more of a mist, so it doesn’t feel heavy or oily when I sprayed it on.
The spritzers can be used as room sprays, pillow sprays, body spritzers, as well as for the mosquito repellent, but that’s where I began to question the orange mixed with the lavender. It smelled wonderful, but as a pillow spray, citrus is a stimulant, whereas lavender is a relaxant, also citrus can cause some sun sensitivity (although in those small amounts, it should be unlikely.)
However, with my husband, the landscaper, wearing a new outfit that hadn’t been put through the dryer with our lavender sachets, he was swarmed by mosquitoes, so I am making up some new spritzers for him and other volunteers to test them out before adding them to our line.
Check back next week to see our results!
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Going even Greener!
I’m back, and we’re going greener!
Well, I admit I have taken a bit of a sabbatical from my blog (my apologies!) while I was in school over the last year, but I’m back this summer with ideas on creating a greener product.
This year, I was awarded a grant from the Alberta government – a technopreneurship – to help my little company. When I say I was awarded a grant, I should say that I was informed that I had been awarded the grant. I’m still fighting through the red tape to actually receive it, but it is helping achieve our plans to go greener.
So I would like to let you know some of the exciting changes we have planned for this coming year.
Our first green plan is to switch our flax. Currently we have been using regular flax, which I’m sure comes through several hands before we purchased it. We have discovered an organic flax farm just south of Calgary. We will be able to switch to organic flax, and also decrease our carbon footprint on this product.
Our second change we are looking forward to is changing to organic bamboo material. We have found a carrier of bamboo material that has organic cotton/bamboo fleece blend which we are hoping to use for our heating pads and snuggle buddies, as well as bamboo silk for our lavender silk eye pillows. We are also looking at the soy/bamboo material as well as the hemp/bamboo blends to see if those might be something that would work in the future.
Our third change that we are hoping to do is to travel to France and find a lavender farm that will send us the lavender and lavender essential oils directly. This way we will be able to make sure that it is the highest quality organic lavender and lavender essential oils as well as cutting down on our carbon footprint. It will also give us a chance to visit the lavender festivals to come up with ideas for new products. It will also allow us to see the farms up close to ensure the best possible product for our customers.
We’re looking forward to the red tape being fought through to make these switches and bring you an even more environmentally friendly product!
Well, I admit I have taken a bit of a sabbatical from my blog (my apologies!) while I was in school over the last year, but I’m back this summer with ideas on creating a greener product.
This year, I was awarded a grant from the Alberta government – a technopreneurship – to help my little company. When I say I was awarded a grant, I should say that I was informed that I had been awarded the grant. I’m still fighting through the red tape to actually receive it, but it is helping achieve our plans to go greener.
So I would like to let you know some of the exciting changes we have planned for this coming year.
Our first green plan is to switch our flax. Currently we have been using regular flax, which I’m sure comes through several hands before we purchased it. We have discovered an organic flax farm just south of Calgary. We will be able to switch to organic flax, and also decrease our carbon footprint on this product.
Our second change we are looking forward to is changing to organic bamboo material. We have found a carrier of bamboo material that has organic cotton/bamboo fleece blend which we are hoping to use for our heating pads and snuggle buddies, as well as bamboo silk for our lavender silk eye pillows. We are also looking at the soy/bamboo material as well as the hemp/bamboo blends to see if those might be something that would work in the future.
Our third change that we are hoping to do is to travel to France and find a lavender farm that will send us the lavender and lavender essential oils directly. This way we will be able to make sure that it is the highest quality organic lavender and lavender essential oils as well as cutting down on our carbon footprint. It will also give us a chance to visit the lavender festivals to come up with ideas for new products. It will also allow us to see the farms up close to ensure the best possible product for our customers.
We’re looking forward to the red tape being fought through to make these switches and bring you an even more environmentally friendly product!
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