When my daughter was born, I would place tiny dots of sandalwood oil behind her perfect little ears and in the folds of her delicate neck. She was the best smelling baby around; the combination of the natural scent of infant and sandalwood was heady, divine, something you could live in forever. It’s an unusual thing, to perfume babies, something that runs counter to today’s heightened wariness of unnecessary exposure to chemicals (though the perfume oil I used was natural, with no additives or preservatives).
— Read more in Perfuming my daughter: The scent of sandalwood was a way to connect with my culture and home— I followed its roots to learn more at This.
I’m not necessarily opposed to what she did, even though I don’t really think babies need any perfume to smell amazing. I do take issue with the sentence that the sandalwood oil she used was natural with no additives or preservatives making it sound like it could not be harmful then. Arsenic and lead are natural, too. Let’s at least be honest.
I suppose, but there could turn out to be harmful things in nearly anything you feed your baby, or put on your baby’s skin, or even in the air your baby is breathing. Presumably, like all parents, she was doing her best to make sure she got the best she could.
Oh sure. I just don’t like the association that natural = not harmful. That’s all.
And babies need to breathe and need to be fed, but they don’t ‘need’ fragrance in the same way.
This kind of thing truly annoys me. What does she think is in sandalwood oil? Hint: CHEMICALS. It’s ALL chemicals.