Lost and then found: my sense of smell

Lately I'm getting reacquainted with my nose. Apparently my nose has been AWOL, and I didn't even know it. Really, I can't believe my husband or Heather didn't say anything... But this isn't one of those physical nose travesties like Michael Jackson has inflicted upon himself, more of a disappearance then reappearance of my sense of smell.

Way back when we started the greening of ourselves via launching EnviroMom and forming a GreenGroup, one of the first things I got was a list of The Green Guide's Dirty Dozen: 12 ingredients to avoid in personal care products: with fragrance/phthalates being one that really jumped out at me. Honestly, I remember thinking "Well geez. That's a bummer. All those clean, fresh, breezy smelling scents! I love those!!"

Yet, I worked on it. I stopped buying things with scents. I worked hard on the other items on the list too, like parabens, antibacterials and sodium lauryl sulfate, with some success. Although, quite frankly. You will often find me lusting outside of hair salons. Longingly gazing at the Pureology shampoo and conditioners. Trying to justify the price and the questionable ingredients. Then I'll gather up some kind of Herculean EnviroMom super-hero strength and tear myself away without buying it.

What's become clear to me over these past several years is that those overpowering artificial chemical smells were killing my real sense of smell. And now it is back. I can actually smell and appreciate the very delicate scent of many flowers. The more subtle fragrance of natural cleaning products. I can tolerate things that don't necessarily smell great: like vinegar and tea tree oil, and appreciate that they're just bein' themselves and shouldn't have to be masked by other smells. I don't know much about the sense of smell, but it's clear that marketers of cleaning, laundry, personal care products and the dreaded "air fresheners" have tapped into something that really sells. Walk down a mainstream grocery store aisle, and you are assaulted with smells promising an assortment of sensations:

• Lemony fresh power!
• Mountain air
• Mountain rain
• Green apple breeze
• Clean breeze
• Cool rush
• Fresh scent
• Spring waterfall
• Crisp linen

Several years ago, I bought those products hook-line and sinker. Now I've stopped and my nose is back. Like I said earlier, I didn't even know it was missing! What a delightful surprise from this "going green" journey. What surprises have you found on your green journey?