What lavender oil is actually used for
Lavender is the oil most people buy first and the one most often used badly. What it smells like, where it earns its place around a house, and what it is used for on hair and skin — described plainly,...
Journal
Journal
Notes on essential oils, what the testing actually shows, and what is worth paying attention to in wellness.
Scent through an Indian year
Damp in the monsoon, dust in summer, cold mornings in the north. What a house needs from a scent changes with the season, and most seasonal writing on this subject is written for a different climate.
Essential oils around the house
Floors, linen, wardrobes, bins and the corners nobody photographs. Household uses that are ordinary rather than aspirational — with the cautions that usually get left out.
Using essential oils without a diffuser
A diffuser is the obvious method, not the only one. Eight ways to use an oil that need nothing but what is already in the house.
What a diffuser actually does
Ultrasonic, nebulising, heat and reed diffusers work in different ways and suit different rooms. A plain comparison, including where each one disappoints.
What we're reading
A short, honest reading list on essential oils — what the research covers, where the evidence is thin, and what to be careful about. Updated as we find things worth passing on.