I think that sometimes in our busy, hurried day to day existance we take a lot of things for granted.

Take washing your clothes for example. It is something we dont even think about. We just pop them into the washing machine, close the door, add our choice of fragranced detergent, press the on button, and then sit back and wait for the cycle to complete. Ta-dah – clean clothes!

We have a very charmed life nowadays when you think of how our ancestors had to keep their clothes clean. Washing detergent is quite a new invention in its present form.

 It is quite possible that your Grandma (definitely your great-grandma) washed clothes with a washboard. She would have used a bar of soap that would be cut into pieces and boiled to make a lather. If items were really stained you would just rub the soap on the clothes beforehand.  Then she would wring out the clothes before putting them in the rinse tub which had a hand wringer. It had rollers and a hand crank to turn it. The clothes would then be dunked into a second tub to rinse, and then a further rinse just to make sure they were soap-free. She would wring them out one last time and hang them up. In the winter, she would either hang them on lines in the kitchen, or outside to freeze-dry. In the summertime, she hung the clothes outside on lines. The next day, she would take the clothes down, dampen them, and roll them up to be ironed. The irons would be heated on the stove burner until hot before use.

And if you think that was an unpleasant hard task, we can cast our minds back further to the days of Ancient Rome, where white tunics were the order of the day. Now how do you think they were kept so white and clean? Well…………….

The solution lay in a product that we have access to every single day - it was free then and is still free now. Have you guessed yet?  It is urine!

The idea isnt as bizarre as you may think. The Ancient Romans realised that urine contained ammonia, which is a natural cleaning agent. It wasnt only the choice of cleaning material that was unusual -  the process of obtaining the urine was rather interesting in itself. Fullers would place urine vessels on street corners for people to publicly relieve themselves. Once the vessels were full they were carefully carried back to the Fullonica (laundry).

The urine was then diluted with water and dirty clothes were soaked in the mixture. Part of the process also involved someone stomping on the clothes to agitate them. After this the garments were rinsed to get as much of the urine stench out of them as possible. I presume there would always be a residual odour left behind which paints a very pleasant picture (not) of the kind of smell that pervaded the air.

So, the next time you are loading your machine up just remember – we’ve come a long way ladies and gents!

January saw me jetting off to the Far East – Malaysia and the Philippines to be precise, to meet up with our agents from Unifragrance and also Proessences. Each year in January we hold a seminar in Manila, that allows us to present the latest fragrance trends in the market. The four main trends at the minute are as follows:-

A LOOK TO THE PAST

Economic stress sees us automatically look to the past with nostalgia. We look to history to provide us with a glimpse of the future. During difficult times consumers seek comfort in familiarity, tending to gravitate towards classic florals. Over the next few months, be on the lookout for new perfumes dominated by floral notes such as rose and violet. These scents remind us of simpler times, and that memory can be of great comfort when you are surrounded by stress.

A BRIGHTER FUTURE

New fragrance launches coming down the pipeline are going to be bold, vibrant exciting with an element of fantasy. As we begin to move out of sobering economic times, consumers will seek escape and colour and this will translate as a collection of unusual technicolour ingredients. We will become more adventurous, with sophisticated rich woody notes as the heart and soul of new fragrances. These notes have depth and character and have traditionally only previously been seen in men’s fragrances.

BE YOUR OWN NOSE

Once an area only reserved for those in the know, personalised, custom fragrances are gaining popularity thanks to newer, more accessible ways to get it. The $10,000 bespoke blend still exists but customized perfume is now happily at a realistic price point. Consumers want to express their individuality, and there are now many affordable ways to achieve this. Fragrance houses such as Dolce & Gabbana and Ralph Lauren launched fragrance collections that could be worn alone or layered to achieve a personalized scent. Custom fragrance bars are appearing in shopping centres where a consultant can guide you through the notes and accords, and you walk away with a truly original signature scent. Designing your own personal fragrance is well worth the time and experimentation.

TELL A TALE….

Perfume companies have realised that it takes more than a whiff of a scent to get people hooked. Right now, story telling is especially relevant. People want to know how a fragrance has been created and the work that has been put into it, as well as being able to tap into the emotional connection of the designer. It is a quest for authenticity, and when you know why the perfumer chose those particular notes and accords and his inspiration, the whole experience becomes more genuine.

Once you know the current trends it is much easier to select a new fragrance direction for your product. Although at the moment the trends apply to designer type perfumes, this is always just the pre-cursor for soaps, candles, detergent powders, air fresheners and a myriad of all types of household products.

We currently have a selection of fragrances that cover all aspects of the trends mentioned above so please feel free to email or ring our office where one of our helpful staff will guide you through the best fragrances for your particular product – all designed to help you become  the market leader in your field.