I have noticed that this seems to be some kind of new trendy thing. I 
first noticed linen water for sale when I was shopping for some verbena 
lotion in august. Since then, it seems to be turning up all over the 
place. I just bought some lavendar linen water at Cost Plus They also 
had verbena and I thought about getting that but decided that since I 
am going to be putting this on my sheets and pillow cases, I wanted 
something a bit more soothing. I bought a mister to go with my lavendar 
linen water and I guess the idea is to mist the bed every morning. Then 
by bedtime it will be all dry and will small like lavendar which is 
supposed to be a scent that helps one sleep. Also, when one is doing 
laundry, they say you can pour some linen water on a towel and then dry 
it along with everything and it will add scent to ones clothes but I 
dont really want to do that because I know a lot of people are sensive 
to perfumes (although FWIW, I am very sensitive to many perfumes but 
this linen water doesnt bother me. I guess because it is made with 
natural scents). 

So has anyone else tried linen water?

14 responses total.

"Natural scents" are no guarantee that they would not have the same effect
as synthetic scents. Natural scents are esters, terpenoids, alcohols, and
other distinct organic compounds, which can be synthesize, and the
synthesized version is *identical* to the natural version. 

I notice on the web that "linen water" is also connected to aromatherapy.
It's for people that like to make things smelly.

My first thought is to worry about molds & fungi growing in the bottle or
on the damp linens, but i've got some fairly nasty allergy (mostly ezcema)
issue with molds & fungi.

Re#1 - All I know, is that certain perfumes bother me more than others. 
The hippy ones made with essential oils dont bother me. I guess I dont 
know why. All I know is that Avon and other "cheap" perfumes have some 
ingredient that gives me a headache. More expensive scents dont give me 
the headache but I think they stink. Weird huh? Maybe I am just being a 
snob and my mind is creating the headaches to keep me away from dime 
store perfumes?

Back to linen water...I washed some sheets and pillow cases and then 
hung them on the line to dry. When they were almost dry, I sprayed them 
with the lavender linen water and let them dry all the way. When they 
dried, the scent was subtle. I made up my bed with my lavender scented 
*dry* linens (no mold worries) Wow! I slept really well. My whole bed 
smelled like just a touch of lavender. It made me happy. I dont really 
believe in "aromatherapy" although I suppose on some level I must. I 
mean, I picked lavender because I wanted to make my bed smelly and 
lavender is supposed to be a scent that helps one sleep. I like it a 
lot but I dont know if it helped me sleep. I didnt choose the verbena 
because that is supposed to be an envigorating scent. But I really like 
it. Maybe I would have slept just as well with a lemon verbena thing 
going on. Probably *shrug*

I sprayed the dog bed to see if that would be nice for them. Now it 
smells like dog and lavender which are two scents that arent meant to 
go together. Good thing the cover is washable. 

You might be able to buy dried lavender leaves (the coop, or the store north
of town that sells herbs) and sprinkle a few of them under your pillow.  We
have grown lavender.

I have thought about getting dried lavender and putting it in a cloth 
bag and then putting *that* under my pillow. I dont really want dried 
leaves in my bed. It seems like it might get itchy. 

I had what I thought was lavender in my yard but it turned out it is a 
type of sage that looks kind of like lavender. I think I am going to 
order some lavender from a catalog though and plant it in the spring. 
Then I can make my own dried lavender stuff. I probably could make my 
own linen water even. 

What you are  proposing is a lavender sachet, readily available in
stores.

They are kind of expensive though. 

Somewhat, although my main point was that they had already been invented.
http://www.frenchlinen.com/product.html?product=LDS sells "lavender dryer
sachets" to use (of course) in your dryer, claiming one is good for 75
loads of clothes. Costs $14. Still, you could probably make your own. Lots
of sites on the web have instructions for this.

I thought it was common knowledge that sachets have been invented. Were 
you just stating the obvious or did you really think anyone in this 
discussion had never heard of a sachet?

I will say, though, that it never occurred to me to put a sachet into 
the dryer. What a good idea!

#0 didn't mention sachets, which I thought was peculiar: it seemed to be
as if sachets were being re-invented in the form of "linen water", since
it does the same thing.

Not really. I mean a sachet has the leaves in a bag or sewed into 
fabric while the linen water is water with some scent to it. I would 
guess they either add a distilled scent or infuse the water with 
lavendar leaves. A lot of people put linen water in their irons. I, 
however, dont believe in ironing and dont even own an iron. I put mine 
in a spray bottle. it is different from a sachet although the end 
result is the same. 

Putting the lavender in a dryer is likely to make it lose a lot of its
fragrance in a hurry, into the steam that is leaving the dryer.  Why not just
place it with the dry clothing?

I dunno. I would have thought that putting it in the dryer would make 
the clothes smellier but I have never tried it so I dont know. 

The sachet put in the drier probably has much more of the essential
oils than does the linen water, which would be an extract of such.

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss