Monday, February 27, 2012

"Yardley" Lavender?

Was reading an article about industrial uses of essential oils, and came across the following, which fascinated me:

",,,in 1620, an Englishman, named Yardley, obtained a concession from King Charles I to manufacture soap for the London area. Details of this event are sparse, other than the high fee paid by Yardley for this privilege. Importantly, however, Yardley's soap was perfumed with English lavender, which remains the Yardley trademark today, and it was probably the first case of use of an essential oil as a fragrance in large-scale soap production."1

I just remember loving English Lavender soap, years ago, before I ever knew what an essential oil was...and buying it whenever I could find it in my travels. Some got used, some got stashed in bureau drawers to scent the contents.  No wonder I love our English Lavender essential oil...it's a "memory of days gone by"   If you, too, are or were a lover of Yardley's English Lavender soap, we have the secret!

(I also wondered why their labels read "since 1770" if they received the concession in 1620? The Yardley website has a timeline explaining that. ) 

1. Industrial Uses of Essential Oils, W. S. Brud in "Handbook of Essential Oils Science, Technology, and Applications" Ed. by K. Husnu CanBaser and Gerhard Buchbauer, CRC Press, 2010.

4 comments:

Mary Humphrey said...

Yardley's lavender soap was one of my favorites. I was a child that collected soap and small bottles of perfume (well, I couldn't stay out of the perfume long enough to keep it, but I tried). Love this post.

Klaas Hummel said...

Yardleys lavender soap was also one of my favorites soap. I miss that soap.

free seo tutorials said...

Yardleys lavender soap was my favorite soap which I miss all time. My childhood was mixed with it and its perfume. Lovely post.......

Anonymous said...

Sometimes you can find this in Walgreens