This is just a bit of nonsense really.

This week I have shifted to using E45 shampoo and shower cream, both labelled pH balanced, hypoallergenic and fragrance free.  They are kind to my scalp and my skin, though my eyes don't like them very much.  Ah well, it's all a balancing act.  Care for my skin and put up with itchy eyes for an hour or two.

I'm just not convinced about the "unscented".

The shampoo has a smell reminiscent of the footbaths you used to get at swimming pools in the 1970s - some sort of antiseptic-meets-chlorine kind of smell.  No wonder my eyes don't like it!

The shower cream looks and smells like Copydex glue, even has a similar consistency but thankfully does not stick!

All of which make ablutions a bit of nostalgia trip as the smells evoke aspects of my childhood.  All I need is a few wax crayons, some boiled cabbage and San Izal loo roll and I'll be back to the various primary schools I attended all those years ago.

It intrigues me how smells get associated with certain places and times, how the merest hint of a fragrance can evoke a whole raft of memories, good or bad.  For me, lilies are known as 'Crem Flowers' because they are so often (and for good historical reasons) used for funerals and the smell takes me to the various crematoria I have worked in.  By contrast the smell of lamb cooking reminds me of my grandparents home.  And so it goes on.

All of which serves as a reminder that although I like using scented things in worship from time to time I have to be a bit careful what I choose as I have no way of knowing what effect the chosen scents may have.