Mmmm, Piney goodness. Needs must and all, I remembered as a youth being doused in strongly smelling pine fragranced baths. If you are doing the dates coming back on the calendar thing in your head you are probably remembering that way back when Radox only came in pine smelling green sludge. But Radox was far too posh for us (ahem – slips into Four Yorkshiremen voice).
When I was under five, possibly bathing with my sister, the pine fragrance came from a source which is now not really associated with bathing. Dettol. The rich, brown disinfectant that goes instantly cloudy in water and kills a lot of known germs dead. Running out of my usual Matey bubble bath* the other day I faced the horrors of an unperfumed bath. So I returned to my youth. And in the Dettol label it is still there
“Bathing: One to two capfuls per bath”.
I went nuts and went for the full two. Not much foam (boo) but there was that pine fragrance cutting through the dirt and my sinuses. Not bad as a decongestant actually, I was breathing deeply within minutes. Without the annoying bubbles it was a lot easier to read too. And when I got out of the bath I smelt fresh. Perhaps, as Alan says below, fresh like a Magic Tree, yet crawling into my freshly made bed I felt like I was five years old again. And this time, I had not had to share the bath with my sister, and risk drowning.
Feel free of course to react with the modern day horror that I am sure this tale instills in all of you and tell me how I have killed all the active t-cells and free radicals in my body.
*Actually Palmolive Aroma Sensation which, with its active ingredients of Cinnamon and Red Food Colouring makes a few desultory bubbles and has a barely noticable smell.