Buying Body Oils, Selecting Safe Fragrance Oils for Home and Body

One fragrance item that Chicago will probably never have to worry about running out of are body oils. Chicagoans find people selling body oils on Red Line trains, especially once they pass the loop stations headed south to 95th Street. Body oils are always sold at multicultural events like the Ethnic Arts Festival in Evanston. On Juneteenth, body oil customers checked out Shareef & Amirah's Enterprize fragrance oils at IMAN's "Takin' It to the Streets" concert.

Body oils can also be found in African artifact stores and occasionally in mall locations. Although body oils tend to smell a little lighter and not have the same powerful chemicals as perfume, still be weary of the body oils you purchase and make sure they're right for you.

Tip One: Ask to smell the body oil before you purchase it. While visiting Shareef & Amirah's Enterprize booth, I smelled an oil that was supposed to take on the aroma of Cool Water. To me, it didn't smell anything like Cool Water. Body oils should be treated like knockoff perfumes and knockoff colognes. Make sure you try them out before buying a generic version of the product.

Tip Two: Ask what ingredients are in the body oil. Every perfume or cologne has top notes, middle notes and base notes. Although body oils smell about the same when you sniff them as they do minutes later, the ingredients to make the oil should still be similar, without the alcohol of course. Don't buy anything without knowing what it's made from because if you have an allergic reaction to it later, you won't even know why.

Tip Three: Always ask for a location where the body oils are sold. I strongly discourage buying body oils from people who you cannot locate later. You should be able to know what the return policy is or to contact them for follow-up questions later. If you buy this fragrance from someone with no location, what do you do if something is wrong with the body oil? How do you contact this person if you break out from using the fragrance or have another type of allergic reaction? Even body oils you regularly use may not smell the same depending on the body oil vendor.

Tip Four: Be open-minded about lesser known scents or made-up scents. Shareef & Amirah's Enterprize had a fragrance called Black Woman that seemed to be a hit. You don't always have to go for commercial fragrances to enjoy them. Try some out that you wouldn't find in your local retail store. You may like it. Again, make sure to ask about the ingredients.

Tip Five: Try a few body oils out and then let them sit. If you're shopping or at a festival, you might want to visit a body oil vendor when you first get there so the body oil has time to sit on your skin. This gives the oil time to react to your body. Now you'll know if the body oil agrees with your skin type and if you're all that impressed with the body oil after walking away. This is something that should be done with perfumes and colognes, too. You may think you love the fragrance in the store but leave and wonder why did you buy this stuff in the first place. Although body oils are cheaper (Shareef & Amirah's Enterprize had 500 body oils all at $6 each), make sure you buy something you want later.

Additional Notes: This entry was published by the Chicago Fragrance Examiner. To check out her fragrance reviews, visit the Examiner link.