As we continue our tour around the world of essential oils and herbal aromatics, we visit Egypt, Greece, Rome and France.

Moodi friends, I don’t want to bore you to death with a long treatise on the origins of essential oils and aromatic herbs, but feel it’s important to have some sort of general sense about the roots and origins of the substances that we slather onto our bodies.

Essential oil Aromatherapy’s origins are ancient and rooted in traditions of holistic healing as a transcendent art form. Our earliest written documents across all cultures, all over the world, seem to record the use of herbs, flowers and plant oils for their healing and aesthetic properties. Stuff that Moodi folks intuitively know and understand…right??

Music has always been a really important part of my life and that’s partially why my tagline for Mood Indigo Soaps says, “Make Your Skin Sing!”   Music and singing are truly vibrant, joyful expressions of soul!! When I was a wee one, my Dad would take us to the local record store, Rhythm House, and we’d pile into a little sound proof room and listen excitedly to the newest release (Now remember, new releases in India were about a year or two behind new releases in the US!!). Then we’d lovingly return the LP’s to their sleeves and buy one to take home.

Essential Oils are quickly becoming part of the mainstream conversation as people are increasingly using these oils as stress relievers and often as alternatives to traditional medecine.  If you’re a fan of Mood Indigo, you know that we use premium quality essential oils in all our products and work really hard to stay  true to our commitment to all things natural. 

While I've on the subject of women/men and  their moods, I want to talk about men, manly scents and body products. I find it incredibly interesting when people, namely women, come up to my booth and ask for manly scents for their boyfriends, partners and husbands.  What the heck is a manly scent and why are men only allowed to buy manly scents??? Do men really like the idea of bathing in beer soap, or soap scented only with pine tar, woodsmoke, or kerosene?  

Women, Moods, Modi, Moodi…a natural evolution and it feels young and happy too…. I’m connecting with my teenage Self here!!  We could be a band… The Moodis, not to be confused with the Moonies!!!  Mood is such an intense word and heaped with judgment and negativity.  When and why has “mood and moody” taken on such a pejorative tone? Teenagers are moody, menstrual women are moody, pregnant women are moody, your boss is moody, drag queens are moody and it sure seems that it’s mostly women who are moody!!!!! 

I fell in love with the name when volunteering at a local college Arts Festival in Bombay. I was 17 at the time and having the time of my life, but the name stayed with me and popped up when I started thinking about my soap business. A lot of smart peeps around me (smarter than I), pressingly urged me to change the name and I’ve tried, believe me! Mood Indigo was once Dirty Soap,  then Sabu (pronounced Sabooo…meaning soap in Hindi), something French..Savon something or the other etc. but I kept coming back to Mood Indigo and all I can say is that it just feels right!

I believe l’ve been called to this world of body mind health and healing as a way to help me sort through my own issues, and also as a journey back to my Self. I moved continents away from my home in  India and all that was familiar to me, both culturally and emotionally, at the ripe old age of 18.