Defense of Ylang Ylang

The girl gazes from beneath herflat, oily locks up at the towering wall of bottles in the shampoo aisle. Apparently, she's overwhelmed with all the choices and confused by all the claims manufacturers make about their products because the commercial voiceover lists off, in a patronizing tone, all their ingredients claims, ending with the kicker, "enriched with lee-ang lee-ang," mispronouncing the name of this lovely and innocent flower as if it were a dirty word!

Though the TV commercial for Pert Plus intends to discredit another name-brand of similar dubious quality, manufacturer Procter and Gamble has unfairly maligned ylang ylang in the crossfire. The oil of ylang ylang, added to many beauty products (typically in miniscule amounts in name brands), comes from the fragrant yellow flowers of the ylang ylang tree, which grows throughout southeast Asia. Women there often comb the oil through their hair to stimulate growth and give it natural moisture and shine. Ylang ylang's deeply sweet, exotic scent is also documented as an antidepressant and aphrodisiac.