With the proliferation of commercials that detail the joys of air fresheners that spray from a can or a bottle or plug in, plug in and provide a night light, plug in and let you plug other things in or have their own little machines that puff air freshener into the air at regular intervals and play cd-like discs of various air fresheners or air fresheners that are supposed to sanitize the air too and even old-fashioned ones that just sit there and release perfume into the air slowly, I’ve gotten to wondering how many people actually use these things.
Personally, I can’t stand the heavy perfumes they employ, finding that even supposedly unscented ones are too offensive to my poor olfactories. I have some Febreeze which I’ll reluctantly use in my laundry hamper on rare occasions but other than that, my home is air freshener free. Similarily, when I go to other peoples’ homes, I have never detected the cloying smell of anything air freshener-like. I may smell last night’s fish dinner or even musty “old people” smell but definitely no air freshener.
The commercials all show people using these things lavishly and with gay abandon. I suppose eventully some company will take a page out of the Herbal Essences book and show people having orgasms while within smelling-distance of their product. But honestly, who uses these things? Do you? Every day? Is smelling it the ecstatic high point of your day as these commercials imply? Why (oh, why) do you use them?
And lastly, is there really an air freshener out there that will take odors out of the air instead of covering them up with some nasty perfume?
No, but I do like to burn scented candles occasionally. Nothing so much as a steady stream of scent, just a light fragrance that doesn’t linger.
I’m the exception among my friends, though. My mother is very sensitive to scents and we always had scent-free everything growing up, my parents often visit my home so I’m still careful not to have anything that’ll mess her up. My friends usually have a dozen different scented things going on, plug-ins and candles and carpet fresheners and air sprays all at once. Doesn’t bother me to be in their homes, but sometimes it makes me giggle.
I use them on rare occasions, but I am super picky about which scents I will use, because in general they smell awful to me.
I will use:
A Yankee Candle McIntosh scented candle - and that’s the only Yankee Candle scent I can stomach. It actually smells like fresh apples to me.
Febreeze “original scent” - we’ll use it to freshen up the living room if company’s coming over on one of those winter days when you haven’t been able to open the windows fr 3 months because it’s too cold out and the air just smells stale, and we don’t have time to whip out the Murphy’s Oil Soap & clean the floors (Murphy’s Oil Soap seems to trump any other odor in the house - luckily we like it).
Glade Cinnamon Stick scented aerosol spray. Used only in desperation when company’s coming and we just cleaned the cat box & need to dampen down the dusty litter smell.
one other which I discuss below
We tried a million billion kinds of air freshener (every brand & variety we could get our hands on) when we lived in an apartment above a Chain Smoking Crack Whore. Most were horrible and just added a cloying perfumy odor to the cigarette smoke that was leaking into the apartment. A couple actually added a good odor to the cigarrette smoke and those are the ones we still use (see above).
Sort of. Oust Air Sanitizer, Cistrus Scent, does a passable, temporary job of actually seeming to take odors out of the air. You have to spray it into the center of the room for about 10 seconds, and then the scent dissipates in a few minutes and you have about 20-30 minutes before cigarette smoke comes back. It might work longer on less noxious odors.
My favorite air freshener of al time, though, is to throw a dozen whole cloves and a cinnamon stick in a pan of water & simmer it on low on the stove. The cinnamon & cloves smell good, and cloves supposedly fatigue your olfactory receptors so that you are unable to smell anything else for a while. Nice trick, I think!
I leave a can in the hall bathroom in case a guest feels they have compromised the intergrity of the air quality and want to cover their gaseous tracks. All other air aroma needs are met by opening windows and the occasional stick of lilac incence.
Good lord, the rest of us just give in and do a load of laundry!
I never use the things, I can’t stand to smell things other than, say, “soap” or “clean”. I prefer the smell of “nothing”. I have friends who burn scented candles but I’ve never seen one of those air fresheners that miraculously farts out smell every few seconds in anybody’s house.
I will burn candles when the mood strikes, and I’ve done the simmer pots of cinnamon and cloves (usually around the holidays). I’ve Febreezed furniture. Also, you can tell if there’s been plague in the house by the scent of Lysol used for disinfecting purposes, but I never use any spray that’s only fragrance. I’ve always through spraying more scents onto a bad scent just smells worse. Those plug-in thingies and CD aroma doohickies just seem weird to me.
Yes - I use scented products. I smoke, Mr. Adoptamom doesn’t.
I’ve tried lots of products over the years. My recent favs are Yankee candles melted in one of those little warmer pots, along with a lit candle. I also keep those little plug in things in our bathrooms.
Nope. I hate walking down the cleaning aisle at the grocery store, because it makes my eyes and nose itch. Yech. If the kitchen garbage gets stinky, I make a pot of jasmine tea. (After taking the garbage out, obviously.) People keep giving me smelly candles as gifts. Mostly I just save them up for power outages.
Air fresheners are my friends, living with 4 dogs and 2 cats. I am picky about my scents, tho. I like lighter, natural scents, nothing over powering. One of the best I have tried is a citrus spray I get at WalMart, can’t remember the name. A couple light spritzes into each room , and it lasts for HOURS, it is a very clean smell.
