-Do you wear a scent on a daily basis? Perfume, cologne, aftershave?
I am allergic to strong scents, and it seems that at least once a week I am confronted with a scent that makes me sneeze and can trigger asthma. If you do wear scent, do you know how much you are applying and how it affects others? Some people wear just enough to be noticed. Others wear so much that their scent can be detected from 10 feet away and walk around trailing a nearly visible cloud of scent. Other people’s reactions to it are meaningless to them. If anyone has the temerity to let them know that their scent is a problem, the smelly one often condemns the victim of the scent as rude and mean. It seems that people who have an allergy to strong scents must never leave the confines of their home and go out in public, because by doing so they have infringed on the rights of the perfume-wearer by wanting to breathe.
I know of a woman who was willing to force a church choir director out of the job when she was told that it is a common rule of choirs to not wear scents either in practice or performance.
People have also reacted as if I asked them not to bathe. I have no real problems with general grooming products, but strong scents are a problem. My rule for my classroom is you should smell clean, but not pretty.
No.
I feel you, I really hate, hate the smell of ‘gain’ detergent. Now they have these fresh scent crystals you can add to you washer. As if the detergent isn’t offensive enough. I bought one pkg. of the gain pods. I used 2 of them, it permeated my house so bad it took a month to clear it out. I am not kidding, it is bad stuff. It should be outlawed. I have mild asthma. I cannot be around alot of sprays and scents or I start wheezing and have use my rescue inhaler.
I’m one of those people who loves wearing fragrance, but over time as more and more people have expressed their sensitivity, I have worn less and less. Sometimes I use a light spritz of something if I am in the mood, but I am always careful not to overdue, and I haven’t gotten any complaints.
One trick I use is that I sometimes put on scent right before I go to bed. It’s just for me, and I get to enjoy it, but then it washes off in the morning and I go to work clean but unscented.
The global fragrance market continues to grow, and is expected to be $92 billion by 2024, so someone is still enjoying the stuff.
I don’t wear any scent at all. (I do try to bathe once in a while…)
My old boss was fond of using WAY too much cologne. You could smell her before she walked into your office.
(I guess it isn’t as bad as cigarette smoke…)
I like perfume and wear it pretty often. One spritz on my chest before I get dressed–so it’s covered by clothes. That keeps it, I like to think, fairly tame, and mostly something that I smell.
I’m also put off by 99% of perfumes. I’m very choosy about what I’ll wear. The chypre and floral types are right out, as are all cheap scents–air fresheners, fabric softeners, bath products, etc.
Never had anyone complain to me about my perfume.
I wear cologne, although very lightly. One of the best tips I picked up from GQ when I was in my early 20’s is to spray the colgone, then just walk through the mist. You’d have to get very close to me to notice it.
I had the misfortune of working with a woman who was an anti-scent fanatic among her many other flaws. She was an absolute psycho bitch who would go up and down the aisles ranting, “I smell cologne!!”
Not any more. Most workplaces have scent-free policies and have for years. So, I stopped wearing cologne about 10 years ago.
Something changed in my sense of smell about 5 years ago. A lot of things started smelling different to me. Most women’s perfume reminds me of bug spray now. It’s almost choke worthy. I don’t have allergies or anything, but I don’t know why people want to smell that way.
Shopping in any aisle with anything scented, whether it’s laundry or trash bags, is hazardous. And then there’s the candles and scent warmers. Every arts and crafts fair has to have at least one Scentsy vendor stinking up the place. When the local library opened their new building, someone had the brilliant idea to burn scented candles or wax. Now the smell has permeated the building and every book in it. One of the best refuges in any community is now off-limits for me.
I don’t really like them, but thank God for e-books that I can get 24/7 with wifi.
I once knew a woman who had multiple sclerosis. I went to a meeting with her for people with this (and possibly other related problems.) It was the first no scent place I’d ever been to and they were very strict about it. If anyone wearing anything smelly came in, they were required to remove it at the door and there were cotton balls and rubbing alcohol available for this purpose.
Though my sense of smell has waned over the years, I wish more places did this. Some strong scents used to give me ocular migraines. Small beans compared to other folks experience but I understand a bit what they must be going through.
But it really irritates me when I find a product that claims to be “unscented” and there’s a definite perfumy smell to it. Why do some manufacturers seem to have some confusion when it comes to that word?
I don’t wear any scents beyond whatever is in my soap or shampoo. Never have. The only exceptions was high school dances or special date nights where I’d put a little cologne on. Never got into that sort of thing. Never cared. ETA: I shouldn’t completely say never cared. There were some perfumes my girlfriends wore that would just – I don’t know – just tickle me in all the right places.
No, we practice a fragrance-free work environment. Adding a scent is entirely unnecessary and can easily make people with chemical sensitivities and allergies sick.
I am another who gets reacts to perfume, I haven’t done much social in a while, a contributing factor is that it does seem that there are folk that haven’t got the memo about limiting the use of scent.
Zuer-coli
The only scented thing I use is my shower soap, and my husband (who has a pretty good nose) tells me that he can’t smell it on me after a shower. I don’t wear colognes of any kind, and my laundry detergent is non-scented, largely due to allergies but also due to preference.
Very, very occasionally I will catch a whiff of something pleasing in the air as someone (man or woman) passes by. At the other extreme is the woman I used to work with who was described by a female co-worker as smelling like a (ethnicity deleted) whore at opening time. Strong perfumes in close quarters make me physically sick. I’m glad that, in places where I am now most of the time, the trend has been away from strong scents.
I will occasionally wear a soft essential oil - usually grapefruit or lime. Basically only fruit-derived scents that could have come from my breakfast. I find that bright citrus scents help my mood immensely.
Another good tip is to wear them at the ankle instead of the neck. That way only the tiniest waft gets to anyone else, but you’ll smell it while your sitting for long periods.
In my early 20’s a friend borrowed a favorite dress. She wore it with “Opium” or “Red Door” perfume. Something so strong that after three dry-cleanings it still stank to high heaven. I will never understand the aesthetic of paying to reek like that.
Ditto anything with musk in it, and good luck finding a perfume that doesn’t. I mean, if you want to smell like a sweaty ox’s scrotum, why bother showering at all?!?
Most artificial scents apparently contain something I’m sensitive to, and have a harsh chemical scent to me that makes my sinuses and throat burn. So the last thing I want to do is wear some.
Then there are the people who wear lots of perfume to cover up cigarette smoke, which doesn’t work. You just smell like someone poured cheap perfume into an ash tray.
I got to sit next to someone like this on an airplane once. She must have smoked a whole pack in preparation for a two-hour, non-smoking flight. Then doused herself with a whole bottle of something. I guess all she could smell was the perfume. I just about passed out, and I don’t normally react that strongly to scents, but this was like having a rag soaked in one held over my nose. In a smokey room.
(ethnicity deleted) whore? Are you afraid to say French but not afraid to say whore?
When I was a little girl, about 7, my parents took me to see an outdoor theatrical production of West Side Story. It was wonderful – except for one thing: Some woman in front of me was wearing a heavy perfume that cloaked the atmosphere for a dozen feet around her. I ended the night with a throbbing headache and vomiting when I got home. Much as I love West Side Story, those are always my first memories of it.
Many years later, I worked indirectly with a woman who laid on the perfume so heavy that you could smell her – I kid you not – a city block away. It was horrible. As a result, the court reporter with whom I directly worked and I had an agreement that if either one of us ever felt the other was wearing too much scent, we’d mention it! I was always careful to dab just the tiniest amount behind the ears. It’s already a subtle scent, so happily, I’ve never received complaints.
Had a friend come stay for a visit a few months ago who used the spray-and-walk method. I don’t know what the scent was, but it was much too heavy. I had to ask her to not wear it anymore… felt bad about that, but I was worried about a repeat of the blinding headache situation. Even so, my house smelled of that unpleasant scent for a month. Ugh.
I’d have no problem respecting a no-scent environment if asked.
I have a devout friend who does not ever go to church because of the perfumes. She does come to Sunday school, but won’t enter the sanctuary. AFAIK, no one at that church ever mentioned the problem to the congregation.
So who are the outliers, the people who are compassionate about others, or the ones who are mortally offended when asked to tone it down?