# Grossed out by perfume... anyone else? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247 "2010-04-24T22:05:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/21 "2010-04-25T02:33:15Z")
Perfume is such a personal thing, what smells great to one person is vile to another. I blame Bath & Body Works for foisting all that cheap and fruity stuff on the public. Can’t stand any of it, and I can’t stand musk, either. I think after a while, you get so used to your perfume you can’t smell it any more, and so you spray on more! This practice should be restricted for the sake of society. A little. A little goes a long way. Remember Giorgio of Beverly Hills perfume, all the rage in the 80’s? It was everywhere! It was actually rather nice, but it was SO powerful you could smell it a mile away. Women wearing it were banned from restaurants in NYC, is what I’d heard, and with good reason. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/22 "2010-04-25T02:53:53Z")
Meh. I’m bothered by old lady perfume; concentrated lavender and rose scents. Otherwise, no biggie. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/23 "2010-04-25T06:54:40Z")
Even though I have a muted sense of smell due to allergies and sinus problems, perfume is very sensitive to my nose. My daughter has taken to spraying the cat with a perfume bottle when she won’t go to sleep, so by morning the basement smells like a whorehouse. There’s one woman I work with that uses a special concoction of urinal cakes and citrus. I want to know what scent that is, write the company and tell them to stick to making urinal cakes, not perfume. It’s awful. However, when the redhead at work asks me to do a perfume check, I’m a little more compliant to help 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/24 "2010-04-25T11:39:44Z")
If you’re trailing it, that’s too much. I love it if you’re close enough up to someone, either perfume or aftershave. I wear just a little Channel 19, one spray on one wrist and rub them together. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/25 "2010-04-25T12:15:15Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Someone who puts on just a little so you have to be very close to them, I wouldn’t have a problem with. If I can smell you from 10 feet away, that’s offensive. If you leave a wake, it’s TOO DAMNED MUCH. This, exactly. Perfume in small doses can be pleasant, but walking through a cloud of it burns my sinuses, and standing in line near the cloud-maker for just a few minutes would make me nauseous and give me a headache. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/26 "2010-04-25T13:16:33Z")
I’m with Opalcat on this one. As a guy, a tiny hint of perfume can be interesting, but anything more is overkill. And talcum powder is better than perfume any time. There was a woman who worked in our office who used to marinate herself in perfume, and several people asked to have their desks moved to be further away from her. We all suspected she got the stuff in gallon jugs. > [@Chefguy](#): > > I prefer women who are smokers and who splash perfume all over them before they come into an enclosed space. Like a movie theater. Or a job interview. Or a football field. I really hope you’re being sarcastic here. The smell of cigarette smoke and heavy perfume is the absolute worst smell in the world to me. I’d rather sit next to someone who had a continual and uncontrollable farting problem. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/27 "2010-04-25T13:24:04Z")
My ex-mother-in-law was a “douser”. Oh dear lord above, that woman would drown herself. When I was pregnant, I literally could not sit in the same room with her. It made me sick to my stomach. Of course, she had that effect on me minus the perfume, but that’s another subject. My daughter currently has some kind of perfume that I can’t stand. I don’t mind the ones, worn lightly, with a powdery scent, but this one has some sickly sweet alcohol-y scent. Not sure that describes it correctly, but just to say, I can’t stand it. And of course she feels the need to spray herself down in the car if she’s running late to something… GAG ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/28 "2010-04-25T13:56:50Z")
I am allergic to fragrance, but even if I weren’t, I agree that most people wear far, far too much. A few weeks ago my husband and I were walking the dogs and we passed a house on the opposite side of the street where some people were walking out the door and _we could smell one of the women_. I almost gagged and even my husband, who isn’t usually sensitive to that kind of thing, was amazed and repelled. He just said he couldn’t imagine what it was like inside that house. When people can smell it from across the street? [del]You might be a redneck[/del]You’re wearing too much. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/29 "2010-04-25T13:57:13Z")
Even worse, there were some perfumes from the 50’s that had leathery or bitter cig-smoky elements built right in. They don’t make 'em like that any more, but their names are legend in the perfumista world. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/30 "2010-04-25T14:11:34Z")
Can’t _stand_ perfume. It irritates the hell out of me. I’d rather sit next to a homeless guy that’s been sleeping in his clothes for months than someone wearing perfume. Even “subtle” perfume irritates me. Horrible chemical reek. I’m not allergic, I just _hate_ the smell of perfume. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/31 "2010-04-25T14:13:36Z")
Some perfumes are a real turn on for me. I’d rather be with someone with perfume than someone with BO ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/32 "2010-04-25T15:27:19Z")
‘Perfume’ covers such a wide range of smells, from pure essential oils to Axe body spray. I’ve held my breath in the elevator over someone’s stinkwater, but then I also often find myself almost enamored over someone’s perfume or cologne. When I was a teenager there was just something about Clinique Happy for Men and Acqua Di Gio that just did it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/33 "2010-04-25T16:21:45Z")
Very few perfumes are tolerable. BLECH!!! We have a friend who apparently _bathes_ in the stuff. EGAD!!! I once rode in a car with her and was nauseous the whole time. I had a co-worker who was similarly perfumy, and I couldn’t sit near her in meetings. Now, both of these are people who really overdosed on the stuff. I’m mildly more tolerant of people who use more modest amounts but even then, at the end of the day, that stale smell is gag-inducing. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/34 "2010-04-25T16:26:57Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > But maybe Opals point is self-selecting? After all, if the person had applied the scent sparingly, would Opal be aware of it at all? Yeah, this is right. I’ve already said that if it’s really subtle, I don’t mind it. I think that perfume should be primarily between you and your lover. Nobody who doesn’t get THAT close to you should really be able to smell you, IMO, (whether your perfume or your actual body odor). My husband has a cologne that I like a lot, but I had to get him to dial it waaay back when I met him. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/35 "2010-04-25T16:39:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Given a choice between, say, gasoline and perfume I’ll take the odor of gasoline any day. Perhaps you’ve inadvertently stumbled upon a solution here: gasoline-scented cologne for men. The real MANLY men’s scent! Also check out our popular Lawn-Clippings scent… ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/36 "2010-04-25T17:02:58Z")
I used to dislike it and believed it gave me migraines. Then I discovered that good perfume smells wonderful. It doesn’t smell artificial to me. Its subtle (when applied subtly) and really pleasant. It doesn’t even taste bad when licked. I got to stay at the Four Seasons Kempinski in Munich. The whole lobby smelled of very expensive perfume. Heavenly. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/37 "2010-04-25T17:20:01Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > And I had to really educate my daughter about this, as she used to apply perfume with one of those roller brushes for painting walls, or so it seemed. Thank you! Allergies and attacks of The Sneezes aside, I’m fine with it if it’s applied ligthly, but most of the time I notice someone’s perfume they’re several meters away. That just shouldn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/38 "2010-04-25T17:36:49Z")
BTW, I wear perfume, but avoid wearing any if I’m going to be in tight quarters - namely airplanes. Airplanes you get me pretty much ‘au natural’ - soap and that is it. I wouldn’t trap someone next to me for hours who I smell disagreeable to. But pressed up close to me in a crowded elevator, you are going to have to deal for a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/39 "2010-04-25T17:44:04Z")
> [@RalfCoder](#): > > I really hope you’re being sarcastic here. The smell of cigarette smoke and heavy perfume is the absolute worst smell in the world to me. I’d rather sit next to someone who had a continual and uncontrollable farting problem. I’ll be right over. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247/40 "2010-04-25T18:35:05Z")
I suspect that older people start wearing more cologne/perfume because their sense of smell may be diminishing with age; they apply until they can smell it and figure it must be the right amount. Me, I prefer a “clean” smell over perfumes (or BO obviously) and it seems one can get that scent from using the right kinds of shampoos and bath soaps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossed-out-by-perfume-anyone-else/537247.md?page=3)