Well, when I sit next to the window in a seat at the back of the El car, if someone is sitting beside me, I can’t get past while they are in the seat. Most people will let you out when you make a request or move to leave. I have had one person brace herself so that even shoving past her would not work, and another grab the seat in front of us and turn her body to further block me from getting up and leaving, all while yelling at me for being racist (she appeared to be Latina). The former moved when the wheezing and coughing turned to retching. The latter moved when someone nearby asked loudly what the fuck was wrong with her, couldn’t she see that I was not well?
Even expensive perfumes will be obnoxious when they’re slathered on. My daughter uses a rather expensive perfume (it’s not Joy or Chanel No. 5, but it’s not the stuff you can buy for $5 a gallon, either), but when she used to apply it too heavily, it was nasty. After I was finally able to convince her that one or two spritzes would last her throughout the day, it was very nice.
Back when I was in my teens and twenties, the women’s fashion magazines would helpfully suggest that a woman should layer her perfume, that is, she should use dusting powder, and spray the scent in her hair, and spritz it on ALL of her pulse points, and then soak a cotton ball in the scent and tuck it into her bra, so that her scent wouldn’t fade. And she should carry a solid applicator of perfume for touchups. After all of that, a woman would probably not be scent free until she took about three showers. In high school, there was a solid perfume that came in a little silver apple on a chain. All the popular girls wore that apple, and frequently applied the perfume.
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
I almost didn’t drink coffee today because the filters were put in the closet with all the fragrant teas. 
Lots of people have, for years, told me I smell good. I wonder if an equal number of people are gagging in my wake?
I think I know the smell you’re referring to - I wish I knew which note that cucumbery scent was, so I could avoid it on all perfumes. That is one of my least favourite scents.
Ellen Cherry, I love your title. 
One time as a joke, a coworker doused my chair in cheap perfume. I stomped into his office, where he had a guest, and told him in no uncertain terms that it was not funny! It was the grossest two days I’ve ever spent.
He apologized profusely, but I was pissed for a long time for that stupid stunt.
Remind me when my husband stored the grapefruit, bananas and onions in the same bin. I found out that two year olds will eat banana and onion flavored grapefruit, because I would not.
I don’t generally have a strong sense of smell, but when women use the soap, body lotion AND perfume, I just want to gag. The other thing I cannot take is the smell of clothing washed in Gain. Oh man, it’s just too much! And yes, there are times when, if I’m around a perfumed person for a while, sometimes, I will be able to taste that on my tongue. I gave up wearing perfume (why no, I did Not douse myself), years ago, because shortly after applying it, I tasted it. Some lotions and soaps will also cause that. It’s just nasty.
A dab, a DAB, mind you, on the pulse points of the neck and another dab smeared on the wrists is really all it takes. 
I always think someone doused in perfume must need to bathe and can’t take their own stink.
I think everyone can agree that too much perfume is hard to take.
Sounds like the same kind of magazine that ran ads suggesting women should douche with Lysol to keep themselves fresh and clean.
I don’t like it, but like so many things I have my own take on it.
People have a scent, some have a very pleasant scent, others have a scent that is unpleasant. Most people are not consciously aware of this scent IMHO, but subconsciously are able to pick up on it, though people in Love with each other can usually pick up on each others scent at times. I suspect, and it has been my experience, that those using very heavy perfume do emit a unpleasant scent naturally and are trying to hide it, so it’s a combo of way too much perfume + a unpleasant natural scent.
If I hug you and you smell good (particularly if you smell like cookies), then that’s awesome. If I know you’re here before you even walk into the room - that’s gaggy.
I’m not fond of artificial fragrances because I kind of find it reassuring that humans smell like humans, cats smell like cats, babies smell like diaper products, horses smell like horses, and dogs smell like whatever they rolled in. When a human smells like flowers or ox pee, it weirds me out.
The magazines did run ads for douche products, but they weren’t by Lysol. I’m not quite THAT old. Oh, and they ran ads for “feminine deodorant sprays” too.
Oh, I think they did.
I don’t think that that many people have an unpleasant scent. As long as they’re showering regularly and not smoking, eating a lot of garlic, or any other thing that makes them smell repulsive, I think that the vast majority of people smell normal. Naturally smelling bad would be pretty rare, I think, and indicative of an abnormal condition such as disease.
What I hate is buying a magazine and having to rip out ALL of those freaking perfume samples before I can read the damned thing!!! Ugh!!!
The fact that those things exist, combined with the advice in the magazines, makes me think this perfume hatred is really not as wide-spread as it seems.
I think most people have a problem with too much perfume, but that people tend to define what is too much differently. I’ve known guys that girls would always talk about smelling nice–and they carried a 3-foot radius of cologne with them at all times.
In fact, that’s why I overused it for a while. I was trying to emulate the guy getting the chicks.
A person’s natural scent actually is independent of diet, smoking as I encounter them, yes those things carry a scent but that is in addition.
Heavy perfume users usually in my experience have that bad scent, even when they are not using perfume.
There is a difference between a diseased scent and their scent.
I have contacted all the magazines I subscribe to and told them to send me only fragrance-free copies. It takes about two months to kick in, but they comply. Doesn’t help with newsstand copies, of course, but it’s a great relief not to have to de-stink the magazine on the front doorstep before I can even go in the house.