A gajillion years ago when I was in the Navy, all cleaning was done with a so-called pine scented cleaner. Oddly enough, that smell doesn’t say “clean” to me at all.
Bleach, however, does. A subtle whiff of chlorine, to me, is the scent of clean. What germ will survive? What stain will endure?
Ammonia is a fairly close second, with the added bonus of really waking me up.
*** Safety note: NEVER mix ammonia and chlorine bleach!! ***
Floral and fruity scents to me signal coverup. Same with disinfectant sprays. Even unscented is ever-so-slightly suspicious.
What smells clean to you? Lemony fresh? Cinnamon? Mr Clean?
For me, the scent of clean is the scent of laundry detergent, usually Tide or something like that. It’s a completely made up smell, it has no natural analogue whatsoever, but I mentally interpret that scent as a mental shorthand for “clean.”
When I’m walking outside, and I pass a house where a clothes dryer that is vented to the outside is running, I stop and take a deep breath. Thatis the “smell of clean”!
For me, it’s “bleachy clean t-shirt,” especially when my husband puts one on fresh out of the shower. The mix of detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and shampoo is just so … clean.
Also, there’s a cleanser called OdoBan that’s serious antibacterial stuff for your floors. Love it!
And Mountain Berry Windex (my favorite variety of glass cleaner).
The scent of clean for me is the scent of Baby Magic Baby Shampoo. I guess I associate it with the scent of my babies after their baths- all Baby Magic!
A close second would be the concoction I make to clean my kitchen.
Boiling water, fresh rosemary twigs, orange zest, and a cup of vinegar. Steep for 15 minutes then clean! It cuts grease like mad!
Oh yeah - nothing like line-dried sheets! Not that it’s an option here, thanks to our stick-in-the-butt homeowner’s association. The only part of my yard that gets enough sun for a clothes line is within view of the road - a fineable offense.
But once upon a time, before HOAs ruled the world, I used to hang out my clothes, and I did love that smell. sigh
Cold. Brisk coldness is clean to me. Although I suppose it would particularly have to be an odorless cold. I love taking a good sniff from the freezer.
All the wonderful new orange products. Yummy. I love to clean the kitchen and then light an apple spice candle in the living room - the scents mingle and smell really good.
Bleach usually smells like swimming pool to me, a clean swimming pool. But I don’t associate a clean swimming pool with the primordial scent of clean.
However, I did say usually. Whenever it is smelled in the vicinity of food, especially a communal food service area such as a restaurant, bleach reminds me of a school cafeteria. Now, “school cafeteria” and “clean” are not exactly ideas that naturally go together: to me, bleach smells like “coverup” with regards to food. Even though logically it should not.
Although it isn’t generally used in cleaners, mint says clean to me. I have a real tough time getting used to non-mint flavored toothpastes; no matter how much I tell myself that the flavoring is irrelevant, I can’t get past these orange flavored toothpastes or (shudder) a bubble gum flavored toothpaste I tried once. Only exception: a cinnamon flavored toothpaste I tried recently.
First thing I thought of when I saw the title of the thread was “chlorine.” It smells…empty, for lack of a better word. Yes there is a scent, but it just seems so…gah! I can’t describe it! But I feel safer with the scent of chlorine (as long as the smell isn’t near my eyeballs.)
Arrrrrghhhhhh I hate all the smells of clean. We use only non-scented cleaning products if at all possible. I hate the smelly perfumy laundry detergents. And don’t get me going about smelly toilet paper!!! To me clean is MrPictsie after a shower with a non-scented bar of soap. Or even a sweaty outdoorsy Mrpictsie. Have we not gotten past the Victorian let’s cover up our natural smells with over-whelming pots of cologne stage yet. Keep your orange and floral and god forgive plug in electrical socket room “fresheners”.
When I think of the smell of “clean” I think of the smell of clean laundry - laundry detergent (without any special scents; just generic laundry detergent) and freshly-dried cotton.
We use only non-scented cleaning products if at all possible. I hate the smelly perfumy laundry detergents. And don’t get me going about smelly toilet paper!!! To me clean is MrPictsie after a shower with a non-scented bar of soap. Or even a sweaty outdoorsy Mrpictsie. Have we not gotten past the Victorian let’s cover up our natural smells with over-whelming pots of cologne stage yet. Keep your orange and floral and god forgive plug in electrical socket room “fresheners”.