# What is the scent of "clean"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478 "2004-01-28T23:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/1 "2004-01-28T23:12:36Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/2 "2004-01-28T23:43:08Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/3 "2004-01-28T23:50:53Z")
april fresh downy. the clorine smell of bleach does not say clean to me, it says swimming pool! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/4 "2004-01-29T00:48:55Z")
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. _That_is the “smell of clean”! ---
**Author:** ![angelicate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@angelicate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angelicate)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/5 "2004-01-29T01:53:39Z")
Bleach or fresh laundry scents. Pine reminds me of funky school cafeterias. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/6 "2004-01-29T01:57:06Z")
In a room, lemon or pine. Ammonia is after that. Bleach smells industrial…which is different than clean. In clothes “dryer sheet scent” ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/7 "2004-01-29T02:15:58Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/8 "2004-01-29T02:20:30Z")
Laundry that’s been dried outside. I’m sorry, using electrical driers smell wrong:) ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/9 "2004-01-29T02:50:59Z")
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! After that would be the bleach smell… FB ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/10 "2004-01-29T11:54:24Z")
> [@Rabid\_Squirrel](#): > > Laundry that’s been dried outside. I’m sorry, using electrical driers smell wrong:) 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** ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/11 "2004-01-29T12:46:09Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![HDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bb73d2/32.png) [@HDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HDS)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/12 "2004-01-29T13:07:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/13 "2004-01-29T14:03:49Z")
To me clean is the absence of all dirt, oil, etc. Clean is nothing and nothing smells like, well, nothing. I hate scented laundry detergent and fabric softeners. Scent does not get clothes cleaner. Clothes should not smell. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/14 "2004-01-29T15:58:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Barber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@Art\_Barber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Barber)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/15 "2004-01-29T20:29:51Z")
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. Art ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/16 "2004-01-29T21:43:38Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/17 "2004-01-30T02:09:08Z")
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”. End of rant :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/18 "2004-01-30T03:05:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/19 "2004-01-30T18:07:24Z")
Hoppes #9 (hey, _somebody_ had to say it) or trichloroethylene ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478/20 "2004-01-30T18:57:40Z")
> [@Kalashnikov](#): > > Hoppes #9 > > (hey, _somebody_ had to say it) That’s a while different level of clean! But I agree, it’s a good smell. a little _too_ good, in the mmm, this could turn me into a huffer sort of way. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-clean/226478.md?page=2)