I love wearing perfume and own many fragrances. I tend to apply lightly and do not like perfumes that project a lot. I hate musks. I use unscented shower gel and body lotion, unscented detergents and dryer sheets and I don’t care for home fragrances. I don’t use scented candles as I would probably forget to blow them out!
Basically I like what I like, and I also dislike a great many perfumes – so I sympathize with many of the above posters.
For this reason, I mostly wear perfume at home for my personal pleasure. I don’t wear it to appointments, movie theaters, hospitals, church, on airplanes or anywhere else that people obliged to be near me for an extended time might be imposed on. I sometimes wear perfume when out shopping or running errands-- but even then, I tend to spray it under clothing so there is not a lot of projection.
I don’t like Yankee Candle or other highly scented shops. I do love the smell of beeswax candles, however, and love smelling them at holiday fairs, even though I don’t light them at home.
The ones that kill me every time (EVERY TIME!) are the laundry isle at the store (I just cannot do it), and those cinnamon brooms that seem to pop up this time of year. I like most essential oil and I don’t mind scented candles unless they’re of the cinnamon and evergreen (pine) varieties.
Yes - migraine triggers!! Most perfumes/colognes, especially in an enclosed space, and exhaust fumes from diesel cars/trucks. If I am driving and I end up behind certain vehicles, I end up with a terrible migraine. (I have other triggers that are not olfactory.)
For those with extreme sensitivity to scents - please let any service or trades people know about it when you schedule service in your home. I had a technician who got locked out of a home when he went to his truck because he was wearing deoderant! The customer never warned us and then make a big stink about it :))
@sorghum Subway is the worst. Those shops literally smell like vomit to me. And there is a Subway inside the only big box store within 20 miles of here, so sometimes, I cannot avoid it.
The other smell offenders are the teen stores Hollister and Abercrombie. You need a hazmat suit and a respirator just to walk past them.
But I have to confess to loving perfume. My perfume. I don’t like most of the others.
Many shrug off how drastic the affect of fragrance is on those affected. Allergy shots do not help with fragrance sensitivity. I won’t go near a laundry/soap aisle, a candle store, the perfume department, Bath & Beyond, etc. I try not to go to Walmart, etc. from now until Jan 1, as they perpetually have those scented pinecones. Cigarette smoke is hell, and I live in a very high smoking rate state. Fabric softener is another nightmare.
Daily I take Flonase, allergy drops (shots), and an assorted combination of Zyrtec, Allegra, Benadryl, Chlortrimeton. Once the trigger occurs, it will stay until at least the next morning. It definitely affects my willingness to be out in public.
I like different scents. Like everyone there are a few products, perfumes and industrial chemicals that are strong and make me sneeze but most times you can remove yourself. Although I vividly recall being a child and being in a pew behind a heavy perfume wearer. I wear layers of one scent so body wash, deodorant and lotion in a what is a seasonal scent for me. My personal fav is Elizabeth Arden green tea which on me is a fresh scent. I have others that I similarly layer.
I like the smell of Subway bread baking…there is one next door to my gym which is ironic since bread is a treat for me!
You will never get consensus on most smells… I am convinced that is one of those unique to each person things. Some I like, some I don’t and some make me sneeze. Many scents have an indelible connection to people or places I have known or experienced along the way.
I explained to my girls that perfume is meant to be smelled when someone comes in close enough for a hug. Or when you want them to move from close to closer.
A former coworker used to load on some heavy French scent that took the oxygen out of our corner. Until the day the big boss walked through and loudly exclaimed, “Why the heck does it smell like a French w****house?!” After he passed, the coworker asked me what he was referring to. Sigh.
A different issue: in one office, someone made popcorn every mid-afternoon and burned it. And guess whose desk was under the vent from the break room? Ugh.
Appreciate all the thoughtful replies and value hearing the range of experiences that generated a lot of questions.
Scents impact a number of us in different ways; interesting to hear of places where people are requested to omit scents. I have not seen such signage. How do people who ordinarily wear scents (strong or light, as that can be relative) respond to that request? Is it perceived as reasonable in a doctor’s office, but not in a non-medical setting? Is it ever okay?
Does reading about the number of people who have significant health reactions impact decision-making around using fragrances outside of home? Should it? I find it complex as it is something that many enjoy (for others, an important business) and yet it may at times be an “intrusive” and debilitating choice for others, however unintended.
Being near the wrong scent can highjack a day. It is not a matter of like or dislike; the symptoms can be severe enough to stop one in their tracks for hours. There isn’t necessarily a medical fix , in some cases just the tincture of time. Some scents are unavoidable; can there be a way to minimize severe symptoms by reducing exposure to the optional ones that works a bit better? Especially concerned about confined situations where re-locating is at best cumbersome and frequently impossible.
Thanks for all the thoughts from a variety of vantage points and hope there are more. I sometimes wonder how or if perceptions of the dilemma will shift over time. No easy fix…
My DH has a very sensitive nose. He will yell from another part of the house “are you putting on hand lotion?” without fail when I use a regular (non scented) lotion. He also can’t stand to be around if I am wiping down the counters with a spray. But he doesn’t get asthma or anything.
I can’t stand fake scents like room fresheners. But I do enjoy some seasonal yankee candles. I do use some essential oils on my wool dryer balls.
@surfcity: long list of possible symptoms, including many mentioned on the thread. Migraines, nauseau, asthma, watery or burning eyes, running nose, sensation that throat is closing, cough. Not all are traditional allergy symptoms. In some cases it is described as sensitivity to something. Many symptoms preclude much “functioning” and may persist post-exposure. Not a medical expert, hoping perhaps others will share info as well as symptoms .
Thank you @travelnut To be clear, I was not doubting anyone’s reaction to smells, I was more curious what “allergy” symptoms presented as rather than just irritation. I was wondering if folks got hives or itching etc.
I occasionally feel that smothering sensation or throat closing sensation but I think that is more irritation and not a true allergy.
I have read about people getting headaches etc. My daughters allergist has a sign asking people to not wear scents. It must be very frustrating to be captive to things like smells.
I’d much rather a pretty scent, (even if its not my personal taste) or pipe smoke, than inhale the odor of popcorn, fast food, cigarettes, body odor or being ‘downwind’ of somebody else’s gas, especially if I am talking and inadvertently inhale a mouthful!
Popcorn at the place popping it at the mall is a very tough scent for me to tolerate, it causes me to have coughing fits. Regular other cooking smells are ok in moderation except hot oil over a prolonged period.
I think many people have scents that either trigger negative reactions or in some cases a physical reaction sometimes exacerbated by anxiety but most can be mitigated and handled in a case by case basis if occurring in the workplace.
I have a contact allergy with some fragrance components, so I have to be careful what touches my skin. I’ve broken out in hives from trying on clothes before (likely because of chemicals used to treat the fabric). I have, on rare occassion, found myself developing hay fever-like allergy symptoms (runny nose, itchy, watery eyes) in makeup and candle/bath and body stores. Some people with my allergies will have asthma attacks triggered by fragrances.
This is an allergy I didn’t develop until I was in my 40s, and I ended up in Urgent Care more than once with horrible allergic reactions until I got testing done to figure out what was causing those reactions. I think we’re going to see more and more people affected as time goes by and maybe we will see some changes and more “fragrance free” workplaces and hotels in the future. (Like how “peanut free classrooms” were the thing of science fiction in our childhoods.)
“I have to be careful what touches my skin. I’ve broken out in hives from trying on clothes before (likely because of chemicals used to treat the fabric).”
You might want to avoid Bass Pro and other stores that stock large amounts of clothing treated with various repellants. I walked through a Bass Pro with my husband once and on the car ride home had hives on both arms. Couldn’t figure out why. By the next day the hives were gone but there were raw patches that looked like burns on the outside of both arms right above, along and below the elbow - from that pattern it was obvious that just walking past and brushing against the clothes had created the irritation.