S/O Wearing Perfume

I don't really wear perfume to work, though I use scented body washes and soap, fabric softeners, scented hair products. But I think they fade rather quickly. I don't want to smell too strongly because some patients can't tolerate it.

I really really really hate when patient's wives come up to the desk stinking like Tabu or whatever it is they've been buying since 1948. That Old Lady Perfume is THE WORST.

I've never noticed a lot of scents at the gym, though there tend to be a ton of high school boys working out when I'm there from 3-4:30. They're usually very respectful, work hard, and don't stink like Axe or BO. That's probably more a junior high thing.

DH is more sensitive to it than I am, but there are some that do set me right off almost immediately. Anything patchouli, eucalyptus, lavender or oriental in nature makes me get stuffy and a headache. I use a coconut scented body wash and a ginger scented shampoo but only unscented deodorant, lotion and laundry detergent, no fabric softeners other than plain white vinegar (which totally dissipates when it dries), no laundry scent boosters. 

I used to hate it when I would get my kid clothing on consignment and it would reek of strong laundry products. I’d usually have to wash the stuff 2-3 times with vinegar to get it out because they give my kid eczema. 

We generally don’t do candles, but when we do have one it’s some kind of food smell like cinnamon, vanilla, caramel, citrus or coconut or pine, cedar or peppermint at Christmastime.

Back when I worked retail, I had an elderly lady customer who would bathe in her perfume and it was SO BAD. I could smell her before she even came through the door, and the perfume smell would linger for hours after she left even if I opened up windows or left the door propped open. She was super nice, but that strong perfume smell just killed me every time.

Any chemically based scent can give me a migraine. I can't walk down the laundry aisle at grocery stores because of this. It's one of the reasons I shop for my groceries at Whole Foods-nothing in their store is chemically scented. The products that are available with scent (laundry detergent, shampoo etc.) are scented with essential oils-natural fragrances. 

I use unscented anti-perspirant, and my hair products and soaps are all scented with essential oil. For some reason essential oil based products don't bother me. They are also all light enough that the scent doesn't last. 

It's been a big problem for me to be around those who wear perfume, ect. especially when most folks tend to wear way too much. I dread and fear the day I sit beside someone on a airplane that is loaded with scent. That happened to me on a trip from Baltimore to Atlanta and resulted in a migraine that lasted 2 days.  

Some scents give me very bad headaches. I have never figured out the types, but, for lack of a better way to put it, I seem to do much worse with scents I would describe as old-fashioned.

Not sure which ones but it seems like a multitude of the female and male scents. There are a few that don't bother me but the majority cause a reaction. They make my eyes burn then I start sneezing and become heavily congested. I often have to move seats in meetings and restaurants. I use allergy meds to help control the reaction, but it is not always effective.

I cannot use any scented items in my house or on my body. No scented candles, lotions, deodorant or soap. Sometimes it is a challenge finding unscented items. So much "cucumber vanilla" and "summer breeze" as opposed to unscented.

It's funny, this topic came up recently at Book Club.
I don't wear any perfumes, though I do use a lightly scented (with Essential Oils) deodorant.  I have also, at times, used either coconut oil or a scented hair product in my hair. My soap is scented with essential oils.
I think that, with the preponderance of people who are scent sensitive that it behooves us as a society to not wear chemical scents.
(edited to add "chemical" to the above sentence.)

You provided a tragic example that backs me up - and yet still managed to completely miss the point.

My mother is wrong and she's lying, and it's dangerous. It doesn't matter what's "easier" for her. It matters that people understand allergies and take it seriously at all times. She just needs to say "I'm lactose in tolerant I can have a little milk in my coffee, but I'm sorry I won't be able to have any of that cream cake". There's nothing wrong with that, but it isn't an allery.

As a nurse I understand the seriousness of true allergies, and people out in the community saying they have them when they don't...makes it MORE dangerous for those who do. Your friends daughter is tragically an example of that way of thinking...'clean' is good enough, "a little is OK" etc. It's not.

I am allergic to synthetic grape oil. I discovered this when is was one of the unknowns I had in a chemistry class. I was supposed to identify it. I ended up having an allergic reaction and asked the prof to tell me the unknown. I negotiated a C grade and a friend thoroughly cleaned my lab station.

Then I looked it up. It is an inexpensive base that fragrances are attached to. It is not in everything, but I cannot predict what it is in. It is not listed as a separate ingredient because it is a perfume base. It can even be in the masking fragrance that is used in unscented items. The price of the item does not matter.

A strong perfume may not have it and a weak perfume might. Some deodorants bother me, some don’t. Some soaps bother me, some don’t. Same with shampoos, hairsprays, etc.

At the least, I sneeze, my eyes itch and my nose runs if airborne. At worst I have trouble breathing and must leave the area. Sometimes I take Benadryl. Skin contact ranges from itching to redness to swelling. The longer I am in contact by air or touch, the worse the reaction.

People often do not believe this allergy exists. My professor did not believe it, hence I negotiated a C for a medical condition. As soon as I found out what it was, so many things made sense. Some soaps, lotions and perfumes had made me itch for years before and I did not know why. Both of my sisters may have a sensitivity, as they have a lot of problems with perfumed items.

I have a full blown allergy. I suspect being exposed to the pure substance for a few days to the point that my eyes swelled almost shut, my nose ran like a faucet, I had a terrible headache, my jaw swelled and I sipped soup through a straw, and could not use the soap and shampoo I had been using made it far worse than it would otherwise have been. For about a year afterward I was really hypersensitive.

It really is a curse. Sometimes formulas are changed and I am allergic to the new version. And that it turns up in unscented items makes managing this even harder.
I am pretty sure Febreeze changed its scent base at some point. I used to not be allergic and now I am. It’s not an easy allergy to have.




And yes, it is not consistent because it is not used in all scented items and it is sometimes used in unscented items.

Scents frequently give me migraines . Frankly I feel personally assaulted by them. I know that sounds extreme, but it’s an action by others that causes me great physical harm. The symptoms of my migraines are much more than head pain. I get vertigo, confusion, panic, visual disturbances, light and sound sensitivity. Potentially for days.

I use no products with chemical scents. My dear DS and DIL I live with also use only products that don’t make me sick. My DD unplugs her air “freshener “ things when she knows I’m coming. But going anywhere in a car with her is a trial because of the laundry products she uses.

Right outside our home I often smell the laundry products from our neighbors dryer vent. It is so strong.

I agree with birukitty about the laundry and soap aisles in stores. I often find myself unconsciously holding my breath, and it takes a few seconds my my mind to realize some one or something around me is starting to make me sick. I have gotten up and found different seats at church or the movies because of someone’s scent. I have left parties, cut short shopping trips, or sucked it up and was miserable.

Now I always carry a migraine “rescue med”, which helps but isn’t a miracle.

I appreciate every effort on the part of everybody who works to remove chemical scents from our lives. It’s in SO many products, it can feel impossible to avoid.

I only know because I majored in chemistry! 😀
I don’t know if it is something they test for.

I don’t know that it matters that I know the specifics, since it is not a listed ingredient. It’s the carrier for the fragrance. And it’s in “unscented” items, as well. I spend a looong time reading labels since the word “fragrance” needs to be absent. I am not allergic to all scents, but I don’t know which ones they will be until I react. And I never thought about the “natural” aspect. I really don’t know if that word would include a synthetic base used to carry a natural scent oil.

I’m not sensitive to smells but I don’t like them. The most offensive are scented laundry detergents and fabric softeners. Yet nobody ever complains about those.

I hardly ever wear perfume. I have a few I love though. But, never want to wear them for work or travel for fear it would bother someone. When I work from home, I forget to wear them or think “why bother”, since about 15 minutes after applying I can’t smell it anymore.

I don't know if I'm sensitive, but I do know that I don't want to be able to smell/taste a person's perfume/cologne as they pass me.

I haven't worn perfume since I had a SO.

I purposely don't wear it anywhere that people would be stuck near me and might have to smell it. Doctor's, work, school meetings, etc.