Monday, September 30, 2013

Scents and Sensibility

Let's talk about fragrances. Perfume, bathroom sprays, and the now popular Glade scent dispensers. I hate them all. Who wants their room to smell like something specific (besides a fabulous dinner cooking with lots of garlic and onion and bacon?) All it does is remind me of a bathroom where someone has done something they wish to cover up so they spray the fragrance. ICK.

I hate the commercials, too. You walk by the dispenser, and it automatically squirts a stream of roses and vanilla beans into the air, which dance around and all of a sudden the room is clean, redecorated, and everyone is having a good time. Really? If I defile my room with your scent, then it's clean, I get a new sofa, and my kids are happy? Aren't you stretching the bounds of truth in advertising just a bit?

I also hate perfume. Yes, I used to wear it. When I was younger and didn't know how many people are allergic to it and what it can do to someone with asthma (or as we now know, vocal chord dysfunction.) (If you want to hear me whine about my health instead of scents, there are plenty of stories...and a search box. I do also have stories without whining.) Perfume makes me gag, not be able to breathe well, and irritates me because people wear such horrid scents, like “grandmas' house which hasn't been cleaned in a while but when she did, she found an old bottle of perfume, long since gone rancid”.

I end up wearing those scents, as well. Hug the wrong person at church and you will smell like their perfume for the rest of the day, unless of course you completely change clothes and wash your hair. There's bad cologne rampant out there, too. Hug the wrong man and woman on the same day and you'll be heading to the shower as soon as you get home. Yes, our church is full of huggers. If it weren't for the scent thing, I'd rather like it. It's better than shaking hands, which hurts my fused wrist. (Yes, you can read about that too. A lot about it.)

I do know of a place you can go where there is a “no scents allowed policy”. When I was spending so much time at National Jewish Health, we had to adhere to guidelines which allowed no lotion, perfume, deodorant, “or scents of any kind.” It was a rather refreshing place to be, well, if you don't count all the tubes shoved in uncomfortable places and other torturous tests. So while the air was clear and nice, what happened there wasn't, so it's not like I'm recommending you seek it out.

So what do you think about the rampant need to change the smell of everything? Do you wear perfume or cologne?


~Tina, who prefers the smell of a sidewalk after rain, but does admit that Colorado really doesn't need any more rain at this time...

17 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I wear cologne, but lightly. My wife is also into candles, but I don't mind the scent. Now the smell of a garlic-laden dinner? That's Heavenly!

Lucy said...

Oh, I love Perfume and Cologne, a man with a good a robust but not overly strong cologne, well, I just love. I enjoy scented candles and I prefer someone to spray after using my restroom lol. Now, I never use scented candles with a dinner, I only use unscented, your dinner should always smell the best :)
Otherwise I prefer 'pretty' scents and hopefully nothing overwhelming and I can't stand anyone who doesn't shower daily (to me that is disgusting) and sweaty people and stinky rooms now that grosses me out, just gross.

Unknown said...

I hate walking into a Macy's at the front of the store. I always hold my breath till I pass the ladies with the samples ready to spray you like a roach. Now the bathroom needs something, but I don't know about a garlic and onion and bacon spray.

~Sia McKye~ said...

I'm allergic to many scents but I do have a few I can wear and do. However, I don't bathe in the stuff. ick. I still avoid the cleaning isle in any store and send in hubs to get what I need which is scent free All or Cheer.

I love scented candles. Anything with patchouli has me running for the inhaler. I tend to stick to apple cinnamon scents or mountain rain. There are a few pine scented ones I like.

I also love the smell of ground after a rain. :-)

Sia McKye Over Coffee

Andrea said...

My son has some friends whose house is so doused with the smell of cinnamon from a room fragrance bottle that he actually smells like it when he comes home from spending any significant amount of time over there. When I do laundry, I can tell which clothes he wore over to their house.I just can't imagine living in that is healthy

Jeremy [Retro] said...

i wear the scent of a caveman, when i stink... something goes extinct... my wife has different ones plugged in the whole house, so my experiences is nauseating.

Stephen Tremp said...

I wear scentless deodorant. That's all. Sometimes a little cologne if I'm out with wifey.

Amd like Alex I do love the smell of home cooked Italian food generous with garlic.

Andrew Leon said...

I am mostly unscented these days. Except for my peppermint hand soap. But it doesn't make my hands smell that way.
In comparison to the South, this is a relatively unscented part of the country.

Karen Lange said...

I do wear perfume, but only on special occasions (like dinner out with my husband). Will think more carefully about it now. Thanks for sharing!

Brian Miller said...

i wear cologne...not over powering but...when someone comes in that has too much perfume on...i about want to gag...and i hate the spray air freshners that periodically spritz the room...its like a bomb...

JoJo said...

Perfume gives me a wicked bad headache. I hate it. I don't mind the smell of regular febreze but overall I don't like scents. I prefer unscented candles. I do love lavendar lotion.

klahanie said...

Hey Tina,

I hate those perfume ads even if I'm worth it.

You are not exactly a fan of perfume. And nobody should fan perfume in your direction. This posting made scents, Tina. An aromatic awesomeness, me stinks, um, me thinks. I guess I wont be creating a special perfume in your honour, or honor.

Some smells may need to be covered up. Oops, never mind, I shall blame the dog for the wafting smell :))

I have been known to where a bit of aftershave. Although it sure can stink, um sting.

Take care and go smell a sidewalk.

Gary :)

Rachel said...

I don't usually wear perfume when I go out for the day, but I do when I'm at work. I try not to wear much because I do hate how overpowering it can be (there was a teacher who used to make my mom and I sick all the time). However, I do wear it because I tend to run around a lot. I would rather smell like perfume than like I've been running a marathon.

loverofwords said...

I love real perfume from Paris but do not wear it all the time, sometimes to cheer me up at home. The too sweet, artificial ones make me sick and I think the room scents are not good to inhale by anyone and at one time I read were fire hazards? My mom wore Shalimar and when I tried to buy it recently to try and re-create my memory of her, I found that it had been changed. I know that perfume can trigger asthma attacks so I never wear it to doctor's offices, etc. Do you remember the Al Pacino movie about perfume? Love the topic!

Anonymous said...

I made a midwife leave the room when I was giving birth to my first because her perfume made me feel sick. Who wears perfume to work in a hospital, particularly when surrounded my pregnant women with super-sensitive aural facilities!?

Lisa said...

I have a co-worker who is Middle-Eastern and she had been wearing some really heavy scents that I can't even describe (other than 'nasty') I had to have HR talk to her, since she would come in and be across the room from me and within 10 minutes I'd be getting a headache. I can't imagine the people who sat near her!

I like some the Glade solid air fresheners and the occasional squirt of Febreeze. I love my Yankee Candles, but can only burn the jar ones a short time. I have to stick with tealights.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tina .. I hate all false smells - but I don't like smelly people either - they need a bath!

Why we can't just have natural smells I never know ... bread shops have bread scent wafting out ..

those scented candles I dislike intensely - so many chemicals ...

So I'd go with your rain on the earth ... but I have worn the same perfume since I was 19 - brought back from a Caribbean holiday that a friend's mother had been on .. it just suited me so well - new bottles have on occasions been bought since!

The smell of the sun warming the damp grass ... wonderful - windows open, before the cold sets in later this week ..

Cheers Hilary