Perfume in the office

I’m with you OP. Strong perfume gives me a headache. Same with excessive fabric softener, aftershave or incense sticks. All of it is yuck!

I love scent, and would hate it to be banned, but I agree with OP hat it shouldn't be used too strongly and with consideration of others. I like to wear it in such a way that only people right next to me can detect it. I've suffered too much from smells that invade

I don't think those of us who suffer would mind a subtle spritz of some fresh nice day wear eau de toilette like a cologne (for example how about ck1 or Chanel Chance).

But going to work in an office in a full 'on the pull' musky evening perfume is horrible and antisocial. I'm neuro, migrained and asthmatic and it's just a health hazard .

I once walked into the office and said ‘flipping heck it smells like toilet cleaner in here’. Turns out is was somebody’s new perfume gifted by a service user. Oops 😬

When I cycle to work in the morning I usually meet another woman cycling the other way who wears soooo much perfume I can actually follow the scent trail for half a mile up the cycle track - it's honestly that strong.

She wears Aromatics by Clinique, which I actually like. But, as some may know, it's a HUGE scent and you only need one spritz. Wherever she works she'll be stinking out the whole building!

Men are worse in my opinion. drenched in after shave that smells like nuclear toilet cleaner or sweet nasty (worst offenders, most Tom Ford stuff and Chanel blue and Sauvage). Don't get me started in the horrible OUD style perfumes. I suffer from asthma and migraine and the smell of these horrible perfumes puts me in the toilet.

Christ, I think the person who created Dior Poison came up with that !. It certainly did.

I prefer a light subtle scent, a touch behind my ears and on my wrists that someone would have to get fairly close and intimate in order to detect.

Perfume is not supposed to fell your victim at 20 paces.

We live in the western world where access to clean water is thankfully a right. Nobody needs to be unwashed.

The jacket sleeve must be on your wrist bone - any shorter or longer will not do wagging finger

It was at large, old money / old school accountancy firm (not Big4)! I was just thinking wtf have I got myself into 😂

Agreed. For those of us with sensory issues, it’s absolutely foul. If someone stinks of perfume/aftershave I assume they dislike soap or are just not very classy.

Less is more.

This would actually stop me being able to work in that office. It’s horrible to have barriers like this to daily life and earning a living. It makes life very difficult. People who do this are very selfish.

It’s not either/or. I’m horrified by the number of people on this thread who seem to think the natural state of a human being is to smell of BO/poo. Have a wash and wear clean clothes- you then won’t need to mask anything.

I get very painful sinusitis and also eye allergies to perfume, plug ins, reed diffusers, strong cleaning sprays etc. I have permanent corneal damage from the eye irritation over the years. Fragrance sensitivity is no joke. When my sinuses kick off I end up in bed with saline washouts, steroid spray and codeine phosphate because the pain is so sharp. The steroid spray causes my nose to bleed if I use it too often.

Sorry but this is really gross. Trying to cover up the smell of not having washed with perfume smells worse than ever. Just have a wash.

Out of interest, what was the job and what are the key points about jacket sleeve length?

Just walking through the perfume section in John Lewis or Debenhams is enough to make me feel sick. I avoid them like the plague. And don’t get me started on Lush…

I avoid the perfume sections of department stores in hayfever season (not easy, as they're so often at the front of the store). And I avoid Lush full stop.

Better than smelling of poo or BO

Because it has to be one or the other?

Many people do carry out their personal grooming on the bus or train - brushing long hair, putting on makeup, painting nails. Same as many people have phone conversations about private matters on the bus or train where everyone can hear.

Better than smelling of poo or BO

I've said this before but there is a special place in hell reserved for people who spray perfume in public places.There is no need to do it. Would you carry out other parts of your personal grooming routine in the office or on the number 6 bus? The worst is somewhere like a bus where I can't get away from it and can feel the migraine coming by my stop. I know the environment cannot be totally controlled but unnecessary odours like perfume do not belong where others have to suffer them. Keep them for at home.

"Dior Poison was bad enough back in the day. Now it seems every damn perfume uses that scent as its benchmark to smell stronger. Gross."

Dior Poison is not perfume, it's insecticide. 😁

And that's why some Asthmatics don't use swimming pools.

Showing your ignorance there.

I'm with you all the way on this! I HATE perfume - many make my eyes water and my nose run. And that grim after smell of skunk that lingers on people's clothes.... yuk, just yuk!

I suspect it was more the 'ban everything that smells' posts that people are objecting to. I think most people try to wear fairly subtle perfume to work but then sometimes accidentally spray too much or spray at lunchtime so have half an hour or so where the top notes are intrusive before the perfume calms down again.

There's presumably some super smellers about as well, there's been a few posts about Sol de Janeiro but DD wears it and it's an inoffensive gourmand perfume that's very fashionable with the young.

YANBU that people should be considerate when they work in an office, and this is just part of that. I tend to enjoy a waft of perfume when someone walks by, but being stuck next to them all day might not be so pleasant. Some people (like my Dad) have allergies and are sensitive to strong scent. Being forced to stay in an enclosed space with someone who smells strongly (whether through BO or perfume) would make his job more difficult.

It's one of the reasons I was thrilled to be working from home. I'm very sensitive to noise and scents.
Am i the only one who doesn't like adults smelling of baby powder?