AIBU to expect air freshener in toilets when visiting friends?

No, it's never occurred to me to have one of those gross-smelling things in my house for the sake of guests, any more than it would occur to me to decorate the bathroom in a style I don't like for the sake of guests. If others want weird synthetic chemical smells in their houses that's up to them, but it's not for me. Guests are entitled to a bathroom door that locks, a loo that flushes, hand soap, loo roll and a towel; that's all.

I used to think that after a bad one that if I turned on the light in the toilet there would be an explosion

I came here to say this!
Cheaper, more environmentally friendly and it really works.

I hate artificial air fresheners. I do t mind a really natural diffuser but I think this is a weird expectation.

We always have one! It’s mortifying when you make a smell and have nothing to mask it with!

You are somewhat wrong. Febreze - unlike other air fresheners- can actually bind the molecules and reduce the actual odour. They had to add fragrances to their sprays because of marketing (as people didn’t feel the need to use pure odour eliminator).

IMO air freshener is only needed in dirty houses. In a clean house if someone does an unusually smelly poo all that is needed is an extra flush or two to clear the air.

Im with her, toilet brushes are grim. I use one of toilet duck flushable things

I hate going into a loo where there’s no open window or way of it smelling fresh.
Whilst air freshener isn’t great it is far better than some of the scents in the toilet cubicles at work.

With all the 'bog brush' talk I have to add, I started a thread a couple of years ago about a lodger I had leaving the loo pebble-dashed and was absolutely annihilated for NOT having a loo brush! I do have one now, but if I am totally honest I am not sure of how to operate it. I've learned a few methods from this thread!

Air fresheners are toxic and an environmental scourge. They also exude the most awful, sickly synthetic smell which doesn't even mask the original smell. In fact it makes it even more obnoxious.

No we don't because they trigger my cluster headaches, i'd rather smell shit 24/7 every day for the rest of my life than have another one 🤣

No air freshener and no toilet brush. I’m surprised my guests keep on coming 😂

Why would air freshener be less embarrassing. People will still know you’ve been… It’s not a more pleasant smell anyway.

Another one who really hates the smell of crappy air fresheners mixing with toilet smells and making it 10 times worse. Reed diffuser or candle or open window.

I have severe respiratory issues and a complex heart condition. I do not have anything like air freshener near my house. When I went into labour with my oldest, a family friend wanted to do something nice for me. She borrowed my house keys off my mum and hoovered, dusted, tidied away stuff (I went into labour during the afternoon and didn’t have a chance to clear up). As a final thing, rather than opening the windows and leaving them on the latch, she used Air Freshener everywhere.
I came home with my newborn and stepped into my house and started coughing. I turned around and asked my husband to open every window and door, because I couldn’t breathe. He actually had to go around with his jumper and tshirt pulled over his mouth, to open everything, even the loft hatch.
I spent the first 3 days after coming home with my mum, whilst I waited for it to actually dissipate. Not the lovely bonding time I expected.
It’s really vile stuff that can properly affect the lungs even if you don’t have respiratory conditions. It’s truly nasty and it always shocks me when I use a public loo and they spray that shit all over the toilets. Why do that, when the smell of poo only lingers if it’s unflushed?

😂
I know you like to think
your shit don’t stink
but lean a little bit closer
see roses really smell like poo ooo ooo!!

My coworker had bowel issues and the smell mixed with air fresher and bm was disgusting and gag inducing. It didn't mask the smell just mixed in a horrible way. It makes me cough, gag, loose my voice/clear throat constantly which was very awkward with clients. Artificial fragrances can contribute to causing cancer as well.

That horrible glade smell never left the bathroom whereas toilet smells tend to dissipate quickly. Yabvu.

They smell worse than anything a human can produce.

I have also come across loo brushes where the user seems not to realise that after using it for a bit of a scrub, you then hold it under the flush deluge to rinse it off before putting it back into the pot! It should be free of faecal matter when it is returned to the pot, just as you rinse your toothbrush so it is free of paste before putting it away. A squirt of disinfectant in the loo before flushing will disinfect and clean the brush off to a reasonable degree.

Also they do need replacing, at least as often as a toothbrush: you don't buy one and keep it for life like a grandfather clock in the hallway!

It does though. We bleach where necessary. Liberally. Then let it sit in the toilet overnight or while out at work.

Usually when you flush the next morning it washes away.

There is nothing more disgusting than lifting a toilet brush out of its base and there being a little puddle of water - whether that's clean or not. I literally want to retch when I see it.

If I open a window in someone else’s bathroom, I’d be too self-conscious to tell them because it’s a essentially letting them know you’ve had a shit (I know everyone shits but some of us are more private than others about such things!)

But what I would do is shut the window the next time I go in there, before leaving.

Bleach wouldn't remove specks or lumps of stuff though. It would just disinfect and whiten, wouldn't it?

You sound like my SIL, who panicked when staying at our house and started keeping body spray in the bathroom for this purpose. Air fresheners are vile. Just a load of carcinogens floating around your bathroom, settling on your kids’ towels, toothbrushes, your cat’s fur…

As an aside I wish people wouldn't open my windows without telling me, because I don't think to check windows I haven't opened and then go out leaving them open which is not great from a security point of view!

I know. I’ve had this conversation with my daughter a hundred times as she doesn’t open the window after as it doesn’t smell. I send her back in!