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Original poster

Calling all people with a strong sense of smell...

124 replies

SomethingLessBoringInstead · 29/07/2020 08:37

I live in an average sized semi. If I'm in my reasonably sized garden, I can smell my neighbours' shower gel when they showering their bathroom window is open.

I can smell the flavour of crisps being eaten by someone 3 rows in front of me at the cinema/theatre.

I can smell the personal scent of the person behind the bar (don't mean BO).

I can smell when a woman is on her period. Probably not always because I'd have no way of knowing! But sometimes I know.

Anyone else? I know I've got a strong sense of smell because I can often smell things other people around me can't but just wondered how common it is. And whether or not these are examples of it! Or whether they're things everyone can smell...

OP posts:
Pikachubaby · 05/08/2020 22:14

Well yes that explains a lot Grin

GlamGiraffe · 05/08/2020 22:18

I'm a super smeller too. Being outside can be really awful at times. No one could ever understand what I was cimpkainjngcabout until o met a new friend who s exactly the same. We go out together and end up cveringxouf boses and leaving places because a "smelly person" gas come in or we cant bear the smell in places. We both detected a crack in a tas main when we were walking past which bo one else has noticed because we could smell it, apparently the leak was small, they were amazed we had noticed.
I have to do detours if people with perfume are nearby in the street. I can detect damp in a house from a sniff, I know people are going to be ill and can tell several different conditions as they smell diffetent (eg tonsillitis smells different from gall stone attacks coming). People smell pregnant even if they fong know they are. And you can definitely smell the weather!
I suffer very bad migraines, I have heard many times super smell is connected. Are any of you other super smellers migraineurs?

ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN · 05/08/2020 22:27

Yes I suffer with migraines too. Thankfully not often now

I will have a lingering headache then my sense of smell becomes heightened (perfume hurts my head) then I know a migraine is coming on

SummerNamechangeHappened · 05/08/2020 22:28

Yep me. And yep totes stronger after having kids.

KitchenDancefloor · 05/08/2020 22:35

@MitziK you captured exactly what I smelt tonight. I love that first waft of autumn, warm and earthy yet still fresh.
I couldn't have picked out the smell of individual plants but I would have guessed that it was the end of August if I didn't already know the date.

MaisieTheCat · 05/08/2020 22:48

I did have a very good sense of smell, not as strong as yours OP, but enough for my husband to think I was making things up whenever I said I could smell something. Then I had Covid back in March, and my sense of smell has gone. I can smell some things weakly, and some things just smell completely different. I’m still hoping it will come back but it’s been very upsetting - small things like not being able to smell my children’s particular scent really devastate me. But I don’t feel like I can complain because obviously compared to some people with long term effects I’ve got off lightly. So all you super smellers - take a minute to smell something really strong and appreciate what you’ve got Smile

sluj · 05/08/2020 22:54

I had a wonderful sense of smell too but it has pretty much disappeared since I had "something " back in March. Only about 30% back so far Shock. I miss it

MitziK · 05/08/2020 22:59

Oh, the smell of fasting/dealing with sugar in the body. That's rank.

Poor DP got quizzed repeatedly about his alcohol intake/whether he was going to the toilet a lot/feeling tired because I could smell that sickly pong on him. He's not diabetic or a drinker, but if he doesn't eat or worse, has an energy drink and then doesn't eat, it stinks.

Luckily, I don't get too many migraines, but when I do - or if I've got a sinus infection looming, it's horrendous. And I can tell exactly when lightening is about to strike in addition to knowing there's a storm coming hours beforehand, because the front of my head feels like it's being squashed - which is different to sinus headaches or my migraines, which start from my neck. And I've told him before it's raining about five miles away because I can smell it faintly.

HalloumiSalad · 05/08/2020 23:11

Not as strong as some on here but definitely can smell loads more than many. I can smell sunshine on the skin, if DH/kids whoever has been out in the sunshine the smell is lovely, I could sniff it for hours as it is so nice and reminds me of summers as a kid - dh thinks this is imaginary nonsense. 😊😊
YY to smelling if the kids are sick etc. I would really miss it if it went, it's a big part of life for me.

Esthermoo01 · 05/08/2020 23:12

Yes I've always had this. Often can smell when a woman is on her period too like you said in OP. Cannot stand walking past Lush as the smell burns my nostrils! In pregnant it was worse. I can smell a poorly nappy from the ground floor when my dd is in her bedroom two floors up. I also love anything that smells delicious and get obsessed with certain smells like Palmer's cocoa butter, Bloom and Blossom pillow spray, Tea tree oil, etc. Hate a lot of Carex soaps and also Listerine mouthwash smells repulsive!

maddiemookins16mum · 05/08/2020 23:22

I have quite a poor sense if smell, it’s got worse over the years.
But, I can smell rain before it starts.
I can smell my cats paws and they smell like biscuits.
I can smell the laundry detergent our neighbour uses on her washing when it’s hung outside.

MrsApplepants · 05/08/2020 23:31

This is fascinating. I have an average sense of smell so I’m really impressed. You could make money as damp detectors, perfumists etc!

PickAChew · 05/08/2020 23:36

I can smell rain coming, too. There is a name for the smell of rain that I can never remember, despite someone having it as their username, for a while.

I had a weird smell in my cutlery drawer, for a while. Pulled everything out and washed it all and the smell remained. DH just shrugged. Sniffed my oxo good grips potato peeler and realised that was holding onto the smell. Pulled off the grippy rubber handle and it was full of mould🤢

Pregnancy did weird things to my sense of smell. There was a pervading musty background smell that I couldn't get rid of. After my first pregnancy, it heralded the first day of my period, too. I lived in a flat in a converted barn during my first pregnancy and I dreaded Tuesdays because the person below me would cook fatty mince. I had no idea of the fatty mince before I was pregnant but god, it was torture.

OnceUponAMidnightBeery · 05/08/2020 23:38

Interesting! I always had a great sense of smell, but since living with a smoker and 3 dogs I’ve thankfully gone nose blind, in my house anyway.

I’ve always found people can pick up scents differently though. My (non smoking) DF could never smell citrus type candles, etc, whereas to me they’re really strong. A friend cannot smell vanilla or lavender, but she can smell an orange (unpeeled) from 2 rooms away🤷🏻‍♀️

I can only smell if women are menstruating if they’re using those fucking awful always scented pads. Those things are evil!

PickAChew · 05/08/2020 23:38

I love the smell of skin that's been in the sun. I used to sniff my arms, as a child.

KittyFantastico · 05/08/2020 23:39

Petrichor Smile

OnceUponAMidnightBeery · 05/08/2020 23:42

@PickAChew

I can smell rain coming, too. There is a name for the smell of rain that I can never remember, despite someone having it as their username, for a while.

I had a weird smell in my cutlery drawer, for a while. Pulled everything out and washed it all and the smell remained. DH just shrugged. Sniffed my oxo good grips potato peeler and realised that was holding onto the smell. Pulled off the grippy rubber handle and it was full of mould🤢

Pregnancy did weird things to my sense of smell. There was a pervading musty background smell that I couldn't get rid of. After my first pregnancy, it heralded the first day of my period, too. I lived in a flat in a converted barn during my first pregnancy and I dreaded Tuesdays because the person below me would cook fatty mince. I had no idea of the fatty mince before I was pregnant but god, it was torture.

Smell of rain is wonderful! I think the smell of rain on dry ground is called petrichor (?) if someone could only bottle that smell... DH can’t smell it at all 🤦🏻‍♀️
ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN · 05/08/2020 23:46

I can smell rain 😁

I also suffer from pressure headaches before a storm (awful when I lived in Sydney as they have some amazing storms)

I think it’s might be connected

Yes I loved the smell of my own cooked skin 😁

ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN · 05/08/2020 23:47

I mean after I have sunbathed

Not that I slice my skin off and bake it

PickAChew · 05/08/2020 23:53

@KittyFantastico

Petrichor Smile
That's the one!
NamedyChangedy · 05/08/2020 23:57

I have a weirdly strong sensitivity to smell too, it can be annoying. I often have to leave places / move train carriages etc because of people's smell. I can tell if someone's used my phone, or who is in a house when I walk in (if I know them). And with some women (not all), I can tell if they're on their period - it's a very metallic smell. It's a pretty useless skill if you ask me.

Juanmorebeer · 06/08/2020 00:00

Mine is really strong but not as strong as yours though.

Anyone with this you need to check if you are a super taster because you can earn SERIOUSLY good money per year working for food companies testing their products.

Check well known brands for tasting jobs as a way to get in if you are interested. Often starts as a low paid flexi job and they'll give you various tests to see what you can taste and identify.

Not many people make it through to the higher levels, but if you do you'll never be out of work.

HotPenguin · 06/08/2020 00:16

Me too, though not to the extent of the OP. One of my friends was an alcoholic and I can now recognise that smell a mile off. Not the actual alcohol but the sickly yeasty smell that goes with excessive drinking.

I can also recognised the smells of different people and if someone leaves something at my house after a party I give it a sniff to see whose it is!

fodderbeet · 06/08/2020 00:25

Yep, another one here. My dh is surprised that I can identify what he's eaten 2 hours previously, and when the kids are ill, when the dog is ill (he's not quite right now, but nothing to see yet). I have to leave queues if I'm next to a smelly person even though people that I'm with can't even smell them. Also many of the things already mentioned - other kids clothes, food going off, how many sugars in a cup of tea etc etc. Definitely the first smell of autumn today. Oddly I do like some scented candles if they're 'flat' enough to be blank smell if that makes sense. A bit like painting the smells white (actually more of a beige, white is too strong) and making it more calm.

Oliversmumsarmy · 06/08/2020 00:31

I can smell who Dd has been sat with just by the way she smells when she comes in.

Years ago I kept saying that I could smell gas in a room in the house. No one could smell anything.

When we had the house remodelled they found a tiny gas leak under the floor in the room I said I smelled gas