If I passed you on a narrow path, would I be able to smell fabric softener down wind? 

[Anndalouzier]

Just been on a walk and struck by how many people you pass don't smell of perfume, instead they smell of eau de lenor
is there something that you do/aspire to? How much of the stuff do you use to make it so strong?
I don't mind it in laundry. Just not my signature scent™️

It's not the smell of scent boosters I dislike it's the environmental aspect.

Love scent boosters and fabric softener.

This is another "Mumsnet being Mumsnet" situation; one of the cool girls will have said something about fabric softener at some point and suddenly all the lemmings are falling over themselves to say "I hate it, it's the devil, it's evil, I'd rather smell BO/actual shit".

Then they're on other threads wondering why they don't have any real life friends. Spoiler alert: because you're judgy and stinky.

Can’t say that I’ve ever smelt fabric conditioner on anyone unless my face is buried in their clothes!

I haven’t, but I have received clothes through Vinted where you can smell the scent before unwrapping the parcel and it’s still reasonably strong after a couple of washes. So there must be people out there who like their clothes really pungent!

I use Fairy but probably a quarter of what they recommend

Detergent is made from crude oil plus other chemicals -not sure what softener is made of

Fabric softener isn't recommended for towels. The added waxes reduce absorbency. 🤷🏻‍♀️

That fresh air, ozone-y smell.

FWIW, I don't know if I smell of fabric conditioner. I do use it, but at half the recommended dosage and I don't use any of the other products like the little smelly beads. So it's probably unlikely that my clothes are a 21 gun Lenor salute, but I might've gone nose blind.

Yes. I've never found it makes clothes or bedding slimy. It makes it nicer to iron.
I always have about 5 different scents and rotate per load.
last parents eve we were joking with the teacher about dc losing their clothes at school and the teachers said we always know it's their clothing item as always smell so amazing and not fousty.

Each to their own. I just prefer it , smells nice and irons much better

Pretty sure I just smell of coffee and dogs!😁

I dont use fabric softener (mainly coz the drawer on my washing machine broke years ago!) but I havent noticed my clothes being particularly 'hard' or smelly for the lack.

Agian never had absorbancy issues , and I've never not used it.

Always dry washing on the line too for extra freshness all year round except rain obviously

These threads are always amazing. People can be told they are making other people sick, but they just double down and say they like their scents.

The only solution is going to be a ban as with smoking. People are just too selfish to do the right thing.

Where does it end? The smell of fabric conditioner makes people sick. The smell of perfume/aftershave makes people sick. The smell of vaping makes people sick. The smell of deodorant makes people sick. The smell of hair products makes people sick. I even saw someone on here complaining recently about someone ‘wafting a make up smell around’.
It amazes me that people think that they can have any control over how other people smell in public. The only way to do that would be to ban any scented products, of any description, from being sold.
I have personally never, ever smelt fabric softener wafting off someone as I walked past them. I do not believe that it is an issue for most people.

Yes hate the towels you get in most airbnbs, heavy, thick and slimy.

I wish my colleague would use a bit of fabric conditioner. He and his wife are very anti chemicals and the smell of his clothes make me question their choices.

I must be extremely lucky but I have stayed in a lot of Air BnBs and never encountered a slimy towel. I actually think I must generally be a very lucky person indeed because so many of the awful things that happen to people on MN (slimy towels and fabric conditioner smells wafting off people being 2 examples) have never happened to me.

A BAN on fabric softener? I thought this was a light hearted post really about personal preferences not a genuine cry for people smelling too strongly to be banned.
Interesting enforcement - would it be just fabric softener or would you eliminate perfumes too?! Minimum sentence would be....

Realistically you’d have to ban anything with a smell. Including most foods, in public.

Precisely.
I use fabric conditioner sparingly, less than the recommended amount but enough to soften the fabric. We live in a very hard water area, without it my clothes are uncomfortable to wear.

I can't wrap my head around it - in all my years I've never met a person in real life who has such an aversion to scents.

However - this is the same mumsnet where folk are throwing £££ at Jo Malone candles....

Nope, i use laundry sanitizer and wear perfume. Haven’t used fabric conditioner for years after i read it builds up on your clothes and can over time build up in the washing pipes.

Yes, it flattens the pile.

If people’s clothes smell bad without the use of fabric conditioner then that means you’re not washing them properly. That also means you’re using some pungent aroma to mask foetid bacterial ridden clothes. It’s like people using a glade plug-in to mask wet dog. Minging. When I see Vogue Williams ramming her face into towels all I can think is ‘ugh I bet they honk.’

Remember folks, things are actually biologically clean smell of nothing.

Fabric conditioner is used in a wash, alongside washing powder, so the likelihood is that if clothes smell of fabric softener then they’re also clean. I doubt anyone is putting them through the wash with fabric softener only, in order to cover up the fact that they’re not clean. That would just be nonsensical.

better fabric softener than vile vape smog