to hate perfume? in anything?

[Anna1976]

I just don't get the need for it. You can be chic and glam without smelling like civet pee and artificial violets. Stuff can be clean without smelling of vile air freshener or pot pourri.

What would be wrong with just smelling like washed clothes, washed hair, and some plain soap?

Several of my students wear perfume so strong that my eyes water and I get a headache just being in the same lab as them. It's the female version of Lynx for teenage boys (which I don't get either).

OK I am an extreme case because it gives me severe migraines. I'm currently awake trying not to throw up after spending the afternoon with the two perfume-clad students.

Why do they torture me thus? Why?

Also - what i said sounded very patronising, and could have been interpreted as contempt, but I wasn't actually intending to be patronising or contemptuous at all - I have no objection to other people tying their identity to a particular way of being, but I just honestly don't understand the impractical ones! If it works for you, go for it (within reason). I just end up wondering how and why and what the influences were and so on - i suspect anyone could easily wonder the same about me with a similar degree of incomprehension.

Anyway - i apologise again. Thanks to those who have said they genuinely wouldn't mind toning it down if they were alerted to it being an issue.

I agree with you Anna

Particularly since pregnancy with 3rd child when perfumes made me feel ultra sick, and since then I've become hyper sensitive to them!

I agree with you grumpy about essential oils too, I love rose particularly.

Perfumes I think mask your natural scent, which can be lovely on some people.

Anna have you tried the London Migraine Clinic for your migraines? Worth considering I think if you haven't already

Fair enough OP, that's a profound apology.

However, I have never met anyone who "disdains" non scent wearers. People do get a signature scent though which becomes part of their identity but I think this is harmless and you don't need to study them in fascination. It's like finding a perfect jacket or a colour that suits you and sticking to it.

My signature scent makes me think of Lily of the Valley, fresh lemons and my late grandmother. The power of olfactory memory is extraordinary too. I am 42 but can remember my primary school teacher's perfume (Rive Gauche though didn't know it at the time) and another scent reminds me of a summer day in the 90s with more clarity than a photograph.

Perfume ain't so bad, but I can understand when others don't like it and would be happy not to wear it on the days I was seeing them.

DS has Asperger's and a heightened sense of smell and taste are a couple of the traits he also has. He can't cope with strong perfumes, air fresheners, extremely perfumed deodorants and the rest.
He has to cope, but he does open windows, even in the dead of winter as he also doesn't feel the cold. He's also walked out of classes that have had plug in air fresheners.
It is tricky to understand how intrusive it can be, to those that don't have that heightened sense of smell, but I'd try and explain politely.
At least DS has stopped saying 'you smell dreadful and I'm going to be sick' to people on the train. he just gets up and moves. [busmile]

YouOldSlag - try meeting my mother and sister if you haven't seen the disdain I describe!

i like the sound of Lily of the valley and lemons. I am pretty "Aspie" though so tend to feel very depressed by olfactory memories of being close to other people, as it's somehow very tightly bound to feeling intruded upon by what others would consider normal close relationships. Proust and Freud would have a field day on me...

Dustinthewind- very interesting, I can relate to that. I think that my heightened sense of smell is probably to do with my Asperger's - along with an inability to cope with doof-doof music and flickery lights - though the proximal issue (frequent migraines) is probably central sensitization from chemicals used in my work, mixed with a propensity for migraines.

I wear the same perfume all the time, and when DD went off to uni she bought some when she was horribly homesick and sprayed it in her room to comfort her. She's very Aspie too, but very different to DS.

PS TangledUpInBlue2 - thanks for the suggestion, I haven't tried them. Have you found them good? (I'm a doctor and tend to read the pain literature in my spare time, and have concluded there's not a lot I can do other than avoid triggers, take drugs, and try not to let things get any worse.)

I have to say OP, what an interesting and multi layered person you sound! That's a genuine compliment. There's a lot more to you than your OP.

Smells evoke memories in people. There are certain perfumes / afrershaves I smell and instantly get drawn to times passed. i wear ther perfumes I wear because they remind me of my wedding day / fun times with DH right from the beginning of our relationship / my Gran. Or just because I feel like it and I can!

I agree with you too Anna. I suffer from the same problem, and I send you heart-felt sympathy.

You can get lynx for women now

I hate artificial stink, so much so that I bought a bunch of essential oils to make my own perfume, deodorant and room spray. I use Surcare as its unscented and put some lavender/peppermint oil in if necessary.

I get migraine from perfumes. The worst offender is the bench deodorant that DS1 got for Christmas, it's rank, but he has agreed not to use it here or when I will be smelling him soon after. It's strange that AS has been mentioned as I recently scored 30 on the AQ test and DS1 has SN relating to the autistic spectrum (but perfumes don't bother him). I hate perfume being sprayed in public places especially enclosed ones such as buses. Why apply it there really? People can be very difficult to convince that it is a real problem not some crazy attention seeking ploy.

Anna yes they were very helpful in my case. My GP contacted them, as I was getting awful migraines and needed advice including re meds I could take while breastfeeding. It was either get some sort of treatment quickly that worked or give up BF, as I was too debilitated to look after the DCs when I got them, which was miserable for us all.

Your migraines sound truly awful, I would be beside myself if I was throwing up all night with them like you do....so I would maybe contact/see them just in case they have something helpful/new you could try, or perhaps they could refer you on to the National Hospital for Neurology? It just seems dreadful to me that you suffer like this with them.

I just realized that my reaction to perfumes started when pg with DS1. I had gone scent free for bonding reasons, even forgoing deodorant. When he was 3 months my DH returned from a work trip with some perfume from duty free and I was devastated that he hadn't noticed the change in me. A bit of a hormonal overreaction!