Perfume - akin to cigarette smoke ?

[Squills]

AIBU to feel saddened by a blog I read recently or am I just out of touch?

The article related to our taste in perfume often changes with age - especially after the menopause. It was followed by an online discussion and I was amazed to read that some people feel that perfume shouldn't be used at all in public and liken it to cigarette smoke in both smell and hazardous effects.

I felt really saddened by the sanitised view of life some of the posters portrayed. One poster called it a 'perfume habit' and went on referring to perfume as if it was a Class A drug.

I love perfume and feel 'undressed' without wearing it. I feel it will be a sad day if users are banned from wearing it (as some of the posters felt they should be).

[SomethingOnce]

A colleague at the desk next to me applied spray deodorant while sitting at their desk the other day.

Is that normal nowadays?

[WanderingNotLost]

I wear perfume but I'm also allergic to certain perfumes, if I get a whiff of the wrong one it's like I have full on hay fever. I had to spend the whole evening of a wedding avoiding a friend's gf cos I got so runny nosed, sneezy etc every time she came near me!

[toffee1000]

I think we just have to be really careful. Drowning yourself in half a bottle at a time- no. Light spritz- OK. I feel it is a little ridiculous to ban something just because a small percentage of the population are allergic to it. If we did that, pretty much everything would end up banned. I mean, that's basically what hayfever is- pollen allergy. We can't ban plants because then we'd die.

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

Even if you're not allergic, perfume should whisper, not scream. There are too many people who like it to scream.
Talking of which, I'm not allergic, but I can feel ill walking past our local Lush shop. IMO that level of sickening pong in the street is a public nuisance.

[Hysterectical]

Lush shops should all be nuked beca use if their utter hypocrisy over plane stupid. The fact their stuff smells of shit is just an added irritation.

I don't think this is a real thing..just a MN thing people who don't get out much say to give themselves something to be superior about. Luckily these types of people will never be able to travel to places where there really are stinks to worry you. China and it's filthy smog, Delhi and the drains, Christmas the drains, gulf and the oud, bakkour, spice markets and perfume. Personally I would rather China than your filthy lush.

[Hysterectical]

Christ not Christmas. Although thats aworrysome time in itself. Tangerines and brandy butter. Oh those poor little wallflowers, what a problem.

[Gingernaut]

When I was growing up, the etiquette books stated that if one could smell one's own perfume, one is wearing too much.

Get me and my grammar....

Eau de Parfum should came in little bottles and have to be tipped out into a cotton bud or onto the tip of a finger and put on the pulse points.

Eau de Toilette should be more dilute (with alcohol) and less intense, that may or may not come in sprays.

It was the eighties when the 'big' perfumes (like Red Door and Poison) came in and the whole place started to start reek.

I am asthmatic and still gasp when I walk into somewhere like Selfridges' perfumery department.

But I love it.

I love perfume/eau de toilette and wear it every day. Pulse points only.

Strong perfumes (Opium, I'm looking at you) should never be sprayed on with gay abandon.

Squirt a little onto a cotton bud and wipe it onto pulse points.

Honestly, I love Opium but if I spray it onto myself, I'd be declared a health hazard.

For an eau de toilette, I'll risk spraying it onto myself at wrists, inside of elbows, neck, back of my knees etc.

Good perfume with proper ingredients (not the stuff of body sprays and reed diffusers) is a luxury item. We're so used to scented products everywhere from plastic bags to pencils that we sometimes forget that.

Less is more.

[swimmerforlife]

I just can't understand why people are not considerate when using perfume.

The slightest whiff of perfume can make me start sneezing violently, makes my nose runny and worse of all, it triggers my asthma. I remember sitting next to a friend of mine in car once and she had drenched herself in perfume which I found utterly selfish (she knew about my intolerance) because I struggled to breath until we got out, not to mention my constant sneezing.

I'm not asking it to be banned but just don't be arseholes about it. I've had to live with this for most of my life but I have no control over preventing my attacks because they are caused by other peoples lifestyles.

[CaptainCabinet]

Also allergic here. Gives me a massive headache. It's really difficult to bring up in real life as people can take offence (plenty have upthread).

The worst is when someone who hums of perfume cuddles my child and then I will have headaches all day.

[user1467976192]

Gingernaut that's the way to do it.
I have always applied my perfume like that. That is how my mum taught me. Mind you I was 3 and stealing her Chanel. Avons little blossom just didn't cut the mustard as a replacement

[ijustwannadance]

I had to ask one of my colleagues not to wear perfume if working with me (confined space). She was fine about it as she'd seen my reactions to it.

I don't think it should be banned though. If every possible allergen was banned we'd be buggered! My biggest triggers are dust and cats. Can't see that going down well

[GrinchyMcGrincherson]

I'm allergic to perfume. It gives me headaches/migraines depending on the strength and makes me cough. That's on others. On myself I also get itchy red hives and an excema type rash. I avoid perfume counters, make up and ALL perfumed products. I have about 6 products in my bathroom and I never change brands (everything I own is simple branded or comes from lush as the scents are not all synthetic. Even lush things I have to test and some I won't touch because they smell too strong or are actually perfumed, luckily my local store is ace at letting me have samples)

I wouldn't ban it because it seems selfish to ban something others love which does no real harm to vast majority of people. But if you have perfume on unless it's a very small amount and a very light scent I can't physically sit near you without being incredibly uncomfortable. Even light perfume I have to sit a couple of people away but I could be at a table with you.

People who spray it on so much you can smell it from half a room away I would ban (or educate) These are the ones most people are thinking of I suspect. A very strong scent heavily applied will often give even people not allergic a headache.

[GrinchyMcGrincherson]

Would that include any scent? What about a scented candle, would people react to that I wonder?

A strong one yes. Anything strongly scented I don't have in my house. I also can't go in small lush shops. I have to go to the massive city centre one as it doesn't smell strongly. Even then I can't stay in too long and only go in when I need to.

[JanetStWalker]

I don't think this is a real thing..just a MN thing people who don't get out much say to give themselves something to be superior about.

MN summed up in a single sentence

[WankingMonkey]

I get horrible migraines from certain types of perfume.

But I guess thats my problem. Others shouldn't be stopped from wearing it because it makes a few people ill.