Smells give me a headache

[shakeitoffshakeacocktail]

For years this has been an issue not covid related. ExH used to wonder complain why our clothes didn't smell of fabric conditioner. Yet we'd get some second hand baby ones off his sister that had sat around for half a year and smell very strongly.

I don't like the smell of fabric conditioner hanging around on my clothes.

Some strong smells give me an almost immediate headache, walking past lush, the old coffee shop that sells beans to the whole city, perfumes, candles.

Does this happen to anyone else?

While smells don’t set my “heads” off it’s lights that do it for me, LED lights are a killer especially blue ones.
I hide from care lights, Christmas tree lights, light up cabinets, toys, now phones and camera flashes are a total nightmare!

@DoNotGetADog Sulphite sensitivity can be triggered by wines

I tend to avoid heavily fragranced items and if there is a choice, will get fragrance free. It gives me a headache, causes wheezing or is just unpleasant to me.

It does seem to have got worse over time too. The laundry aisle at the supermarket and the cosmetics section at Boots etc is particularly brutal.

So I don't wear perfumes, use fragranced body products, use fabric conditioner etc.

Hyacinths do that for me. I find their smell overpowering. I also react to perfumed candles and many perfumed cosmetics, so tend to use unscented products. Stopped using fabric conditioner years ago - can't abide the stuff.

Car air fresheners or any air fresheners really. The plug in ones are vile.

I always thought I was weird being so sensitive to the smell of a coffee shop.

Lavender and fake, sickly vanilla smell too.

New car smell gives me a headache.

I get this too. Cannot bear lenor fabric conditioner, cannot sit in a car with an air freshener in it. Same if someone has a plug in air freshener in their home. The petrol/diesel on boats is the worst for me.

It's not so much a migraine, more of a sinus pain

I have this too with synthetic smells. New car smell, car air fresheners, ordinary air fresheners, fabric softeners, strong perfumes and smelly candles too. I also have eyes that are quite sensitive to bright lights, although they dont give me a headache they are very uncomfortable on my eyes.

Ha. I also have a stone cove candle. There are a few from that scent group that are okay for me.

Yes, same here. Lots of perfumes, candles, synthetic fragrance sprays, cigarettes, all sorts. I'm fine with Lush though, oddly - in fact I worked there briefly!

It's a very specific headache in the front/top of my head and I also feel nauseous. When I was pregnant I had a super sensitive sense of smell and everything made me retch, it was incredibly debilitating.

Same here!
I just thought I was an awkward bugger.

Candles, air fresheners, perfumes anything like that make me nauseous and give me a thick, heavy head, not a full on headache but a very unwell feeling. Lasts for ages too.

Reading other replies - yes, also petrol, strong fabric conditioner (we don't use it at all), new car smell, hyacinths, and weirdly blue Christmas lights. How strange we all have the same reaction to the same things.

I used to love white wine but in my early 30s it started giving me terrible hangovers, even after one glass. I rarely drink now but am told this might improve after the menopause - I look forward to it!

DH has the same issue. No air freshers of any description in the house or car. No walking near Lush etc. I use a unperfumed fabric conditioner too.

Some people are hypersensitive to smell, something to do with the way the olfactory bulb in the brain processes sensory input.

Most people use the white unfragranced softener for newborns but not older babies unless they have sensitive skin.

Personally I like fragranced fabric softeners, they have a clean linen smell to me and the scent only lasts for a day. But I don’t use the very concentrated ones or the Febreze type ones.

Doesn’t most washing powder/liquid have a fragrance? Even woolite is perfumed.

Personally I find clothes washed without softener too stiff and scratchy, unless you tumble dry them.

I can’t imagine the smell hanging around on baby clothes unless she’d soaked them in something to get stains out.

Lush is pure hell. I can't even go in. Same for beauty areas of department stores, which I sprint through. And if someone wearing strong perfume sits next to me on public transport, I have to change seats, which is awkward. Weirdly some perfumes are ok and others not.