to not understand why people spend money to pollute their homes with pointless chemicals?

[tomorrowisanotherdate]

scent boosters, to go in laundry, air fresheners that squirt puffs of pollutants at you - the tv is full of adverts for these things, so presumably someone is buying them. I just don't get it though. Loading your family's home atmosphere with a load of unnecessary and unpleasant air pollutants, and paying for the privilege? Why?

So don’t open your windows and put a few drops of natural oil in a bowl of water if you really need to.

No, because most "natural oils" are toxic to cats and I have three of them.

They're fine with the soy melts but I don't want them to accidentally drink essential oils and die, funnily enough.

I don’t use any scents, very occasionally I will put some drops of lavender oil in hot water. My house doesn’t smell unpleasant. I think we have forgotten what normal air smells like.

Well said.
I don't use them either, as I find the smell is too strong, but the virtue signalling and myth spouting about chemicals is absurd.

You're not meant to go around inhaling them though, you're supposed to squirt a small amount in the air, in a well ventilated space.
As for vanilla scents...those are nausea inducing for me.

I agree. It’s the synthetic versions that I dislike; I love natural ones and nothing beats fresh air and line-dried laundry.

Lavender oil in hot water IS a scent.

Yes or coffee, cake baking…

Which I rarely use.

Again, for those at the back, it's not just about 'synthetic' versus 'natural'.

I don’t use any scents, very occasionally I will put some drops of lavender oil in hot water.

You don't use any scents but you use lavender oil in water to make... a scent?

What? 😂

Prick a lemon and stick it on a shelf.

Oh give over.

....you ARE using a scent on the rare ocassions you use it though. Lavender oil is a scent and you claimed not to use scents.

@Naytr33 citrus is toxic to cats 🙄

Lol at this thread.

who cares?

I have recently bought a plug in as I have a very old dog who smells.
I don’t drink alcohol or eat dairy though.
do I win?

I hope you all also take care when cooking eg oven foods. They can be carcinogenic

So you have nothing on a high shelf a cats can’t get to?

@Tedaaaaaaaaah real vanilla (from the orchid family) is phenomenally expensive to produce, so even in the most expensive perfumes, it's rarely the real thing.

But to many of us, it doesn't "smell nice". Fabric conditioner can be really strong, it catches in the back of my throat. We don't use it and it's very noticeable when I'm volunteering in a charity shop and open up a bag of highly conditioned items. And it makes towels go all slippery and weird. The scent boosters in particular really perplex me, why did someone decide your washing needed to smell anything other than clean and fresh? And keep smelling like that for weeks?

I think lots of people are confusing a natural clean smell (like you get when drying washing outside on a windy day) with the artificial fragrances. As if there's not a strong smell off your washing or in your living room, it's not "clean".

Batshit. And don't get me started on all the plastic bottles and packaging this stuff is sold in.

TV ads for laundry detergents are obsessed at the moment with FRESH! FRESHNESS! OMG, so FRESH!!

I read that as artificial pong, but each to their own.

I don't own a cat but my understanding is that many cats appear to think 'challenge accepted' when you place anything on an apparently hard to reach location.

It's essentially trying to emulate fresh - some do it better than others, but many are just excessively strong.

My husbands family are obsessed with sticking all sorts in laundry and covering themselves in perfume. you can smell them coming before you see them. I don’t knew what my SIL uses, but she makes me sneeze if I get too close.

I am tight as fuck. No way I’m paying for anything extra it’s for “nice” smells.

I use soap nuts for washing as they last ages and no other scented stuff in the house.

So you have nothing on a high shelf a cats can’t get to?

No. They can jump up on shelves and would see a bowl of water or half a lemon as something to be played with, or knocked over, or eaten.

I also don't want to use a lemon or essential oils around them because, once again, they are toxic to cats 🤦🏻‍♀️

What do you use on your bodies?