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?

All cleaners are chemical cleaners, including water.

And considering house dust is a mix of sloughed-off skin cells, hair, clothing fibres, bacteria, dust mites, bits of dead bugs, soil particles, pollen, and microscopic specks of plastic (according to the American Chemical Society website), some Glade in the air should be the least concern!

More money than sense I think

Not being virtuous when I say that I haven't touched these for years, but all these freshners, scented cleaners and air purifiers contain something which make me feel
ill and give me major headaches. Even zoflora!

I use nothing but pure essential oils in my home - and fresh air. No scented stuff for washing clothes neither.

God, I'd love a top-of-the-range filtration system, @Ponderingwindow! It'd make perfume & fragrances redundant, because it would suck them all out (and dump them in The Outdoors). It'd also mean I could smoke without making everything stinky 😂

Must be a bummer when you're cooking something delicious, though.

I also make my own deodorant and my home is aerosol free - again, not sure if the aerosol makes the triggering ingredient more airborne but either way, i get ill very quickly near these. I'm a nightmare in other peoples homes 🙈.

Currently working on my own moisturiser and soap.

The multitude of air freshener scents have been around way before Mrs.Hinch.

I wont use fabric conditioner because of Glutaraldehyde which is so toxic to marine life, and methylisothiazolinone which can trigger asthma and respiratory issues. Some of them contain D&C violet 2 colouring, which has been linked to cancer.

Air fresheners I dislike because since a youngish age, they've given me a bad headache and made me sneeze repeatedly. For me the health risks just arent worth it for the sake of the fragrance. I wouldnt have wanted any of that around my DCs.

I do understand we don't and can't all think the same so the answer to 'Why' is, some people just love the fragrance and that's a good enough reason for them. There are a lot of companues out there profiting from hastening our death aren't there.

water and human beings are not really air pollutants

Are they other sorts of pollutants, though? Is is just air pollutants you have a problem with? In other people's houses?

Why are you making these distinctions? Humans pollute. Water is a chemical made of chemicals and full of chemicals. What you're doing is judging people because they like things that you don't like, @tomorrowisanotherdate

They are, but when you look at the small print you can’t have them around pets. So what’s it doing to us. I have them, love them but I know they aren’t good for me.
Zoflora is now a fiver! 🙄

I’ve read things like wiping furniture with orange peel works. Never done it though!

"well, it might be your opinion that it smells nice, but objectively, it cannot smell "clean". It is contaminated, and smells contaminated. Maybe you like the smell, but you can't call it clean"

Don't worry I'm not inviting you to my home any time soon.

See this just makes no sense to me. Why does fabric conditioner even need colourings anyway?? You don't need to look at it! Just so much unnecessary crap we are being convinced we need to cover our selves/homes/clothes in.

I have to dry my washing inside so I like something that doesn't smell of last night's dinner

Can’t stand them myself but a lot of people don’t think no further than what it smells like. Not what’s in it

I am very sensitive to smell - many perfumes and perfumed products give me a headache and/or make me sneeze. Aerosol deodorant is a big no no for me (I hate when someone sprays it in pool changing rooms), as are many (not all) air fresheners. I cannot abide things like Scent Boosters either, washing powder with a mild scent does us fine. I do like certain candle scents, nothing too sweet and in moderation. I also love fresh air and open my windows as much as I can, but living in a farming area the fresh air is often quite stinky (not a complaint, just reality) and living in the far north it's often blowing a hoolie outside too!

I keep pet rats who have delicate little lungs & many of the cheap, synthetic fragrances trigger my migraines, so we don't really use home fragrances.

Saying that there's a Prices reed diffuser in the hallway & I sometimes add a square of Lush Snow Fairy bath melt to my oil burner in the bedroom.

And I absolutely love the cherry kennel disinfectant we use for the brickweave, but I think that's mostly because it gets rid of the dog pee smell.

I assure you I know what the word "chemicals" means, and I have used it correctly

what are you talking about?

I don’t wear deodorant or perfume or skincare. Don’t have scented candles or wax melts or diffusers or air freshener plug in or spray. Don’t have laundry scent boosters or scented liquid/powder or fabric softener or dryer sheets or balls or essential oils or anything at all. I don’t use cleaning sprays if I can avoid them. Sometimes I think my shower needs them so I open the window.

and I have a dog and children and husband

my house can smell like whatever it smells like. I like it. I put my face in my dog’s hair and love the smell of him.

people might just as well flush money down the bog. I cannot believe people are talking about CoL and then regularly buying more than 10-20 useless, expensive and weirdly scented products which are bad for them and the environment.

I have a friend and when I walk up to her house, I can smell the laundry shite from outside. She has a massive house with lots of rooms and every single room and all family members reek of this laundry stuff. I just don’t get it.

I love nice smelling detergent, conditioner, diffusers, and candles. I really hate the smell of lavender so could never use it as an air freshener.

people might just as well flush money down the bog

Because they're buying something you don't like @iwafs ? What if it makes them happy? Is it still flushing money away? Or are you saying that you know what should make people happy, and this isn't it?

Personally I used to use all those things but then started to worry what they were doing to the environment. All those additives in washing where the water then goes back into the ground. The chemicals in some house cleaning and air fresheners have carcinogenic qualities. Fair enough they've been passed for sale but they aren't good for us or the planet. Don't get me started on zoflora! When Mrs Hinch sent everyone mental plugging this awful stuff. Please think of the planet. The water system. The wildlife. All these things have to deal with us polluting the air and water. There's a chemical in certain sun creams that have been banned in Australia as it was causing such a problem for the coral reef. Things like that we wouldn't even think of and would use regularly in the summer months. It's worth thinking about. We share this planet.

@iwafs - you can't clean the shower by opening the window, surely?

Prime mumsnet this. Great thread.

What is the correct way to use the word ‘chemicals’, and how does it differ from incorrect use?

As far as I know everything - solid, liquid or gas - is made of chemicals. But I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve misunderstood all these years and some chemicals aren’t chemicals at all.