To think applying perfume pre-plane is antisocial?

[Confrontayshunme]

My DM was always really sensitive to perfumes (lots of allergies), and she always said not to wear heavy perfume when you are in various places where people can't escape it (office meetings, carshares, planes, etc). It occurred to me, while a friend applied two squirts of every Britney Spears scent available in duty free, that coating yourself in perfume right before you are in a confined space is a bit antisocial. When I was pregnant I would have vomited profusely just walking through duty free, and I know some ND people who are sensitive.

Just wondering what other people think as I am a bit bored?

YABU - perfume before boarding is fine
YANBU - It is a bit anti-social.

Covering myself in free perfume is a start-of-holiday highlight for me! Then I move onto the hand creams and hope for a shot of some random alcohol if I’m very lucky.

Perfume on planes is a pet hate of mine for this reason!

So you can't afford to buy expensive perfume and have to get the free squirts in duty free. And yet you assume that people with allergies can fly business class?

Yes it’s unsociable, in a confined space I feel a bit helpless, I became wheezy and gaspy stuck alongside someone on a 4 hour flight wearingThierry Mugler Alien, not once but two separate flights. It was quite alarming tbh, I hadn’t anticipated a lung reaction.
Another flight with someone who had sprayed Sol De Janeiro (gorgeous vanilla scent) but a similar bad reaction.
Similarly a young woman dropped her yoga mat next to me in class - then sprayed her new Christmas perfume liberally, we had to open the fire door…

I love perfume. Absolutely adore it and have a drawer in my kitchen that is devoted to perfume. I wear different ones in different seasons and deciding on what perfume I wear each day is one of my favourite things. Since my third Covid infection I get awful allergic reactions to things like skincare or accessories and need an inhaler - but never for perfume.

i can confirm Gok smells amazing, as does Olly Murs, Christian Vit, Tyler West…

My interest in perfume means I usually really enjoy smelling it around me. Perfume triggers olfactory memories of time and place. It is so evocative: a whiff of old spice reminds me of my grandad, the original Paco Rabanne of my sixth form years and snogging teen boys at parties, Phantom reminds me of my much missed teen son at uni. I can trace my life through perfume, from the early days of borrowing my mum’s Opium, to Chanel no19 in my late teens, Escape in my twenties, Aveda purefumes in my thirties to a serious niche perfume addiction now.

If you love perfume then Luca Turin/Tania Sanchez books are things of joy. I cannot imagine a life without it.

The only flight I have ever gagged was one where loads of men had taken their shoes off. That was fucking grim and way worse than getting a whiff of Angel (mind you, my friend wears this and it smells wonderful on her).

I used to sit next to a smoker who would smother herself in Angel after every cigarette. Now I absolutely despise the smell of smoke (particularly stale smoke, makes me want to vomit), but she completely ruined that perfume for me. Now whenever I smell it, I can also smell cigarettes. So gross 🤢

Perfumes don't bother me and I like a strong smelling one. I don't think there's anything anti-social about spraying pre flight.

How do you know I can’t afford expensive perfume? Maybe I try and then buy.

On Mumsnet people are regularly told they should go and live in a field if they can’t stand noise. Whether they can afford to or not. Same should apply to perfume and business class travel surely.

I agree, I had to move train carriage once as someone got on wearing what smelled like a whole bottle of Angel.

I get migraines and so being trapped on a plane near someone drenched in perfume could make me very ill.

People are so selfish. There are multiple people on this thread explaining how perfume makes them varying degrees of unwell. And then loads of people saying how they don't think it's anti-social!?! Can you not forgo perfume (something that's completely unnecessary) for one day so that people with asthma, fragrance allergies, and COPD can fly without becoming ill? Most places you can move or leave if someone's fragrance is making you unwell. On a flight you are trapped. If it's going to cause severe health issues that means you can never fly. That seems very unfair all because of something that's a luxury. a nice-to-have, completely unnecssary.

I'd rather that than the farting and body odour smells, and the stench of people who seem to open the portal to hell when they shit in a tiny airplane toilet.

It's not anti social at all, of course - any more than putting on make up or putting products in your hair is - because for the most part people are just doing it for fun and enjoyment and without any realisation that it might be inconvenient to others.

If you were travelling with a friend who knew you didn't like strong perfume and they went ahead and sprayed themselves anyway, that would be unkind.

Not anti social though, since society for the most part is fine with people wearing perfume. It genuinely wouldn't occur to most people to think it was an issue. After all, strong smells are absolutely everywhere.

I don't love strong perfumes or wear heavy scents myself, and don't love it in others, but it is what it is.

And I wouldn't spray myself with duty free perfume because I am very selective about what perfume I wear. I spray myself in the morning before leaving for work and that's it,, but I do reapply deodorant during the day.

However because I had a friend who was sensitive to sprays I do that in an open area, not in the toilet or breakroom or in the office, but in another room just off those rooms where nobody has to breathe it straight in.

But if others are spraying themselves with perfume or deodorant in the office that's just because that's what they do, they're not being anti social, at all.

It's a big wide world filled with people who have all sorts of allergies and conditions and we can't possibly be expected to constantly monitor everyone else's issues.

But it would be selfish of a friend or relative to do this around someone they knew had issues with it.

So, no, of course it's not anti social.

Wearing perfume, even heavy perfume and when travelling, is a commonly accepted practice and most people are fine with it - which is the opposite of anti social.

That might change, over time, if enough people complain, who knows?

If something as normal and socially acceptable as wearing a bit of perfume makes someone that unwell, they shouldn't be flying with a commercial airline.

I don't like sitting near large stag-do groups, unfortunately as I can't afford a private jet and don't want to do driving holidays then I put up with it.

No more anti social than drinking coffee in a plane or other indoor space - which I’m sure you do Op. The smell of coffee can trigger a migraine or make me sick if I have a migraine. I don’t think it’s possible to police all smells!!

I have allergies to perfume. As much as people say they would rather smell it than BO I will take BO as though unpleasant I do not have an allergic reaction.

I use charcoal inserts in my nostrils and wear a face mask if I’m on a plane. My allergies were always there but a warning to anyone with allergies post menopause they can get substantially worse. Also allergies can develop during menopause.

I wouldn't call it anti social but I wouldn't want to be seated next to someone who did that. I inwardly roll my eyes whenever I see someone dousing themselves in duty free perfume. They're only doing it because it's free!

Perfume doesn’t cancel out those smells, just makes them worse for me and a lot of others. But I accept perfumes are
out there and popular and not going away. I’d be really grateful if people at least confined the actual spraying to
their homes!

This sort of comment makes me genuinely sad I can’t enjoy perfume like you do!

What a strange thread...

You really can't try to dictate what everyone else can and can't do to that degree..

Wearing perfume is a perfectly normal/common thing to do and one of the inconvenience you need to accept when using public transport.

Not necessarily. It is normal to try a perfume before buying. So for example, I might try out a squirt of J’adore on my flight out somewhere because I want to see how it settles on my skin and lasts. I might, if I like it buy a bottle on the way home.

I agree with the PP about other aromas such as coffee. The smell of celery makes me physically sick let alone the taste. Celery is one of the known allergens. Should it therefore be banned as an ingredient from airline meals?

@INeedToClingToSomething Sorry, the world should not have to revolve around the odd one or two outlliers in a group
So asking people not to apply perfume whether for a 40 minute flight or a 24 hour flight is just selfish. If people are that allergic, they shouldn't put themselves into situations where they may be exposed to an allergen. Asking the rest of the world to stop doing something for them is the height of entitlement.

I actually developed a nasal polyp and needed surgery to remove it because a work colleague wore the strongest perfumes everyday. I did tell her and to be fair she stopping wearing perfume but the damage was already done.

That is just luck though. You are lucky enough not to be affected by it.

I have never once in my life been bothered by grass pollen. That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of people made miserable by it...

You sound like the entitled one to me!

Do you have the same attitude to the 'outliers' with disabilities?

Surely we, as a society, should help people out when we can.

YANBU I hate the current trend for applying fucking gallons of stench.