Struggling… everywhere stinks! Toxic scent - is it just me?

[Strawbaler]

Is it just me or has the toxic fug of perfumed scents in everyday life reached unbearable levels?

I am fortunate to live in the countryside and work from home, but when I go into urban/busy places it can be headache inducing…

Toilets with chemical fresheners (especially the ones that squirt perfume periodically) make me feel ill

The smell from the washing powder aisle in the supermarket is so strong I rush through it as fast as I can

I feel that in the last ten years or so, the technology to make powerful, long-lasting scents has spread to everything.

I know there are links between chemical scents & phthalates etc and cancers, so I personally go out of my way to find unscented products, but it’s hard to avoid them in everyday life

I can smell my neighbours washing line from 75 meters away, that can’t be right?!

Is it just me?

I have always been sensitive to perfumes. It's the only thing that gives me a headache. When women men drenched in perfume/aftershave get on the bus or stand next to me, the headache starts. I don't know how they stand it on them, but I think I might just be sensitive to it.

It is insidious.

I am confirmed via allergy testing that I am allergic to several of the things creating that toxic soup. I take massive amounts of drugs and can barely leave my house. My doctor is trying to get approval for me to go on even more medication in the hopes it gets me more freedom and a bit of safety.

people like me are the canaries in the coal mine. People should be seeing what is happening to us and realizing that the cloud is dangerous. Instead, it seems to continue to get worse.

just this week my previously safe rubbish bags arrived with scent despite the website claiming they are still unscented. It is getting harder and harder to avoid.

those automatic toilet air fresheners are just too much ! There’s got to be better solution.
Occasionally someone in a shop or bus wearing overpowering perfume / cologne that makes me feel sick .

The worst for me is the gym. A spray when you walk in, that’s really over powering, and then people spritzing and spraying in every direction in the changing rooms. Sometimes the amount of spray deodorant people use is excessive - it makes me choke.
I think spray deodorant should be banned in public spaces - like it is in hospitals.

I’d guess you are pregnant too

YANBU, I don’t have a great sense of smell but perfumed things can often smell bad to me. I look at things like scent boosters and fabric conditioners and wonder why people buy them.

My DH was gifted some scented lotion from a relative and I can smell it throughout the house if he puts it on. It’s awful.

The smell from the greasy spoon truck shop makes me heave.

I don’t really notice this kind of thing.
My teen daughter is autistic and has an exceptionally strong sense of spell so she would notice the kind of thing you do. I’m happy to live in blissful ignorance!

Performative horror threads ref perfumes and laundry products have become very much the thing on this forum the past year or so. Quite funny

Yeah it’s sooo funny when I leave the house or try to socialise with friends and end up itching or in pain or covered in eczema. I laugh and laugh and laugh.

Research is showing that air pollution from artificial fragrances causes both short term and long term health damage. So amusing.

Ugh that’s gross . Totally agree.
There’s a certain perfume some people wear and it gets right up my nose. It’s so cloying. I don’t know what it is but it’s a relatively new one. Not a classic.

I’m definitely not pregnant. But have an exceptionally strong sense of smell since having kids.

There’s one particular child, a friend of my DS, who has a perfumed smell that I can’t stand. I can smell when he’s been in my house.

My bathroom has been smelling a bit like that the past few days and I couldn't work out why until I realised I'd inadvertedly bought scented loo roll - a huge bag of the stuff. I'll have to wade my way through it but it's quite unpleasant.

Maybe by working from home you have changed your sense of smell and you are too accustomed to the smell at home. If you are menopausal age, this can also intensify smells. I am lucky to be out and about at work every day and can’t say I notice this at all.

It is interesting that a few posters who claim they can smell Brenda's knickers on the washing line from 3 towns away have mentioned the 'health implications' of using scented products. The cynic in me thinks that it is possible the 'health implications ' have played on people's minds and they have become laser focused on smells that they fear may harm them.

Absolutely agree. If I buy something on Vinted, the washing powder stink makes me feel sick. I really don’t understand how people wear such highly perfumed clothes and sleep in highly perfumed sheets. The fragrances are damaging to health and in numerous ways and imho should be banned.

The thing I don't understand is the Unstoppables that you add to the washing machine. Just why?! And don't get me started on Lush - how anyone works a shift in there is beyond me.

Are you ND @Strawbaler?

There are many scents I enjoy and stick to them, unfortunately when something is discontinued it causes issues.

I can't tolerate the smell of any Comfort or Surf though, assumption that it's about the balance they use. I can tell if someone uses comfort on their laundry as they make me nauseated even if they have perfume on.

I live rurally and coastal too and some of the smells associated with these give me migraine. I love most scents in the woods but avoid them in peak decay periods.

I think some people are more sensitive to these smells. I do think you get used to them and go nose blind a bit when it’s an every day thing. I live in the countryside too and eldest has a sensitive nose

It's definitely not just you.

I have chronic migraine (100+ days a year), asthma and allergies, so I've had to avoid strong fragrance for years. Even sitting near someone wearing perfume in the doctors waiting room can make me ill for days, so I have to wait outside. When people visit our home we have to ask them not to wear strongly scented products because of my medical conditions.

To all the sceptics here, yes, some of us can smell laundry from the gardens across the road. I don't smell fragrance as scented, I actually taste it as alcohol in the back of my throat.

I can no longer go shopping because of triggers. My partner does all our shopping, but because we have a fragrance free home, he is now becoming affected by scents also.

Since covid, we find that most of our shopping smells of a cocktail of chemicals - presumably hand sanitiser. With bread particularly, we notice that anything wrapped in paper can actually taste perfumed.

The other thing that we find deeply unpleasant and troubling is scented pet products. Animals sense of smell is tens of thousands of times more sensitive than ours, yet people inflict scented cat litter and scented toys on them and wash their bedding in highly fragranced laundry products.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to run a fragrance free home.

Most people are nose blind and oblivious to strong perfumes and it isn't healthy.

My ex hated artificial scent, so for many years we/I lived a 'low scent' lifestyle. I would sigh wistfully when friends' sports gear smelled of lovely summer breeze fabric conditioner (or similar), and their houses of some 'country flowers' concoction. Ours smelled of children and dog.
These days it's just me, so my house is full of 'lavender dream' or 'fresh linen' etc smells, and people's noses follow my wafty whiff as I breeze along the high street. The more artificial the better 😂

@BarBiWon @BauhausOfEliott @RampantIvy @ouch321 @MiddleAgeRageMonster

Rather than suggesting that perfume intolerance is in people's heads, try doing some research into hyperosmia and hemiplegic migraine. For some of us these are medical conditions that we have to live with. It is not imaginary, we actually can physically smell our neighbours washing from across the street. Fragrance triggered migraine has put me in hospital three times and left me chronically ill and underweight. It's not a joke, I wish it was.

Having hyperosmia is hellish. It's not just a "dislike" of fragrance, it is a life limiting medical condition. I can no longer visit friends or family because being in their house makes me physically ill. I can't go on public transport or sit in a coffee shop or do any of the normal things that you take for granted. Fragrance is everywhere and most of you are immune to the effects of it.

I definitely dislike the smell that accompanies most of my eBay or vinted purchases. I typically have to wash everything before I can wear it. There are also brands of products I have to avoid. For example, I have an intense dislike of all Dove products because of the way they smell.

Some smells seem to really linger, the awful artificial vape smell for one even when there is nobody around using one.

Have you had covid OP? I had a very strong sense of smell until I got covid 4years ago. My sos hasn’t returned however, anything with an artificial perfume eg fabric conditioner or aftershave, I can smell but it is distorted and smells awful and yes, painful. I did have phantosmia very badly though.