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?

Re bio washing powder - the enzymes and bleach in it kills any nasties in your washing machine. When DD was little I was using unscented laundry liquid and it made her eczema worse and my washing machine smell. After switching to bio powder the eczema cleared up. The powder got rid of the mould in the machine that caused the smell and the eczema.

@AtlasPine the Lush factory is quite near our ‘recycling centre’ (tip) so the scented air from their factory mixed with tip smell is awful, really sickly but rotting at the same time, hard to describe but not nice at all.

We don't use softener.

Don't use air fresheners.

No plug in

And avoid scented candles.

I hate all those artificial smells. And my kids had asthma. So avoided all of those.

Those strong smells give me a headache.

No diffusers. No incense. No scented oils. None of it.

My kid like scented candles. But I hope she avoids them when older.

But I try and avoid artificial smells wherever I can.

I am old! When I had a job while at uni people actually smoked in the office and I actually liked the smell of smoke in pubs even though I didn’t smoke myself.

Now I retch when I pass cafés that allow smoking outside.

I think we are more sensitive to certain smells now because we are not exposed to them as often.

I rather smell muck than the fake smells. They give me a headache. Never had that when muck has been spread .

The UK is the largest worldwide consumer of laundry scent boosters. I can only assume it’s to hide washing that is dried too slowly and would otherwise smell musty.

There really aren’t any other countries that use them to the same extent. It’s a well researched market believe it or not.

They aren’t really great for you as the cheap commercial Lenor types contain endocrine disruptors.

I live in a city centre and not noticed this. I always notice if someone has a strong perfume as it gives me a headache. But not constant smells….

Yes.

Whenever I bought clothes from Ebay. They would have a strong fragrance. I would have to wash them twice before I dared to put them on my kids.

Why do people think they can just dismiss people’s own lived experiences and call them liars?

I can absolutely smell my next-door-but-one’s washing when it’s on their line a similar distance away. In fact I can smell it if I walk past their house and the front door or windows are open from across the driveway. My partner can too and so can other people - regularly sat on the patio this summer and others have commented.

At my mum’s house, one of her neighbours - I’m not sure if it’s next door or further away - you can smell their washing inside my mum’s house (and in the garden), when it’s not even outside on the line. I presume from either a tumble dryer vent or the washing machine extraction. You always know when they are doing washing.

I also always know when my partner has visited a certain family member. Even if they’ve only popped in for 5 minutes, I can smell that they’ve been there as soon as they walk in the house. It clings to your clothes. I can smell it on my own hair the next day if we have been to visit, and need to wash my own clothes to remove the smell. I’m 90% sure it’s laundry there, it may be air fresheners but I’ve not seen any visible ones, but they have kids and the washing machine is always on in their open plan kitchen so I think it’s that. It might be hidden air fresheners but still the same result.

I have items from Vinted that even after 5 or 6 washes (in my lightly fragranced laundry sheets - not even fragrance free) I can still smell the previous owners laundry fragrance on.

Why would anyone feel the need to lie about it? I’m fortunately not someone who reacts into allergy or migraines like others on this thread (unless it’s perfume in very close quarters) and I do like subtle, natural fragrances myself. I just much prefer the smell of the roses in my garden or the lawn when it’s been cut to it being masked by someone else’s washing!

I don’t even consider myself to have a particularly strong sense of smell but some of the laundry products used these days are strong and overwhelming. And they can be smelled from a long way away. It’s just a fact. It’s even in the marketing for these products! So why people feel the need to think we are all lying about it is beyond me.

My DP has tardive dyskenesia too, his is from being on venlafaxine and I've never considered strong smells to be one of his triggers!

I will be more mindful to keep an eye out and see if smells are one of his triggers. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I could have written this myself OP, I feel exactly the same. I commute every day on a bus and I can’t stand the cloying undertone which seems to be a mixture of vape and very strong hair/beauty products? The vape is the worse though. I’d almost prefer the smell of cigarettes at this point. I struggle finding a shampoo or washing powder which doesn’t have such a strong artificial scent you smell it on yourself all day. I assumed I had just become overly sensitive, but it does seem possible that the scent of everything has got stronger. ( and vapes are everywhere 🤢)

Agree!

I have eczema and use very few scented things. I use laundry balls in the washing machine. When I stayed at a B&B recently, the scent of the washing power used on the sheets was overpowering to me. I know it's me who is odd as I don't use it and of course, it's not something I would complain about as it was a lovely B&B! I just really notice these smells as I don't use them.

I agree OP I have very frequent migraines and strong chemical scents can be a trigger. I've had to get off public transport in the middle of nowhere before due to other passengers heavy perfume or aftershave use. It is difficult to get away from it and so many people heavily use scented cleaning products, air fresheners, plugins, sprays. candles, incense and so on. I think very few people really understand how toxic to health these products are.

I actually think that way fewer people are wearing perfumes and aftershaves these days and have been since COVID. Also, increasingly it is possible to buy unscented deodorants etc.

However, I do agree with you re hair products and fabric conditioners. Hair products in particular smell way too strong in my view. I hate the smell of just general "product", whether on myself or on someone else.

Crikey, I am really worried I smell of "product" now😂

I wash with soap and put on a spritz of Dior first thing in the morning, no hair products though. No idea if that results in a strong smell or not, but hate the idea of it being overpowering or bothering people!

Heading off to smell myself . . . .

Oh absolutely, I agree. I do understand how toxic a lot of chemicals are having been injured by s neurotoxic antipsychotic.

Anything that has a lot of chemicals in it can exacerbate my involuntary movements including fabric conditioners, scented candles, cleaning products etc. I try to use unperfumed or "green" products as much as I can. Being a twitching mess is hard enough as it is already without adding more symptoms to it unnecessarily 😆

I tend not to use anything scented. When I read posts on how to make a house smell nice I always suggest opening the windows.

Goodness, thank you for your reply. I've never had anyone on MN say they know someone personally with TD, as it's supposedly so "rare" (rare, my arse lol).

Glad i could help 😌 Hugs to your DP, it's a shitty condition. I understand ❤️

Agree, and artificial fragrance is a really common allergy.

God that place is horrible...just walking past it i feel as though my skin starts itching...

I think that’s just the point though, for some people they are hard to avoid. If you never have to take public transport, or share a work space, then maybe it is possible, but not everyone is so fortunate.

It certainly doesn't. I was on a plane yesterday and the stench from some individuals was vomit inducing.

My sense of smell diminished when I had small children with dirty nappies. Defense mechanism?

I can still smell strong smells and find perfume and perfumed items unpleasant.

i bought some crease release spray before going on a cruise (with no irons allowed). Thankfully tried it before I went and my god it was an assault to the senses and I had to avoid that room for a few days.

I smell weed and body odour and that’s about it, would quite like some nice artificial scents!

I think it is the predominant chemicals rather than the fragrance, although the fragrance is what grabs the attention and perhaps there are things in washing products and perfumes that serve to slow down the volatility of the fragrance molecules.
I had this in pregnancy and now again at perimenopause. Body-wise, have also become much more sensitive to deodorant and hair dye where this never came up before.