The horror of scented sanpro!

[AlpacaLypse]

Hi everyone, any chance of us starting a campaign to get manufacturers to clearly label when sanitary protection products are scented?

I know there are some women who prefer the scented product, but there seems to be many more who dislike it intensely, and indeed some who find these products irritate the skin.

At the moment, labelling seems to be very confusing, with euphemisms like 'odour control', and no ingredient list.

Currently the only way to be sure is to sniff the outside of the package, and even then if the shop is well ventilated and the plastic wrapping is thick, you may still get a nasty surprise when you get home. Not to mention peculiar looks from other people in the supermarket aisle!

Who's with me?

A couple of threads I already know about...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2670728-scented-sanitary-towels-just-why?msgid=61950383

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2678330-AIBU-to-think-Always-dont-actually-employ-women-in-their-marketing-design-teams

Are all bodyform unscented? I had a horrific reaction to the Aldi ones, so hoping these ones are ok.

Scented sanpro always gives me thrush too, or terrible skin irritation, as do the 'ultra thin" with some kind of gel beads inside. I can only use non scented, hypoallergenic ones. I'm considering a mooncup, but worried about leakage

Hi everyone, sorry I've been gone so long! A busier weekend at AlpacaCentral than expected

Customer service replied on Thursday. Weirdly, I can't copy and paste the text of the email that P & G sent. So I'm having to solemnly copy it here by hand! I'm leaving out the polite waffle at the beginning. The asterisks are where they addressed me by my first name, which they did a great deal in classic PR 'build a personal relationship with anyone complaining' manner.

I have just had a look on our website and can see what you mean when searching for non scented products, the Always Silk Collection Softer + Fresh should not be listed there so I do apologise and I will make our web team aware of this so it can be updated as soon as possible.

Just to let you know *** the reason for the Always Ultra being featured on this section is as the scent you may have noticed is not an intentionally added perfume, but comes from the odour neutralising technology. Our intensive consumer research among over 2000 women has shown that odour control is the second most important benefit for women after reliable protection. We designed Always with Odour Neutralising Technology to be as absorbent and protective as the previous product but now with added benefit of odour control. This technology is not applied to the surface of the pad but contained inside the pad so there is no direct contact with the skin. All of our Always products are dermatologically tested for skin compatibility.

I do appreciate your feedback *** as I know scent is not for everyone, and I can confirm to you that the following products are perfume free and free of odour neutralisng technology: Always Infinity, Always Maxi, Always Soft & Fit - Perfume Free.

At the moment we don't have any information to say that our labelling is going to be updated, but I'm more than happy to pass all your comments to our Research and Development team who will be glad to hear from you.

They are constantly looking for ways to improve products and packaging to meet the needs and preferences of our customers and your comments will help them with their research going forwards.

I do hope this information helps a little *** and if you have any further questions please don't hesitate to get back in touch.

Kind regards etc etc.

So, a partial victory on the website. However, the lady who wrote the reply seems to be doubting that Acti Pearls actually smell, and implying that if anyone developed a skin problem or thrush after using the Acti Pearls ones, it must be a coincidence.

Definitely more work to be done!

Thank you for contacting P&G on our behalf . We will consider their reply and will be sure to post on this thread with any other questions we have *.

That was a * fail. It should have said:

Thank you for contacting P&G on our behalf .We will consider their reply and will be sure to post on this thread with any questions we have *.

That's pretty much the identical reply from all the previous times they've been contacted. They don't consider it and don't change anything.

This is what I'd want to say to them:

Acti-pearls DO SMELL. They DO bother people.

The choice of products that don't have them or other scent is RUBBISH. We need a whole selection of different sizes and absorbencies, including the usual range of liners, in non-scented, non-odour control varieties. Just like you used to have.

Many people have STOPPED buying Always products now because of this.

They don't listen, and never have. Grrrrr

I refer you to my post on Wed 06-Jul-16 17:18:23 where I said P&G don't give a shit. :)

They're quite right though, the Acti-Pearl ones don't smell, they stink.

V. disappointing response in relation to labelling though particularly given they don't use the term 'perfumed' consistently, but interchange it with 'scented'. In fact, they completely haven't responded to the point you raised, but focused on 'perfumed' products instead.

According to the OED the definition of "scented" is: "Having a pleasant scent". Several other dictionaries include the broader definition of "Having a definite odour".

The so-called odour-neturalisers fall into the latter category so anything with them should most definitely not be marketed as 'non-scented' as this is clearly untrue (and admitted as such by P&G in their written response to the OP...

On that basis, given the widescale understanding that 'scented' refers to an item having a definite odour, not just to 'perfume' could the products (or rather P&G's approach to marketing the products) fall somewhat foul of the code of conduct behind "describing your product"? - Maybe you should respond to P&G's response and ask them to explain how they don't fall foul of mis-leading marketing in this case OP?

and the problem with stopping buying them is that it's hard to find a decent alternative for what I need - they had long/large pantyliners that were decently absorbent and stayed in the right place, which is what I needed for leaks/extra protection. I haven't found another one that works quite so well, but at the moment I've gone for the Tesco ones, because at least they don't smell.