# Perfume pollution



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

As people who are very sensitive to smells, as cooks are, how do you feel about the profusion of perfumes that have invaded everything?  I'm extremely sensitive to smells, and sometimes when they wash the landings in my apartment building, the smell of the detergent goes under the door, through the hall and into my bedroom and actually wakes me up as much as any loud bell would do! 

If i go into a snack bar and they;re washing the counters or floor with a perfumed detergent i turn on my heel and go out.  It ruins the flavor of a cappuccino or a sandwich. 

I can't stand sitting next to someone who washed their clothes with one of these detergents that are now scented with artificial lily of the valley or rose or (oh gag!) musk. 

Unfortunately Italy is way behind in making unscented things. 

Frankly i would prefer the smell of bleach or ammonia than the smell of it with a ton of perfume on top.

I won;t mention the perfumes people spray on themselves, though they're usually actual scents of actual things and not these bottled concoctions of chemically based vanilla and magnolia as i recently saw a simple clothes detergent (where do they get these ideas!)


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## foodnfoto (Jan 1, 2001)

I sympathize.

It seems that as I get older, my sensitivity to aromas has increased considerably. Just recently, I went to the Metropolitan opera to see my husband's uncle perform. A woman wearing way too much perfume took her seat in the row just in front of me right before the curtain rose. Within a few minutes, my throat became so dry, my sinuses swelled, my eyes watered and I began coughing and could not stop. Cough drops did not help at all. Finally, I left my seat and after several doses of an albuterol inhaler I could breathe again without choking. The rest of the first and second act I spent in the lobby.

After intermission, I returned to my seat and the reaction started up again and again I left.

Bummer when seats were $200 each. But what can one do? Ask her to go home and take a shower?

The proper way to apply cologne or perfume?-a dab behind your knees and one on your lower back-that's it.

Another way? Spritz TWO pumps of mist in front of you and walk through it-that's it.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

They get these ideas from the public, who they interview and have actual smell test. In our Sunday papers there are adds for perfume where you scratch off a section of paper and you get the scent. Evadently this is what society wants and most like. Perfumery did not become a billion dollar industry by not selling its products to thje masses.


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

not one to introduce more rules, but when it comes to overly perfumed women or heavily cologned men, there should be a limit of what restaurants should permit. sometimes it will upset a whole dining room and irritate other diners that have allergies, sinus, asthma,breathing issues or sensitivities...plus, it's just plain rude... coughing, watery eyes, runny noses....in 5 minutes your dining room sounds more like a TB ward(do they still exist?). i find it extremely annoying personally and as a chef it clashes and takes away from my food and my customer's experience..i want my customers to smell the garlic and wine and herbs and curry etc. etc. etc., not a bottle of chanel or aqua velva...perfume aside, there is absolutely nothing worse than patchouli oil...nothing!!!!

joey


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

As o/o of a chocolate shop, I have quite a strong opinion on perfume. I do not allow my employees to wear it in my store, nor any scented hand creams. And, of course, I'd prefer my customers not to wear it either, and I'd _*REALLY *_appreciate it if they do not wear cheap perfume, that stuff is just as bad as not showering for two days.

I do like the smell of fresh laundered clothes, _mildly _scented body soaps/deodarants, etc.

Floor cleaners, however I have a problem with. Don't know about Italy, but here we have some very nasty smelling floor soaps, and the smell gets into everything. Back when I had my catering biz, I had a special order for bbq ribs. Got them in whole, brined, smoked and rubbed them, then smoked again. Tried one, had a faint taste of floor soap. Checked with the butcher, and my suspicions were confirmed--he had just mopped out his cooler with the nasty floor cleaner.

But all that is smell. My big pet peeve is muzak. Quit at one place-- a large private club with multiple kitchens becasue the club had muzak piped in ALL the rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, change rooms, and the ther ewere only 3 cd's on the system. Hate it now, and will leave when I have a coffee or whatever outdoors or in the patio section of a restaurant, and muzak is blaring at me--or the worst possible scenerio, radio, poorly tuned with nothing but (deleted) insulting, stupid commercials.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I've never been a fan of perfume or cologne.  The closest I've come to liking one was in the National Geographic with a scratch-n-sniff of a personal concoction of Napoleon heavy on the lemon and rosemary. Not so flowery.


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## indygal (Dec 7, 2010)

Well, I feel I must jump in on this topic in order to represent the "other side".   In the early 90's I was horribly allergic to household cleaners, hair spray, etc.   But guess what? Perfume didn't bother me at all.  

I sometimes smell someone that I think has overdone it, but as soon as they are 6-8 ft. away, it's over.  And my all time favorite fragrance was cheap drug-store brand, "Straw Hat" by Faberge.  It smelle a lot like my very favorite smell in the whole world, new mown hay.

DD

BTW, I got over my allergies by taking massive doses of vitamin C.  Took about 3 mo, but then I was well and truly over it.  It came on as the result of 3 surgical procedures in a row.  I was never allergic to anything except sulfa drugs until then.   Darn doctors.  Longer you can stay out of their hands, the better.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I can take perfumes if in moderation - the kind of perfume people wear specifically for the scent - if subtle and of good quality.  What i can't stand is that nowadays, EVERYTHING is perfumed - floor detergent, dish detergent, clothes detergent (musk clothes detergent, aargh), and now, even toilet paper!!!  When you add perfume to detergent or toilet paper, i can tell you it's definitely NOT the good stuff. 

As for musak - and now tv screens!  If i go somewhere to talk with my friends why on earth would i want to be watching TV!?!  and musak - lowest common denominator.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

I like the clean scent of chlorine or chlorox better then all the soaps and detergents. Thats only me and my opinion


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

everything (as in the whole country) in mexico smells like fabuloso....EVERYTHING!.... it is an unmistakable smell, in the way that Pine Sol is......

joey


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

As kids, my sister and I were very scent sensitive. 

If someone walked by or what have you, and it was too strong of a smell,

we would hold our noses and look at each other and simultaneously say "B.P.", bad perfume.

I got my husband away from using cologne many years ago and now he uses scent body lotion (Bath and Body Japanese Cherry Blossom). 

Myself, I have a very old perfume that I apply the way my grandmother taught me,  a dab on the wrist and then with that dab, I touch my wrist to behind each ear and knee.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

durangojo said:


> ... in the way that Pine Sol is......
> 
> joey


(barfing noises deleted) THATS the smell I can't stand, I think the loal SPCA mucks out their kennels and cages with that stuff too....l


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## amazingrace (Jul 28, 2006)

People who overdo perfume or cologne may not even realize they're offending others. Their own olfactory system becomes so accustomed to the scent that they cannot smell it on themselves so they use more. In addition, body chemistry may react with the scent to produce an unpleasant result. My mother always said "If people can smell your perfume from farther away than 'whisper distance', you're wearing too much. It's supposed to attract people to you, not repel them." Also, she never applied perfume directly to her skin. Instead she sprayed the scent into the air in front of herself, then walked through the mist. Doing this makes it nearly impossible to apply too much.

I am very sensitive to odors. For this reason I avoid movie theaters, public transportation and elevators. I agree with others regarding heavily scented restaurant patrons and/or wait staff. I believe it was some city in the U.K. that passed a law a few years ago about perfume in public places. (I'll look that up..more later).

Okay, not the U.K. www.crystalspring.co.uk/fragrance-bans-5.html

someplace in the site there is an article about scents being banned in various places.


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

amazingrace said:


> ... My mother always said "If people can smell your perfume from farther away than 'whisper distance', you're wearing too much. It's supposed to attract people to you, not repel them." ....


 My Mother would say the same thing! It seems to be a universal "Mom thing", so why do so many people disregard it? Right?


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