Do you wear perfume?

I don't have a sense of smell (anosmia) so I don't wear any perfume or cologne. I use scented shower gel and good deodorant! I'm very clean but I don't get offended if you tell me I smell and need to shower....I actually appreciate the heads up! LOL!! :7


Angie
 
I, too, am allergic. Also, if one wears perfume, over time, ones sense of smell becomes somewhat impared by it, thus one must wear more and more of it in order to "smell" it oneself -- thus people who seem to think that although they are wearing "little," they might as well have bathed in it. Thought it interesting that there is evidence that perfume indoor can be more harmful than cigarette smoke...

Don't know what they're doing to perfume these days, but I recently bought some clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch and had to take them all back because even after washing the clothes 4 times, I could not get out the perfume smell -- which gives me headaches and can cause allergic reactions.

I, too, wish that people would be more considerate, and if one "must" wear a scent, ensure it is the some natural essence of oil.

As an aside, at an all women's conference I've recently attended, an announcement was made that there was to be no perfume allowed on anyone because so many women are allergic nowadays, and because it can trigger allergic reactions. People wearing perfume were turned away...

:eek:
 
Wow, you all have brought back some memories for me. I used to wear Poison as a teen (love it!) and Tommy Girl. I also have had Very Sexy and still have Body by Victoria. As for the Lancome Miracle, I absolutely HATE IT, but only because DH had bought that one for the other woman a few years back. (Please don't ask.)
Shelley, That was funny. Did your mom ever guess or did you have to show her the bottle?

Shirley
 
I don't wear "perfume," but I sometimes wear a body spray that is a wild vanilla/banana scent. Or sometimes (rarely) an essential oil mixture. I usually just wear the scent that lingers from my shampoos and body wash.

I think most people don't understand what the purpose of perfume is: it's not so that people a block away can smell you coming, or to keep people away (or induce asthma attacks in others!), it's so people get a light scent of something that makes them want to get closer to smell more.

I think most people who were perfume wear too much. The problem is, if you spray it on yourself, it's already too much. The trick, I've read, is to spray it in the air, then walk under the mist. That gives the right amount. It's also hard to judge what you smell like yourself.

An older woman who is a student in some of my classes ALWAYS smells perfumey. The scent is nice, but it's just too much. I can tell when she's just walked down the hallway in front of me several minutes earlier (that remainder of scent is actually pleasant, but imagine what it's like when you get closer).

People have varying sensitivity to odors. I have a very sensitive nos, and can smell the lilies of the valley when they first start to bloom. I wonder if some "overdoers" are not so well endowed nose-wise, so to them, the odor is not strong at all.

As for standiing between the person with b.o. and the woman with too much perfume on: it does have a similar effect, doesn't it? I used to work in a coop where a woman in her 50's would come in, reeking of perfume (more likely the essential oils she shoplifted when we weren't on her back). But as you got closer, you realized that she was using it to cover the odor of incontinence. Somehow, I always keep that in the back of my mind when I smell too much perfume: I wonder what they're trying to hide?
 
I don't wear it often. I always forget. But funny you should mention this today. I'm in a training class right now and one of the women that I'm sitting between has a perfume on that reminds me of Charmain toilet paper. I keep sneezing.

I tried on some perfume at Victoria's Secrets yesterday that my dd said was gross (right in the store). I kept smelling it all day and couldn't wait to take a shower!
 
>Be considerate to those of us who are sensitive to fragrance
>and get sick from it. You don't want to be the one
>responsible for sending me to the hospital with a fatal asthma
>attack, do you? You don't want to be the one who makes going
>to work a living nightmare for me, do you? You don't want to
>send me home from work every day with a migraine, do you?
>Thanks for your understanding.


I know of several professors here who announce to their students that they should not wear perfume (because of the possibility of agravating other students with migraines or asthma).

Even worse than perfume, IMO, is cologne. Most colognes I've smelled stink! Even if they are not overdone...pew!

Whatever happened to just smelling clean?
 
I wear perfume.

I wear it for me. It helps me to feel better about myself, since I am a depression sufferer. It is also a part of my identity. My children associate certain smells with me and identify warmth, love and support with those smells, through me. it is comforting tothem aswell as to myself. It becomes the smell of mothering to them.

I will not stop wearing it no matter what other people think or say. After all, I have to put up with other people's socially broadcast ignorance and horrendous political opinions, constant driving while using cell phones, talking in loud voices while on cell phones in cafes, refusing to slow down or stop to allow mothers and children to cross the road safely, refusing to recycle or turn air conditioners off so that our children's environment is ruined and precious resources are squandered, etc, etc.

I could go on. The list of socially unacceptable or marginal behaviours we are subjected to on a daily basis is endless. My wearing perfume seems to me to be the least of it.

No offence intended towards any individual person. This is just my personal opinion.

Clare
 
I love Burberry. Don't wear it often. The only things I wear now are products from Bath & Body Works: Moonlight Path, Cherry Blossom, Violet Bouquet. If I'm not either, it will be a scented lotion such as Oil of Olay along with my deodorant.

As far as spraying in the air & walking under, I sometimes spray in the air & do a karate kick to hit the thighs, or spray & jump backwards to hit the back....anything to amuse dh and my daugthers when they're around:+.


http://www.PictureTrail.com/haydee1

Haydee
 
My children associate certain smells with me and
>identify warmth, love and support with those smells, through
>me. it is comforting tothem aswell as to myself. It becomes
>the smell of mothering to them.
>

Absolutely true for me. If I smell the perfume my mom wore while growing up it takes me back instantly to fond memories. Same with the perfume my grandma wore (she died when I was 8). Very comforting for me.

As for me, I love Hypnotic Poison lotion. I wear it all the time (although I've been out for awhile) and never wear it with the perfume. People who are right next to me can smell it faintly but it's not overpowering. ;-)

Brandi
 
I also spray it in the air and walk through it. We have a lady at my office who I swear BATHES in the stuff. You can always tell when she gets in in the morning even if you don't see her because you can smell her. Her office smells like her perfume too even when she's not in there. It just lingers everywhere. Plus, it doesn't help that it's nasty perfume.

I wear "Obsession" (I'm really careful with this one because it is a strong scent)
And "5th Avenue" by Elizabeth Arden (that's my favorite)

Katie
 
I like Avon's Tomorrow from the Today, Tomorrow and Always Trio. Very light, the way I like it.

Anything by Estee Lauder makes me gag!!!!x( x(
 
I just adore fragrance. It is like an antidepressent for me. I know this sounds nuts, but it truly elevates my mood. Choosing the right scent in the morning can make or break my day.

The scent that appeals to me on a given day depends on my mood. Right now I'm going through a Ralph Lauren Safari phase, and I recently went through a Channel Allure phase.

In any event, I sit alone in my office all day, so the only people who may be affected are the other people on the subway, but just for a few minutes.
 
I absolutely love Obsession & was also very careful with it, but DH hates it! So needless to say, I don't wear it anymore.

Marla:-(
 
I love perfume and I love smelling different scents on different people. Not to sound bias, but most women I know that take the time to spray on a fragrance are typically more put together with regard to their hair, their make-up, their clothes, etc. Many might say "high maintenance" but they are normally the women in my workplace or social circle that I admire the most. They are not trying to cover body odor or anything even vaguely unplesant.

A fine frangrance, appropriately applied, I completely appreciate.

However, I also hate drugstore cheap perfume or men who wear cologne in lieu of a shower.
 
I used to wear perfume years ago. Now all I wear are the lotions from bath and bodyworks. Those scents are a little lighter for me. Also perfume causes my husbands allergies to act up. But I used to wear poison and boy do I miss that smell.

kim
 
"As far as spraying in the air & walking under, I sometimes spray in the air & do a karate kick to hit the thighs, or spray & jump backwards to hit the back....anything to amuse dh and my daugthers when they're around ."

LOL Haydee. Now, I'd like to see that.

Shirley
 
As an aside, at an all women's conference I've recently attended, an announcement was made that there was to be no perfume allowed on anyone because so many women are allergic nowadays, and because it can trigger allergic reactions. People wearing perfume were turned away...

Applause applause applause!

I am a little disturbed that someone posted here that they would not stop wearing perfume, no matter what anyone said. No, I'm not a little disturbed -- I'm A LOT disturbed by this. This person said that their reasoning for this was because if they have to deal with everybody else's inconsiderate and socially unacceptable behavior, then everybody should have to deal with hers. This REALLY bothers me. This is what is WRONG with our society, when people throw out considerate human decency by reasoning that their bad behavior is somehow a "retaliation" against others' bad behavior and is deserved. Isn't this a little childish as far as "reasoning" goes? I mean, where does it stop? If everybody excused their bad behavior by blaming somebody else, we'd be a pretty miserable society wouldn't we? So, you're saying that if I ask you to not wear perfume around me because it makes me ill (literally, fragrance makes me very sick), you'd tell me that you're going to wear it anyway because someone was talking on their cell phone too loudly at a restaurant and you think I deserve to suffer for that person's bad bahavior? Isn't that a little misdirected? I mean, if you have a problem with the person yacking loudly on his cell phone at a restaurant, then tell him so, and be a little nicer to me by not wearing perfume around me...because I did NOTHING to hurt you.

This bothers me because I have had to deal several times with people who refuse to stop wearing their fragrance around me. One girl got vocally nasty with me about it. She sat right next to me at work and smelled like she'd bathed in the stuff. I tried being polite, and I explained to her that I was allergic and that her perfume was making me very sick, and she blew up at me, and said that she absolutely would not alter her "beauty regime" for me. I felt like saying, "It's work...not a bar, not a club, not a date...you're here to work. Does your job require that you wear perfume to get your work done? If you don't wear perfume, is your job performance going ot suffer? I doubt it, but mine will if you do." It was very upsetting. I ended up having to wear a mask to work because she wouldn't stop wearing perfume. It made me feel so uncomfortable and self-conscious to have to walk around with a mask on - people staring at me all the time. But, isn't it ironic that my wearing a mask made this girl feel uncomfortable, too...not because I had to wear it, but because she felt that everybody knew that she was the reason why I had to wear it. She was upset because she thought that everybody was going to look at her badly because I had to wear a mask because she wouldn't stop wearing perfume. So, then she stopped wearing it. Funny - she couldn't stop wearing perfume by my simple, polite request...but suddenly when she felt she was perceived as the bad guy she stopped wearing it. As long as it wasn't affecting HER comfort level, it wasn't an issue...but as soon as HER comfort level was breached, she stopped. Selfish. Selfish-selfish-selfish behavior...and I don't think much of people who don't care about making others sick and only change their behavior as soon THEY are put out.

Sorry for the rant, but this has REALLY pissed me off! Be an adult and be considerate. You may think your perfume isn't as socially unacceptable as someone talking on a cell phone, but that doesn't mean that EVERYBODY agrees with you. I'll think for myself and make up my own mind about what is or isn't socially unacceptable, thank you very much. But one thing that I will ALWAYS do is, if somebody comes to me and says that something I'm wearing or doing is making them physically sick, then I will STOP whatever it is, if it's in my power to do so...and I will never "punish" someone else for not holding the same opinions I do. Whereas you may refuse to honor someone's request to stop wearing perfume, I will always honor someone's request if what I am doing is making them sick. I never want to be responsible for making someone else physically uncomfortable.

Moreover, if I simply just know that something causes so many people problems, I won't do it or wear it or whatever. I would much rather do without it in public places so as not to make people sick, and enjoy it in my own home if it means that much to me. I'll hold those things for special occasions, but won't subject the whole world to them. For example, I love to sing along to the radio, but I know that at work, I can't do that. It bothers other people. It would bother people if I sang along with the music at the restaurant or while waiting for the movie to start. In other words, my singing in public places would interfere with the lives of other people, so I don't do it. My husband smokes, but he won't smoke in public places, even if they allow smoking, because he knows how harmful it is to non-smokers. People bathe so they don't stink of sweat and body odor when they go out in public. They brush their teeth so their breath doesn't offend people. People do countless things to not offend the senses of others in public, but here we have someone who refuses to be considerate and accommodate those around her who she might be making sick.

Am I being too harsh? Perhaps I am. I've sat here and re-read this person's post over and over to make sure I'm reading it right...thinking to myself, "No, she couldn't have meant that. Could she? She seems like such a nice person at other times...but...this is really what she's saying." She said she didn't mean to "offend anyone", but yet, I am deeply offended. Probably because I put so much stock in the decency of human beings that when I read something like that I am monumentally disappointed and reminded of all the ways in which our species has regressed. We're all guilty of it, but who is going to take some responsible to fix it? I try to do my part by stopping to let people cross the road. I do let other cars into traffic. I don't cut people off. I typically don't talk on my cell phone while driving unless I'm lost and need directions (that happened recently). I don't talk on my cell phone in public. I don't talk during movies. In other words, I try to be considerate to those around me. So, to come here and read someone basically say, "Sorry 'bout your luck, but I'm not changing my ways just because they make you sick, because I think I have a right to behave this way because so many other people behave badly, too" really bothers me.

Okay, rant over...I'm outta here. I need to cool off over this one. That post made the ol' cat uncharacteristically "blow up".
 
Oh, one last rhetorical question:

If you're one of those people who refuses to stop wearing perfume no matter how sick it makes other people, would you stop wearing it if it suddenly started making your kids sick? If so, then why? Why would you stop wearing it if it makes your kids sick, but not stop wearing it if it makes me sick? This question isn't meant for anyone to answer...it's meant to be thought about...hence, rhetorical.

By the way, this could really happen to your children, and you may have to deal with this question head-on, so really think about it seriously. I mean, I wasn't always allergic to perfume. I could wear it when I was younger, but started to develop a reaction to it late in high school. The reactions became more and more severe as time went on. And, kids can develop asthma and migraines from exposure to perfume. Kids seem to be developing these reactions earlier and earlier in life, too. So, what your kids think of as "motherly smells" may one day give them their greatest nemesis: asthma, migraines, or other severe allergies. I guess that's the price they might have to pay, though. I know I did.
 
As a fragrance wearer, I have to say that if I worked with someone who was bothered by my fragrance, I would cheerfully give it up for a co-worker. I doubt they would even have to ask me. I would probably be able to tell that something was bothering them, and would probably ask them before they asked me. We spend most of our lives in the workplace, and co-workers, in a way, are like family. Considering the number of hours we spend together, I just can't enjoy my job unless I have a good relationship with my co-workers.

Of course, if my fragrance bothers someone on the subway or in a restaurant, or walking down the street, I figure they can just move away. I think this may have been what Clare was referring to. I can't worry about everyone I may run into in the course of a day.
 

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