"Fragrance-free spaces" -- is this a new thing?

Really? We were forbidden to use colognes or scented sprays in the brokerage I was hired at in late 2000.

Good.

Like everything that makes life worth living, there's always some jerk who abuses something to the point where it impacts others people in a negative way and they start protesting.

As for me, I'll go nowhere my "Lustray Blue Spice" isn't welcome!

Good. No one wants to smell you.

R4 Everyone wants to smell me. I have to keep spray bottle of water handy to ward off horny brutes.

DL demands a "Jean Nate" safe space!

They should make theaters a "no scent" zone. How many times have you had to sit next to a frau who drenches herself with perfume or cologne, because she thinks the scent makes her glamorous?

I got a medical accommodation to work from home due to intolerable scent allergy at office . Trust me its a real thing. I felt like the 'canary in the coal mine" particularly in regards to the latest ubiquitous bugaboo, phthalates( found in MANY personal use products)!

R7 But you're at The Movies! How can you turn your nose up at glamour at The Movies?

My mother has serious asthma issues. Perfume sets her off like you wouldn’t believe. She actually pulled a rib from hacking so hard and for hours after coming in contact with the person. She had to get a doctor’s note so she could moved to where she wouldn’t be around people wearing perfume. It was THAT bad. I can’t get over people who smell like they bathe in that crap. It seems to be a class issue. The lower the class, the more they feel the need to spray.

Some people are too damn sensitive to live.

I knew a woman who would go to work drenched in perfume. She always chose very heavy, musky perfumes with harsh scents. Whenever I was around her I would sneeze. All her clothes and her apartment were permeated with it. She rode the subway and in elevators it overwhelmed the small space.

She said she didn’t care if other people liked it or not, she liked it.

I love it but my mom always has headaches from it. That's me with cigarettes, but I think it's more because of anxiety from them.

[R12] - Reminds me of people with large, but portable radios, on the NY subway, back in the 70’s and 80’s, blasting away at high volumes, oblivious to bothering anyone around them.

Most complainers are dirty hippy dippy au naturel stink bags who aren't allergic at all but object to your littering the air and assaulting their delicate senses with your chemically contrived fragrance. They think their garlicky BO, unwashed hair and halitosis is nature's work and would not be considered offensive in an accepting, natural green environment. Interestingly, for reasons not yet well understood by the modern medical establishment, this devastating scent sensitivity appears to have a particularly powerful affect on vegetarians and vegans, lesbians, Bay Area residents, Lilith Fair attendees, and feminist theory majors.

How annoying.

"Because some people are allergic to strong scents...."

Take a Zyrtec or whatever doctor prescribed medicine you have and STFU!

This is news to me. What if you go to see a GP, see such a sign, but it's too late? You're already wearing scent. You can't just not go to the Doctor; you're there for a reason. People with such an extreme allergy need to take an anti-histamine or wait outside. Oh, wait, they can't... pollution!

The antihistamines r18 and r17 so blithely recommend, as if they had even a hint of a clue, DO NOTHING against the migraines your stenches create for me. IOW, yes, go the fuck home. Come again another day.

R9 That picture is terrifying!

Well, now we know which DLers never step out the front door without first marinating,themselves in Drakkar Noir.

R21 It's amazing I can even walk out the door without being mobbed by men begging to be marinated in my essence.

Most people who wear perfume or cologne use too much, IMO. No need to bathe in it. Clean skin, clothes and hair usually smell better.

I really feel Febreeze could kill me. If I ever get a terminal diagnosis at doctor' office I'll just stop at store on the way home, get some Febreeze and go home and end it all. That's how badly it effects me.

Same here, r24. And it is an epidemic in Uber cars. Every time I get one, I get a headache. Then I call and complain, and give the driver one star. Uber usually refunds me $7.00.

I love scents. But there are some pretty bad ones out there and they do make a big stink when those wearing them are around in public. One women I knew would use bath oils as a perfume, and she just reeked so bad, no one wanted to be around her.

Understated scents is the way to go. You don't want your scent to precede you. Acqua Di Parma's Colonia Club was one of the best selections I made. I love it. It smells clean and very understated. I wear it for me, not those around me.

Febreeze is ground zero for this pandemic!

I'm amazed that the fragrance industry is still alive. I think the only place you can safely wear cologne is at home and that is if you live alone with no pets.

I miss the days of women wearing heels, having big hair, being drenched in Estée Lauder Beautiful, and also smoking. The 80s are such a sensory fetish for me.

Is this a big city Northeastern/California thing? I've never seen this in the South.

What kind of idiot would wear a scent when they go to a doctor or dentist or any situation that involves close contact?

The signs usually mean that one of the employees has obtained a doctor's note saying that they can't be exposed to fragrances. The workplace then has to put the sign up as a reasonable accommodation to the employee.

Some of the bars in New Orleans have no cologne signs up. So it is is not just a coastal thing.

R29 Your post reminded me of an Elementary teacher I had at a strict Christian school. She wore Opium and always had a Hall's drop in her mouth, but when she would lean over my desk, I could smell the underlying cigarette smell and I loved it. (It reminded me of my grandmother.)

perfumes of yesteryear were not made up of these toxic base compounds of today.

Fendi was the first one I noticed that made me sick.

Fragrance is bad for your skin but manufacturers put it in everything because it moves product. Think about all of the different fragrances you subject your body to...soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotions, moisturizers, hair products, lip balm, fabric softener, etc. Everyone of them is an irritant and the average person is subjecting their skin to them everyday.

There's women at the gym who are careful and dab lightly. But then there's the type that drenches themselves with some stanky granny scent, the type of scent that smells like lilac dusting powder on the back of a 90 year old's toilet. So many women's fragrances are horrible.

I wish this was a thing when I worked for Veterans Affairs. A part-time frau had her phone removed from her desk because otherwise she was on it more times than not. Did she get the hint? Of course not. She borrowed the phone of the woman seated in the cubicle in front of her. Or mine. And every time she did use my phone (multiple times a day) she left the strongest perfume stank on it that never did go away.

Thank God I got promoted and moved to the other side of the building so I didn't have to listen to her inane phone calls or smell her cheap perfume.

Fragrance-free skincare and shampoo is much better for you but it's expensive. You have to shop around for deodorants as some aren't very effective. It's certainly worth it if you can afford it, though you can also make your own if you have the patience.

Noticed it first in mid-1980s San Francisco at 12 step meetings. Heavily promoted by humorless lesbetarians claiming to have “environmental illnesses.” Hard to disagree with anything [15] wrote…lol. My eyes cannot roll any further back in my head when I encounter this tribe. Ugh.

I love scents and fragrances in and on everything! Draperies, carpets, furniture, linens, laundry, cleaning products, cars, pets, people, EVERYTHING! I love it. It's like aromatherapy. With that said, if you're hot, hairy and buff with an uncut cock feel free to skip the deodorant and the shower before we hook up. Like I said, I love scents.

Use soap, water, and underarm deodorant. People who use cologne or perfume are common trash.

Please be “Scent-sitive”.

Since when is it only women who wear too much scent? Yeah sure. Walk into any gay bar in any city and you'll have a different response.

I am now in a situation where I can control my environment and exposure. Women tend to be the worst offenders(mostly the deodorants), and blacks too, as they require SO much product for skin and hair. Guys aren't too bad in general unless they are young punks who use AXE instead of bathe! I am downwind from a laundromat and drier sheets and Downy Soft are troublesome !

Years ago as a prosecutor, I was reviewing a case with an extremely intelligent and well-liked individual, who was head of the hard core gang unit. I still cringe remembering when he looked up at me and said , “Is that Poison you’re wearing?” Never again.

Maybe they're depressed?

Cat ladies tend to pour on the cheap perfume in the misguided hope that it'll cover up the stink of their 50 indoor cats.

What about cat gays? You know who you are.

R48 I'm going to comment before I read your linked article so I don't bias my thoughts but I wholeheartedly believe there's a lot of truth that overly perfumed people may be depressed. When I was hospitalized for severe anxiety and crippling depression, we had classes twice per week focused on aromatherapy and its recuperative properties. Certain scents for different people will trigger a mild euphoria. Repeated exposure to aromatherapy' s triggered feelings of well being may serve to chip away at the enveloping depressive cloud and be useful as part of a holistic approach to depression management. Therefore, objecting to personal fragrances may be seen as an attack on those affected by mental illness. So not only do you stink like BO but you hate disabled people. Complain about my Guerlain Vetiver and I go straight to HR.

For all of you PC, SJW, MeToo-ites out there. You'll love this one

But if I don't heavily douse myself with Forever Krystle, who will know that it's my Signature Scent?

[quote]What kind of idiot would wear a scent when they go to a doctor or dentist or any situation that involves close contact?

All kinds of idiot. Knuckle-draggers are always drenched in the stuff.

I live in NY..I only wish the stinking Korean Pakistan and Chinese wore cologne.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is the new trans.

It's soon to be all the rage!

Oh, honey, I've had MCS since 1992.

Some people just overdo the amount of fragrance placed on their bodies/clothing. Olfactory overload is not a pleasant experience.

I find patchouli especially offensive, even in small amounts. It just stinks. Also irritates my nose and throat.

[quote]I find patchouli especially offensive, even in small amounts. It just stinks.

Hippie piss.

Not one but two fraus at my office had to be counseled to be cut back on the scent because it was overpowering. One of them was a new hire in HR! The other one wore some sort of cheap-ass rose scent that would permeate the hallways. You could still smell it half an hour after she'd be through the area. People would always grimace when they smelled it. She finally stopped when they told her she could choose the perfume or her job.

I no longer wear fragrances if I can help it. I used to wear cologne before it became so passe, but, early on, I was taught to spray the air and walk through the mist so as not to be heavily doused. An older gay gentleman taught me that, and it was great advice. Now I use fragrance-free detergent and scent-free deodorant. One or two scents are ok from time-to-time, but, as someone already pointed out, EVERYTHING these days has the potential to smell of some sort of fragrance, and the combination of scents can give me a headache (or make me gag) after awhile. Once you get used to a fragrance-free environment, you really start to notice it more and more.

I want r60 to be my new best friend.

Cheap perfume is pretty bad. Especially that baby prostitute crap that teenage girls buy from victoria’s secret which smells like rotten fruit.

Spray , Delay and Walk away (from me)

R15 I'm not a "hippy dippy". I'm a military veteran with brain trauma, which means I have seizures and migraines. Like a lot of people who have brain bruises and trauma - extreme scents can trigger seizures. Most people do not spray perfume up their ass with a fire house until it squirts out their ears. Really. Some people, however, have to turn themselves in the human lawnsprinklers. Then it can trigger a hell of a response in me and people like me.

And, before you ask - yes, I do take meds. Shit loads of meds to control my seizures. I have lots of pills each days and I get more than 30 injections every couple of weeks. So, I'm not exactly slacking in my own efforts. I don't go out much, I don't go to bars or to most shopping centers because it's higher risk than I can take to go through a department store.

This is one of the reasons companies have asked people to lay off on the excessive perfumes and colognes. So people like me don't have seizures, and I appreciate how many people really have helped. It's allowing me to work full time and not be a burden on your taxes.

" this devastating scent sensitivity appears to have a particularly powerful affect on vegetarians and vegans, lesbians, Bay Area residents, Lilith Fair attendees, and feminist theory majors."

The tiny-dicked Republican incel has spoken!

R65 I am not tiny dicked, not Republican and will google INCEL to see what it means before I can say whether or not I am one. You kids now a days with your crazy talk. Anyway, I may or may not follow up with the results of my research depending on my desire or lack thereof to entertain you further.

Cheers bitch and go fuck yourself!

R66 here. Looked up this Reddit incel shit. Nope, I can proudly say I am not an incel. Being in shape, good looking with a fat uncut cock gets me plenty of trade but nice try, cunt. Move on.

r55 I've never met a Korean in the US who smells in the way Chinese or Indians do.

Here in Miami, Cubans put scent on their children!

It is always violet scent. It comes in two formulas: one for fair children and one for dark children.

And no, I am not making this up.

Then you've never been exposed to Eau de Kimchi " cologne."

It is mainly Latinos and old people who wear cologne these days. Not a value judgment. It's just the way it is.

And blacks, r71. Men and women both.

People with "aerosolized allergies" should lock themselves in their own homes & never go outside.

Suicide is the other alternative.

Theyre fucking up the gene pool.

I had a temp job in the summer where I had a 15 minute walk to the office after leaving the train. I used deodorant but I am a naturally sweaty person and the staff at the office said I smelled of perspiration by the time I got there. So I invested in some cologne and trialled that. After a few days they said please go back to perspiring.

Nothing worse than AXE body spray. I cannot believe adult men wear that crap

Oh FFS!

I never had a problem with cologne in my life. Until the day I did. One particular perfume a woman wore at work started giving me migraines.

My earliest memory is ’womyn only, safe spaces,” that were fragrance free for “those with environmental illnesses.” Then certain 12 step meetings started being designated as such…that was the early 1980s.

I had a bitchy, climber coworker who claimed she could only tolerate Creed colognes because everything else gave her a migraine (she grew up on a farm with no running water, so apparently cowshit and animal hair were all good). We went out for dinner (work event) and she told me beforehand not to wear any cologne. I had a bottle of crappy perfume that I more or less poured over myself before I went out with her. She sat next to me and said “thanks for not wearing perfume, I can really tell.” I smiled and nodded then told everyone how full of shit she was. Have never met a person in my life who has a genuine scent allergy. I’ve tried this experiment a number of times on different people with the same result. They all thank me for not wearing perfume.

I wonder whether you'd fool me, r79, you cunt.

A nasty, chainsmoking coworker of mine (who smells like a cross between dirty underwear and cat piss) recently complained to HR about people in the office using perfumes/body sprays, prompting a morning announcement about being sensitive to other people's health issues.

There's a lot of toxic shit in products & it causes reactions in people that can be extremely severe, including anaphylaxis from Axe body spray.

The ingredient called "fragrance" in a product can be dozens of chemicals, and the manufacturer does not have to disclose any of them. Unilever refused to disclose what was in Axe despite it being responsible for causing the hospitalization of a few people due to anaphylaxis. They may eventually be forced to disclose in court.

The body reacts to them like second hand smoke, not really like pollen. It's a severe irritant. You aren't making antibodies like you would make to pollen or an allergen (so antihistamines aren't going to do anything). For all of you saying scent-sensitive people are being babies, do you enjoy secondhand smoke then? It's just as bad for them.

My mother mentioned to me that one of my neighbors' got on and made some silly comment how she was very allergic to my mothers perfume. My mother is a very elegant lady who would have probably been wearing something like Rive Gauche and conservatively. I really wanted to know which neighbor because I would have loved to give her shit.

Just park your ass on her porch, r83. You ARE a stinking piece of shit.

Yet people are allowed to going around smelling of BO, bad breath and cigarettes.

What porch ? It was an elevator in a building here in NY. R84 Who is stinking piece of shit ? What are you talking about ? So over the top your are.

I can't imagine anyone objecting to my Charlie.

I thought scent sensitivity was bullshit, especially when a patient where I used to work nearly fainted, supposedly because of either my scent-free deodorant or the natural lavender sachets we had for sale. In some cases, I think scent sensitivity is psychosomatic, akin to people who claim they're sensitive to electromagnetism.

That said, I once had a coworker who absolutely reeked. She had to have doused her clothes and her body in scented detergent, fabric softener, shampoo, hairspray, body lotion, and on and on. I could smell her when I got off the elevator, 40 feet from my company's front door. And being in close proximity to her made me feel like my sinuses were on fire.

It's real. It's just poorly understood. Most allergists are frustratingly lacking in the ability to think outside the box or look up the most recent research. Neurologists are a bit better in this regard, though they may dismiss patients just as easily depending on who you find.

Neuroimmunology is the only field that has properly studied this, along with MCS. The issue is largely located in the acetylcholine pathways. Specifically, the muscarinic receptors (M3 - the same one involved in Irritable Bowel Syndrome). The receptors overreact in the nose and lungs, just like they do when people who have IBS eat "triggering" foods or spices. People used to write off IBS as a psychological disease too, since it is very hard to nail down like MCS tends to be. But they're all the same neurological overreaction cascades.

IBS drugs can treat chemical sensitivity if you can find the rare (and I do mean rare) doctor who understands this (or bothers to read the latest research). Sometimes anti-psychotics can cure MCS, but they come with heavy side effects. They tend to block all the muscarinic, cholinergic, and histamine receptors. They don't work bc the patient is psychotic. They work because the two disorders share receptor malfunctions to some degree.

Oh and M3 and other muscarinic receptors are targets for treating asthma patients & that's been an accepted thing for a long time. It's odd to me how it's ok to treat the same receptor in the lungs & intestines, but if it's in the nose, then you're crazy (and there are ton's of m3 receptors in the nose).

I work in a fragrant free zone.

Sorry but some frau wear the most disgusting perfumes. So strong I can't breathe. I don't have a problem with most colognes. Maybe it's because it's not as strong or it's the masculinity.

Honestly, I feel like some people use scents as an alternative to hygiene. I'm not as sensitive to fragrance as I am to tobacco on people's clothes (which makes me sick) but I'd still rather no pollutants in the air. Just shower and wash your hair daily, please.

R89 and R90 Thank you for the interesting research. I'm always amazed when a DLer takes the time to inform us.

I got my ass kicked (figuratively), by a bouncer for wearing cologne when I entered the Mineshaft back in the 70s. Top that (literally)

Church Lady Perfume

I got bounced, actually, r94, from the Mine Shaft, for wearing Eau Sauvage.

"You Will Never Smell My World the Way I Do"

R96 - “I got bounced, actually, [R94], from the Mine Shaft, for wearing Eau Sauvage.”

R94 here.... Yeah, I got passed the 1st bouncer who was posted at the street door, but when I made it to the top of the stairs, a 2nd bouncer leaned into me and read me the riot act for smelling what he called, “like a pussy“. I was young, 22 maybe, and with a group of friends who made the trek from Long Island.

^^^^^^^^

I should’ve said to the 2nd bouncer, “how would you know what a pussy smells like”, but I didn’t want to stir up any more shit, considering I was drenched in Paco Rabanne.

That is why you weren't allowed in, r99. Paco Rabanne REEKED.

^^^^^^^

I know. It was my favorite back then.

So my friends and I went to the Village, and partied.

I can guarantee you we never went home together, r101 (I lived @ 10/B'way). I could be counted on to participate in a lot, sexually speaking, but Paco Rabanne, no. I could never dip that low.

R102 , R102 .... Let me see R102.... Yes! Of course! I remember you R102! You’re the flamer who presented your hole to me in broad daylight near10 Broadway. Bold move, I must admit. And I might have taken advantage, except for the disturbing sight of your bejeweled anal beads protruding out your boy pussy.