What is that SMELL?

threedogpeople · Dec 28, 2006

Has anyone out there noticed how bad the laundry products aisle smells? It's one of my small life traumas to have to wade to the center of a chemical laden aisle to buy a bottle of unscented laundry soap. Why don't retailers put the unscented stuff at the end of the aisle? (Yes, I've complained to the store manager).

Also, what happens when your shampoo smells like lavender, your soap vanilla, your deodorant like "summer rain", your hand lotion like coconut butter, your laundry soap like "ocean breeze" and your fabric softener is "April fresh", your carpet is???? At what point do people stink vs. smelling good. Yuck!!!

What about that Febreeze stuff? I've had to stop staying at two of my favorite hotels when I travel because they started using Febreeze to 'freshen' the rooms.

I personally don't want to get up every morning and coat myself in synthetic scents designed to cover up the stench of the chemicals.

Has anyone out there also read that those 'plug in' home scents actually put formaldehyde into the air?

Does this bother anyone but me? Or am I being hypersensitive and high maintenance?

If I want to freshen my house - I put on a small pot of water with a little natural vanilla in in or a cinnamon stick.

:Soapbox:

I'll get off my soap box now.....

Thank you for listening.

alleycat · Dec 28, 2006

I get unscented products whenever possible. I'm a guy, I certainly don't want to smell like lavender, rose petals, tropical fruit, or cotton candy. I got some soap one time that I ended up giving away; if I used it I smelled like cheap perfume all day long.

Luckily, I can usually find scent-free items, or products with little scent.

Unique · Dec 28, 2006

Febreeze - oh, yuck. I paid over $5 for a bottle when it first came out, used it once and gave it away. That **** is LOUD.

One day I told a man I worked with, 'Gee, you smell good, what are you wearing'? He said, 'My wife uses Downey'. Hmm...I use Downey and my clothes don't smell like that. (Of course, I thin mine out by over 2/3s)

Take heart. You are not alone. A little bit of scent is nice - a whole lot is just another smell. :flag:

Bartholomew · Dec 28, 2006

Febreeze is the only way I can get rid of the reek of my family's tobacco. Washing does nothing.

SC Harrison · Dec 28, 2006

threedogpeople said:
Has anyone out there also read that those 'plug in' home scents actually put formaldehyde into the air?

Hmmm. This may just play into my long-range plan of making my funeral as inexpensive as possible. Combined with having the local high school woodshop build my casket and being buried vertically so I only need a 2' x 3' plot, this might be the key to keeping it under the $500 target.

Gary · Dec 28, 2006

I thought I was the only one with extreme sensitivity to artificial fragrances. There are very few that I can tolerate and some make me physically ill. I use unscented All for washing clothes and it's a good product.

My poor wife tries to find a perfume that I can tolerate, but so far, the only one that doesn't make me gag is Eternity, and even it is iffy at times.

Whenever I smell natural fragrances on a woman, I make a point of complimenting her. Nature did a great job of making most flowers smell good, so I can't imagine why humans have to keep searching the beakers for something else.

Soccer Mom · Dec 28, 2006

I'm allergic to most of the scents they use in the laundry aisle. I actually have my mother pick up unscented detergents for me. Just walking down the aisle sometimes gives me an asthma attack.

Smelling the scents on someone doesn't do this. (fortunately!) But the concentrated scent of the aisle in the store just does me in.

MidnightMuse · Dec 28, 2006

I hate fake smells. I'll go out of my way to avoid walking through a perfume department and hold my breath going up the laundry section in the store. Scents give my sister migraines.

Why does everything require a smell? Every time I see one of those Glade Scents commercials, where they complain about other candles not filling the whole room with scent, I ask "Why does the room need a scent?" They never answer me, though.

Jessi · Dec 28, 2006

alleycat said:
I get unscented products whenever possible. I'm a guy, I certainly don't want to smell like lavender, rose petals, tropical fruit, or cotton candy. I got some soap one time that I ended up giving away; if I used it I smelled like cheap perfume all day long.

Luckily, I can usually find scent-free items, or products with little scent.

I'm the same way. I prefer buying unscented (and un-colored) detergents. Occasionally I'll buy other scented products, but usually, I don't find it necessary. I'd rather get 'rid' of smells, not covered them up with flowery stuff.

(And I didn't know about the plug-in thingies putting formaldehyde out into the air. :S)

MidnightMuse · Dec 28, 2006

alleycat said:
if I used it I smelled like cheap perfume all day long.

That's the excuse you're sticking with ?

alleycat · Dec 28, 2006

MidnightMuse said:
That's the excuse you're sticking with ?

Now I need a good excuse for why I was wearing pantyhose.

aadams73 · Dec 28, 2006

alleycat said:
Now I need a good excuse for why I was wearing pantyhose.

Varicose veins.

Jaycinth · Dec 28, 2006

I prefer unscented everything. I spend good money on Estee products and I don't want to smell like cheap soap. I also prefer laundry liquid that is not a funny color.

Febreeze is great. I spray it in my son's running shoes. I spray it in his dirty clothes basket. I spray it in the cat box. If the cat looks at me cross eyed, I spray the cat too. (One time my ex came home stone-piss- drunk, so I sprayed him. That took a whole bottle) I'll spray my daughter if she ever wears that cheap fruity sweet stuff again...gag!

As far as the car and the house, I break off a sprig of rosemarry and put it on my rear view mirror. Better than pine. Inside the house, I boil water and add a sprig of rosemary to it. In the spring and fall, I open the doors and windows and bring in fresh flowers. In the summer I just swear, and hope the odors are offended and leave.

Stew21 · Dec 28, 2006

I don't mind light scents, and wear perfume very lightly if at all, but when I was pregnant I had a weird allergy to perfumes and didn't wear them. Instead I used naturally scented body sprays. I always got a lot of compliments when I smelled like lavender. (I should go back to that, lavender is so soothing)

alleycat · Dec 28, 2006

aadams73 said:
Varicose veins.

And wearing the lipstick in Passion Red?

Ahhh . . . I'm Johnny Depp.

MidnightMuse · Dec 28, 2006

Me thinks Alleycat has a few confessions to make!

tlblack · Dec 28, 2006

I am so glad that I am not the only female on the planet that cannot tolerate overly scented anything. I too buy unscented when I can find it and only have a few things that have light scents to them.

For as long as I can remember, my nose has found perfumes unbearable. It isn’t enough for some women to dab a little on but instead, make every attempt to jump into the bottle and bathe. To me… they stink. They stink badly! I do not use perfumes or those cataclysmic body sprays. I admit that when it comes to chemical mixtures in other things besides perfumed products of any kind, there seems to be a little bell inside that says… stop breathing.

I have family members that always tell me they would love something from any of those stores that only deal in bath products and perfumes, but what they do not understand is; if I enter one of those stores, I feel as though I need an oxygen mask to proceed farther than the door. I am immediately attacked by so many cocktails of aromas that my nose cannot handle breathing in the fumes. I can handle “scent” not “scents.”

ChunkyC · Jan 2, 2007

I can't get two feet down the laundry aisle without my throat feeling like it's closing up. Those goofy chemical air fresheners are bad enough, now they're selling the ones that rotate between two or more scents. If I want my house to smell fresh, I'll flush the toilet and open a window.

And why is it that the lady who bathes in her perfume is always a hug-zilla? Ye gods, I had a coworker who must have bought perfume by the gallon, plus she smoked like a Louisiana barbeque. Every time she saw me she'd want a bear hug. I was this close to buying a tazer to keep her off me when she finally retired.

poetinahat · Jan 2, 2007

threedogpeople said:
I'll get off my soap box now.....

Early nominee: most ironic sign-off from a post.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Jan 2, 2007

Has anyone out there also read that those 'plug in' home scents actually put formaldehyde into the air?

I learned that a long time ago in 'Physiological Psychology'. They don't take the smell out of the air; they kill your ability to smell it.

Cathy C · Jan 2, 2007

I'm really picky in what I can stand and what I can't. Best laundry soap I've ever found is Arm & Hammer FREE (no dyes, no perfumes, no additives--safe for septics, hospitals and infant clothes) I use Bounce Free fabric softener sheets, but I do like the Glade Cinnamon Sticks air freshener. Nothing sweet. It's just plain old cinnamon.

I bought some of the Febreze and nearly gagged at the scent! "Clean and fresh" my right arm! YUCK! I threw the bottle away and rewashed the couch throw I'd used it on to test it.

I don't seem to have any allergies, but I have a really sensitive nose. One bottle of perfume will last me a decade because I only use a drop or two and I can smell it for days if I put it on clothing. My favorite cologne (which is now out of production and only available through Ebay auctions) is Love's Fresh Lemon. It's light and citrus-y and perfect for large gatherings like conferences. I get compliments all the time but won't tell anyone where to buy it for fear they'll compete with me on bidding! LOL! :ROFL:

JDCrayne · Jan 2, 2007

threedogpeople said:
Also, what happens when your shampoo smells like lavender, your soap vanilla, your deodorant like "summer rain", your hand lotion like coconut butter, your laundry soap like "ocean breeze" and your fabric softener is "April fresh", your carpet is???? At what point do people stink vs. smelling good. Yuck!!!

That's one of the reasons that I stopped wearing perfume. Have you ever been in an elevator with three women wearing three different perfumes and two guys with their after-shaves? Strong scents give me one helluva headache. I hold my breath if I have to go through the laundry aisle, and I buy unscented products whenever possible. I do use a non-aerosol spray around the house (when one of the cats barfs or decides the litter box isn't clean enough), but it's one of the natural citrus ones.

jester · Jan 2, 2007

alleycat said:
Now I need a good excuse for why I was wearing pantyhose.

RESEARCH!!!

BardSkye · Jan 2, 2007

I changed my work hours around to avoid thirteen zillion perfumes on the same bus during rush hour. Strong perfume (including having to walk through the laundry aisle or -- god forbid! -- past the perfume counter) quite literally gives me giant hives that last about 3 days.

roach · Jan 2, 2007

Perfumes and the like don't bother me much. And I actually like Febreeze*. But this weekend I had an unpleasant perfume experience.

I was at the mall with my husband and daughter, Charlotte, walking around the Waldenbooks when I smelled something bad. I said something to the effect of "Charlotte do you have a stinky diaper? Let me check." I checked and found no payload and without thinking said, "Huh, you're clean, must be someone's perfume." A number of ladies browsing the calendars and journals and other sale items either shot me nasty glares or surreptitiously sniffed themselves.

*Although I'm coming around to Jaycinth's way of thinking after we had a rosemary bush in our living room for the holidays and the room smelled soooooo good.

What is that SMELL?

This is my BEST side!

Still around

Agent of Doom

Comic guy

Dances With Hamsters

Crypto-fascist

Midnight Reading

Midnight Reading

Still around

A Work in Progress

Your Cuddly Sociopathic

Still around

Midnight Reading

nothing simple here

It's hard being green

say it loud

Hand? What hand?

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

Indonesian Yak Keeper

Barbershoppin' Harmony Whore

annoyed and annoying