JAWM: Acrid perfumes need to go away

[Katy]

I don't know if it's an essential oil blend or a particularly acrid new perfume, but recently almost everywhere I go in public I usually smell something particularly horrible, especially around some well dressed older women, and sometimes younger well dressed women. It smells a little like rancid patchouli mixed with something floral mixed with vinegar and acetone, and it burns in my nostrils like the time in high school when I stepped into the house of a boy whose parents made meth.

 

If it wasn't so horrible I might track down one of those women and ask them what their perfume is (so I can avoid it), but I honestly don't think I could do it without grimacing. A couple times now it's triggered a migraine, and a couple of times I've wondered if I was pregnant because the scent is so overwhelming.

 

I hate that smell.  I just want it to go away.

 

Please someone tell me I'm not the only one.

 

Does anyone know what it is?

[Snickerdoodle]

I think it may be knockoffs.   I know exactly of what you speak.    It smells like cat urine.

[zoobie]

Your description is so vivid it made my nose tingle too! My 6th and 7th grade teacher bathed in Giorgio Beverly Hills. I gag just thinking about it. And patchouli. Shudder. I'm getting a migraine from flashbacks!

[Katy]

I think it may be knockoffs.   I know exactly of what you speak.    It smells like cat urine.

 

That's it!  It smells exactly like cat pee!  Why, oh why, would someone bathe themselves in it?

[Slartibartfast]

Ah, that cat pee smell is a genetic thing like hating cilantro.

 

It smells wonderful to those that are not smelling cat pee. :lol:

 

That is not a knock-off. It is an essential oil.

[Snickerdoodle]

Ah, that cat pee smell is a genetic thing like hating cilantro.

 

I wonder about that.   Apparently everyone doesn't have the same experience of their perfume that I do.   I'm not sure how some people can walk around smelling like that with a straight face.  

[mom2jjka]

I suspect the new essential oil craze.  There are many of them that make me have an instant 'fight or flight' response.

[Slartibartfast]

I wonder about that.   Apparently everyone doesn't have the same experience of their perfume that I do.   I'm not sure how some people can walk around smelling like that with a straight face.  

 it is cassis absolute that does it. It is from black currant flowers. Why it smells like cat pee to some is a mystery to me but it smells like black currant jelly to my nose.

 

This is a link to Lush, a company that sells bath stuff. They sell a bubble bar that contains this.

 

http://www.lushusa.com/The-Comforter/02468,en_US,pd.html

 

 

FWIW I get the same results from Vetivert. It smells AWFUL to me but lots of people adore it.

[Mrs Mungo]

Yeah, certain smells and tastes will depend upon your genetics. Some people love vetivert oil, which smells like Body Odor to me.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I wish people would stop wearing perfume and cologne in public altogether…or at least remember the rule I read once as a teen that said if anyone can smell you from more than one or two feet away, you are wearing too much.

[Mrs Mungo]

Jasmine also smells like urine to some people.

[Katy]

It's genetic?  So, do those of you that smell the cat pee, do you also get a similar scent from Boxwood?  I have never figured out how people can plant cat pee hedges all around their homes and then leave the windows open on hot days, but if most people can't smell it, it makes a lot more sense.

 

Do you have a link to cat pee perfume genes?

[Slartibartfast]

It's genetic?  So, do those of you that smell the cat pee, do you also get a similar scent from Boxwood?  I have never figured out how people can plant cat pee hedges all around their homes and then leave the windows open on hot days, but if most people can't smell it, it makes a lot more sense.

 

Do you have a link to cat pee perfume genes?

 

 

http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/2/140.full

 

http://www.firstnerve.com/2009/04/is-fragrance-preference-written-in-your.html

[Word Nerd]

Having a cat pee perfume gene would be the worst superpower ever.

[Guest]

I pretty much vote for NO perfumes. And while we're at it, let's do away with all "air freshener" products, which

I nick-name "air stinkifiers." I detest them all. I do not want a room, or a person to smell like...anything. Just clean air. That's pretty much it.

 

I realize I don't have much company in my tiny club. My SIL and I were in a battle at the office. I kept putting the air stinkifier in random places where I would smell it less, but then I would forget. She would come in to the office and get upset because the air stinkifier was outside on the telephone panel, or in the storage room. ;)

[Katy]

I like jasmine, and don't mind a tiny amount of vetivier in a mixture of essential oils, but they do both have hints of something acrid on their own.  It's not as strong as what I'm noting, but googling the black currant thing makes me think many people feel the same way I do about it...  Odd that it's found in so many expensive perfumes.  And apparently it's also in Champs Elysees, which I love, but I always think it smells awful for the first ten minutes until the alcohol evaporates.

[Melissa in Australia]

I pretty much vote for NO perfumes. And while we're at it, let's do away with all "air freshener" products, which

I nick-name "air stinkifiers." I detest them all. I do not want a room, or a person to smell like...anything. Just clean air. That's pretty much it.

 

I realize I don't have much company in my tiny club. My SIL and I were in a battle at the office. I kept putting the air stinkifier in random places where I would smell it less, but then I would forget. She would come in to the office and get upset because the air stinkifier was outside on the telephone panel, or in the storage room. ;)

 

:iagree:

A universal ban on spraying the room full of air pollutants  ( fresheners) would make life way easier for my DH who has Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

[PrincessMommy]

For some of us it's more than the smell.  My daughter has an asthma attack in stores because some people seem to enjoy pouring perfume on them.  Recently, my reaction is an immediate sinus headache.  Upon smelling the stuff my sinuses seize up and it feels like someone is shoving an icepick up my nose. 

 

I vote NO perfumes.

 

 

(oddly enough, incense doesn't bother me).

[Miss Peregrine]

Hmmm cat pee gene? Guarnier Fructis shampoo totally smells like cat pee to me.

 

I'm with Quill. I'm tired of smelling other people's perfumes/ air fresheners, etc.

[SproutMamaK]

I've smelled this at church, makes me want to gag. In this case, the person smelling like it is actually a good friend of mine, so I asked. Yes, it is an essential oil. I forget which one, unfortunately... something to do with boosting the immune system.

[itsheresomewhere]

I vote NO also. And why do some insist on wearing to a medical office.

[Peach]

Vetiver smells bad to me too. I also have that anti-cilantro gene. I an sympathize with the asthma issues, I have it too and heavy perfume will set me off in a second. There is a woman in one of my classes that is a very heavy smoker. She reeks of it and wears heavy perfume to unsuccessfully cover it up. I had to move across the room. 

[PinkTulip]

The worst is being hugged by someone who is wearing a ton of perfume. Then *I* end up smelling like them for the rest of the day (or until I go change my clothes and wash my face). I hate that!

[Lizzie in Ma]

Do they really need to bathe in it?  It's "spray and walk through" people.

At church there are two people I adore but they always bathe in their scent and they hug me and I run to the bathroom and try to get it all off while gagging.  It's awful!

Same thing at the ER, there is always some guy who bathed in Axe, the most dreaded smell of all time to me.

Never mind the guy at Dunkin who clearly showered in it and handed me a coffee.  The lid, the cup, the bag all stunk to high heaven and I haven't been able to drink Dunkin's coffee since!

Boxwood totally smells like cat urine to me.

[Guest]

Do they really need to bathe in it? It's "spray and walk through" people.

At church there are two people I adore but they always bathe in their scent and they hug me and I run to the bathroom and try to get it all off while gagging. It's awful!

Same thing at the ER, there is always some guy who bathed in Axe, the most dreaded smell of all time to me.

Never mind the guy at Dunkin who clearly showered in it and handed me a coffee. The lid, the cup, the bag all stunk to high heaven and I haven't been able to drink Dunkin's coffee since!

Boxwood totally smells like cat urine to me.

When ds went on a retreat with the boy's youth group, the "What to Bring" list had a list of banned items. It went, "...no weapons, no iPads/iPods, no drugs, no Axe anything..." :D

[Katy]

You guys are reminding me of a scene in Gilmore Girls about getting coated in someone else's nasty perfume.  Aunt Totsy apparently liked to pour it on, and getting hugged by her was referred to as "Getting Totsied."

 

This makes me wonder what scents I love that other people detest.  For example, I don't exactly love tea tree oil (it's just vaguely unpleasant to me), my grandfather insists it smells exactly like a rotten potato.  Once their maid was on vacation or something and I went over to clean for them and used the homemade eco-friendly cleansers I like to make myself, mostly with lavender, orange, and peppermint essential oils and things like vinegar, club soda, and baking soda.  But this toilet bowl cleaner I think had borax and tea tree oil, and he hated the scent so much he made me come back and clean his toilet again with chemicals just to get rid of the tea tree scent.   This was before I learned the only thing that kills stomach flu viruses is bleach and switched to that for toilets.

 

Are there any smells you like that you know other people hate?

 

One example- I detest the scent of pear blossom.  It smells like...  I don't even want to say what it smells like.  A body fluid produced only by men.

[Snickerdoodle]

Pear blossom....so that's the name of that tree.....  :ack2:

 

 

[Guest]

One example- I detest the scent of pear blossom. It smells like... I don't even want to say what it smells like. A body fluid produced only by men.

 

DD hates the pear blossom smell, although hopefully she doesn't know to make the connection you've made. ;) There are several large pear trees outside her school. When they bloom, she remarks about how those trees stink.

 

I feel this way about Stargazer Lilies. I'm sorry; to me, they just stink.

[Spryte]

It's genetic?  Good to know.  I have the hating-cilantro-gene.  It all tastes like cleaner to me.  Ugh.  I had no idea about the cat pee gene, but it makes sense.

 

I have a kiddo with major allergies and asthma.  Perfume is not a good thing for him.  He can't even walk in certain stores without an asthma attack, because they scent the air.  

[Melissa in New York]

 

Are there any smells you like that you know other people hate?

 

 

 

It's really hard for me to be around people who wash their clothes in Tide (or the equivalent) and fabric softeners.  I get almost an instant migraine.  The detergent never fully washes out of the clothes and over time just layers up.  When I travel by plane and train, I pray that no one with perfumes and strong scents sits anywhere nearby.  I'm guaranteed to have a pounding headache followed by nausea.

 

My husband hasn't worn cologne for years and can't even wear most antiperspirants because the smell is too strong and the scent lasts forever in the shirts. :(

 

~Melissa  

[OhanaBee]

 it is cassis absolute that does it. It is from black currant flowers. Why it smells like cat pee to some is a mystery to me but it smells like black currant jelly to my nose.

 

This is a link to Lush, a company that sells bath stuff. They sell a bubble bar that contains this.

 

http://www.lushusa.com/The-Comforter/02468,en_US,pd.html

 

 

FWIW I get the same results from Vetivert. It smells AWFUL to me but lots of people adore it.

 

Oh my goodness - you have just solved the mystery of why I keep smelling cat pee where there is no cat pee!  My girls love shopping at Lush, so I'll bet this is one of the things they own and use.

 

And someone in our church choir absolutely bathes in something that smells [to me] like Haven't-Washed-in-a-Month.  I don't know what it is, and I am one of two people who thinks it smells like that.  The rest of the choir says it smells like musky flowers.

 

Whatever.  She needs to stop it with the perfume, pronto!  I can't sing when I'm choking.

[happi duck]

...

 

I feel this way about Stargazer Lilies. I'm sorry; to me, they just stink.

Ita!

 

The grocery store sells flowers right by the only entrance and when they have these I can't get away fast enough.

[TranquilMind]

I don't know if it's an essential oil blend or a particularly acrid new perfume, but recently almost everywhere I go in public I usually smell something particularly horrible, especially around some well dressed older women, and sometimes younger well dressed women. It smells a little like rancid patchouli mixed with something floral mixed with vinegar and acetone, and it burns in my nostrils like the time in high school when I stepped into the house of a boy whose parents made meth.

 

If it wasn't so horrible I might track down one of those women and ask them what their perfume is (so I can avoid it), but I honestly don't think I could do it without grimacing. A couple times now it's triggered a migraine, and a couple of times I've wondered if I was pregnant because the scent is so overwhelming.

 

I hate that smell.  I just want it to go away.

 

Please someone tell me I'm not the only one.

 

Does anyone know what it is?

Sometimes, I have to leave places because of those people.  I've also had attacks where I ran outside, gasping for breath.

 

If ANYONE can smell your perfume and is farther than one foot away, you are wearing TOO MUCH.  Dial it down. 

[TranquilMind]

I pretty much vote for NO perfumes. And while we're at it, let's do away with all "air freshener" products, which

I nick-name "air stinkifiers." I detest them all. I do not want a room, or a person to smell like...anything. Just clean air. That's pretty much it.

 

I realize I don't have much company in my tiny club. My SIL and I were in a battle at the office. I kept putting the air stinkifier in random places where I would smell it less, but then I would forget. She would come in to the office and get upset because the air stinkifier was outside on the telephone panel, or in the storage room. ;)

I had to stand outside of the orthodontist's office during visits for months, while one of the desk ladies was on her stinkifier kick.  She finally got over it, thank God!  Horrible stuff.  If you have to perfume your air, something is wrong with the air or your nose, or both.

 

Please don't do that to the rest of us. 

[shawthorne44]

For some of us it's more than the smell.  My daughter has an asthma attack in stores because some people seem to enjoy pouring perfume on them.  Recently, my reaction is an immediate sinus headache.  Upon smelling the stuff my sinuses seize up and it feels like someone is shoving an icepick up my nose. 

 

I vote NO perfumes.

 

 

(oddly enough, incense doesn't bother me).

 

Funny you mentioned incense.  I've never had a problem with any perfume.  Well, there was that one that was being heavily promoted when I was a teen, and mom and I walked into Neiman's through their perfume room which was Drenched in that perfume.  I think I overdosed on it in that 10 minutes, and I always had a reaction to it after that.  

 

But, incense is ghastly.  All forms.  I guess it smells different to most people.  I have a vivid memory of sitting on folding chairs in front of the front row at the Christmas Eve service and Dad and I were turning green.  The kid that was swinging the incense around was really into it, and hadn't noticed.  The priest noticed and shooed him to another area.  

[Rebel Yell]

I wish people would stop wearing perfume and cologne in public altogether…or at least remember the rule I read once as a teen that said if anyone can smell you from more than one or two feet away, you are wearing too much.

 

Reminds me of a teen boy who was a regular client of mine when I worked in salons...  Good-looking young man, but WAAAAAY too much cologne- gave me a headache and made my haircutting cape stink. One day I told him that if the girls can smell him from across the room, they have no reason to get closer. Next time, he just smelled GOOD, not too much- I had to resist sniffing him, and I was a married lady expecting a baby! :blushing:

 

I am truly sorry to all of the young ladies that may have fallen for his charms due to my advice. :leaving:

[Lisbeth]

We smell like that because I make "Jeddy's Blend" essential oil combo, and rub it onto the feet of my adhd family members.  It is a long shot, but I've tried some other things, like Bach flower remedies and essential oils after being desperate, and they WORKED (to my shock, because I have not been pro alternative remedies.)  One thing that worked amazingly well was Bach Rescue Remedy  *cream* (not the drops) for eczema.  As in we went to various specialists for 3 years and tried all of their fixes and prescriptions, to no avail. One week on the Rescue Remedy cream and - bam!  Eczema all gone. And it has stayed gone.  Then I had a health food store supplement work for my horrible GERD, when nothing the doctor prescribed worked at all (what he did actually made it worse).  This stuff worked for me in ONE day.

 

So Jeddy's blend is another thing recommended by my "natural remedy" friend, and since other things have worked from her, we are trying it.  It combines these essential oils:  lavender, patchouli, "Balance" blend (doTerra), "Serenity" blend (doTerra) and vetiver in fractionalized carrier coconut oil.   I use it too.  But when we do, we smell like a hippy head shop.  Yep, I feel kind of bad about it.  But I like the smell...lol.

[mamaraby]

Most perfumes and incense are out for me. It will either give me a headache or make me feel ill. Dh prefers to run all anti-perspirant purchases by me first because there have been times that he had to shower immediately after application of a new one he liked, but which made me ill (and then throw the offending stuff out). He says it's just easier that way. I was super bummed when they changed the scent of the detergent I liked. I didn't know they had changed it as there was no indication on the bottle. Now I have an entire bottle of the stuff I can't use *and* have to find a new one.

 

Interesting about the bushes. I always wondered why someone would willingly plant them!

[busymama7]

The worst is being hugged by someone who is wearing a ton of perfume. Then *I* end up smelling like them for the rest of the day (or until I go change my clothes and wash my face). I hate that!

I hate bringing my babies home and having them smell like the women that held them at church. I don't mind sharing my baby with people I know and am close to but I do dislike their perfume smell on my baby later. And these are people who I don't notice the smell on them. Just on my baby later. So I know they aren't wearing a ton.

[Katy]

DD hates the pear blossom smell, although hopefully she doesn't know to make the connection you've made. ;) There are several large pear trees outside her school. When they bloom, she remarks about how those trees stink.

 

I feel this way about Stargazer Lilies. I'm sorry; to me, they just stink.

 

When I was finally experienced enough to... ...make the connection, it took me almost two weeks to figure out why that scent was so familiar.  I was pretty sure I hadn't been abused as a child, but could not understand how or why I knew that scent before.  Luckily a few weeks later a bradford pear went into bloom and I figured it out.

 

 

I HATE the scent of lilies too.  I vaguely liked the stinging sweet scent until I was in nursing school and one of the older nurses mentioned that hospice patients dying of cancer smelled like lillies.  A few days later I was assigned to a patient like that and sure enough, she was right.  Now lilies smell like death to me.  I don't know if it's deep ketosis or what, but about a day after someone goes fully unconscious until they pass, they all have that scent.

 

 

Most perfumes and incense are out for me. It will either give me a headache or make me feel ill. Dh prefers to run all anti-perspirant purchases by me first because there have been times that he had to shower immediately after application of a new one he liked, but which made me ill (and then throw the offending stuff out). He says it's just easier that way. I was super bummed when they changed the scent of the detergent I liked. I didn't know they had changed it as there was no indication on the bottle. Now I have an entire bottle of the stuff I can't use *and* have to find a new one.

 

Interesting about the bushes. I always wondered why someone would willingly plant them!

 

This is why I make my own detergent.  A couple drops of lavender and/or a little orange oil and no nasty chemicals burning my nose.

[TranquilMind]

It's genetic?  Good to know.  I have the hating-cilantro-gene.  It all tastes like cleaner to me.  Ugh.  I had no idea about the cat pee gene, but it makes sense.

 

I have a kiddo with major allergies and asthma.  Perfume is not a good thing for him.  He can't even walk in certain stores without an asthma attack, because they scent the air.  

I had lunch with a woman who said exactly that about cilantro, that it tasted like soap!  So I agreed to get the non-cilantrol guac for us to share. 

 

I like it, but cannot STAND most perfumes.  Oddly, lemon scent doesn't bother me but the others can slam my nostrils shut and have me gasping.  It is better recently.  Not sure why, but I will take it. 

[Mrs Mungo]

I had lunch with a woman who said exactly that about cilantro, that it tasted like soap! So I agreed to get the non-cilantrol guac for us to share.

 

I like it, but cannot STAND most perfumes. Oddly, lemon scent doesn't bother me but the others can slam my nostrils shut and have me gasping. It is better recently. Not sure why, but I will take it.

Have you smelled Lemon Sugar perfume from Fresh? I like it, but it is a very light scent.

[ocelotmom]

I'm another who gets headaches from strong scents, both perfume and incense. There are a few I like because of positive associations that outweigh the headache. But overall I wish they'd go away.

 

Thankfully, most deodorants and soaps aren't strong enough to be an issue for me.

 

 

I hate bringing my babies home and having them smell like the women that held them at church. I don't mind sharing my baby with people I know and am close to but I do dislike their perfume smell on my baby later. And these are people who I don't notice the smell on them. Just on my baby later. So I know they aren't wearing a ton.

 

I agree. My baby smells lovely as she is. I don't use any sort of scented products on her, so there's no way I want her smelling like someone else's yucky perfume. 

 

For that matter, I think Pampers are the most horrible invention ever.

[Peach]

The other scent I can't do is geranium, even live ones - it smells rotten to me and really sets off my asthma. 

 

[Lolly]

Then, there is my father...He thinks skunks smell lovely. Honest. He. does. There is no accounting for what people like and dislike. I vote for just don't; that way you offend no one's sensibilities. (I only really care because dd22 has asthmatic reactions to scents. Dh has always hated them. I gave up all scented things when we started dating. Doing without them really isn't that big a deal, and it is a big deal to those who cannot stomach (nostril) them.)

 

[Katy]

Geraniums do smell terrible.  And merigolds.  blech.

[TranquilMind]

Have you smelled Lemon Sugar perfume from Fresh? I like it, but it is a very light scent.

No.  I might like that. 

[EmilyGF]

Old Spice smells like a seventh grade dance to me. It amazes me that I can still remember that guy when I walk by a young guy wearing that fragrance.

[MomtoCandJ]

Whatever smells that happen at my local Walmart.... I call it WallsFart because well I swear the walls fart and that's why it always stinks and causes my migraines (or maybe it's all the chemicals? Most cleaning supplies give me migraines too).

[Forget-Me-Not]

Jasmine also smells like urine to some people.

Interesting. I love the smell of real jasmine blooming, but certain types of lavender smell like cat pee to me.

 

I hate most perfumes. I love anything lemon scented though--real lemon, not fakey household cleaner type lemon. I always have Method's Kitchen Lemongrass at my kitchen sink.

 

And I adore cilantro!