Is Perfume the New Cigarette? 150 Fall Ill to Sprayed Perfume

Associated Content ^ | 8/30/09 | Bobby Tall Horse

[stillafreemind]

We've all been there, a restaurant, church, classroom, shopping aisle and yes a bar, when someone will walk in and the place turns to weeping eyes and sneezing. How well do you think people take it when asked to "remove" their perfume? But due to stories like the people above who fell ill due to someone's perfume I believe people are starting to look at perfume as the next cigarette.

[Buckeye McFrog]

not just women...I used to work with a guy who would head straight to the mens room in the morning and bathe himself in Aspen cologne. There was no place in the building that you could go to escape.

[wbill]

I used to work with a guy who wore too much cheap cologne (sweet mold...sounds like it was the same scent). He didn't bathe in the stuff, but you could smell it on him if you were in his office.

He used it to cover up the smell of booze, because he was an alcoholic. Eventually he got fired for showing up to work drunk.

[stillafreemind]

I read an article about a year or so ago that told about a little girl dropping a bottle of perfume on a school bus. They had to evacuate the bus and hose it down. Think they’ll ban perfume from schools?

[SKI NOW]

"...the Obama Administration will begin proscecuting anyone who showers or uses deodorant..."

Micheal Moore can now fit in society.

[JenB987]

We have a couple boozehounds in the office...don’t know if they keep it in their desk or not, though.

The guy in my office goes to the gym during his lunch break or right before work and puts enough of it on to choke a donkey.

I wonder what makes a person think something, so offensive to everyone around them, smells good enough to wear.

I buy my husband his cologne so nothing goes on him that doesn’t have a female’s stamp of approval. lol

[litehaus]

"We must obey the European “One World” smell requirements."...

Welcome to the sounds, sights, SMELL of Gay Paree !!!!

[Jubal Madison]

Forgive me for jumping in to your personal business, but my mother started with the very same symptoms several years ago. It started after my folks did a major renovation to their home, including sealing the whole house really tight. Mama went to her doctor seeking relief, and after a couple of months he sent her to an allergist.(Hope that’s the correct term.) To make a long story short, the doctor believes some of our problems are due to a lack of fresh air in our new airtight buildings. Years ago this wasn’t much of a problem, but now the buildings are much tighter and people spend more time indoors. What is tolerable to the body at 1 level becomes an illness at a higher level. Anyway - my folks installed a small ventilation fan for air exchange on the doctors recommendation. It wasn’t long at all before Mama’s migraines and other symptoms disappeared. She no longer has to have any treatment at all. It does make your home less energy efficient, but if you suffer from migraines that is a small price to pay. I apologize for the length, but I saw how debilitating the migraines were to my mother, so I thought I would throw this out to you ladies.(I am assuming you are both women. Sorry if I am in error.)-—JM

[JenB]

Hmm. Interesting. At first glance I’d dismiss that idea since, in my own home, I have no issues (no fragrances permitted) and I can have a headache crop up outdoors if I am near a heavily perfumed person, but I see your point is more about built up over time resistances and lack thereof. Hmm.

[Caribou]

I think she works here were I’m at.

[Jubal Madison]

“Cigarette smoke is just annoying...”

Actually, it really bothers my wife on a physical level. I still smoke, although not in the home. While my preferred delivery vehicle is a pipe, I do smoke some cigarettes and cigars if the pipe is not convenient. What I have never figured out is why cigarettes and cigars make my woman tear up and stuffy, but pipe smoke doesn’t seem to affect her - she even said she likes the scent. I know other people who are the opposite. Not really any point to make, other than we humans are an odd lot.-—JM

[4yearlurker]

There is a second hand store right down the street. I like to shop there for books and albums. Some of the old ladies who volunteer to work there wear so muck perfume that I can taste a bitter taste on the back of my tongue and my eyes water. Nasty stuff.

[TommyDale]

I remember when hair spray was banned from the school bus.

[Jubal Madison]

One thing - is your home relatively new? The building materials now commonly in use contain a lot of chemicals. This is very unscientific, but perhaps you are loaded up in your home, which is tolerable, but the addition of the scent is the tipping point. It seems to me with all the chemicals we encounter, if you start throwing in their various combinations and individual human beings, it would be plausible.One thing my folks did is to start opening a couple of windows in the house a tiny bit, while waiting for the contractor to install the fan. After a couple of weeks, Mama started to improve and after a couple months with the fresh air her migraines were gone. That would be a low tech solution to possibly try, but be forewarned your cooling/heating bill will rise.---JM

[JenB]

I have lived in four different states, all with very different climates, since becoming sentitive to fragrances. My last home was built in the 50s; this one, in 83.

Can’t afford to let my cooling bill rise any more than it has! Moving to Florida, the AC costs were a huge shock.

[Patriotic1]

And then there are those of us for whom perfume, cologne, etc is a migraine trigger. Perfume is unavoidable and debilitating.

[Unlikely Hero]

I love cheap aftershaves like Pinaud Lilac Vegetal and Aqua Velva. Not everyone loves those scents. Hope I’m not a marked man

[animal172]

I think we’ve all known women and some men who think the proper way to wear perfume/cologne is to use the whole bottle for one application. Personally I’d rather smell that awful second hand smoke. No, I don’t smoke. Haven’t for going on 4 years, but I have not become a zealot.

[animal172]

Never been to a brothel, huh? :)

[animal172]

Vegetal? Does it smell like an onion, carrot, celery or what? That’s a new one on me.

[Deb]

You can have my Shalimar when you PRY IT FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!!!!!!!