Well written!

On the nose: stop making scents
written by Janet Griffin
January 26, 2009

I'VE had it. This is the last straw. First I had to throw away yet another bottle of shampoo because the "new, improved formula" meant changing the perfume. Now I've opened a box of facial tissues and reeled - the tissues are perfumed.

What is it that makes manufacturers of everyday products decide that we simply cannot do without artificial smells? Do they think our lives are so dull and sterile that we need constant odorous stimulation? We start our day with soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, moisturiser and/or shaving cream, all with a different fragrance, so we now wear a multiple range of smells.

To top it off, we apply perfume or after-shave cologne. We all need these items, but why is it so difficult to buy these products "fragrance-free" or "low fragrance"?

I am allergic to various perfumes. I have had to change seats in theatres, trains and planes, and I hurry past cosmetic counters.

Shopping centres are notorious. Just as each shop has its own music, which makes for a cacophony, so it is with scented candles, oil burners and a mish-mash of potpourri in different stores. Some beautiful country gift shops are unapproachable due to overpowering perfumes.

Household items are also part of the problem. Detergents and cleaning products all have added fragrances - lemon, lavender, pine eucalyptus and other botanical themes.

And don't get me started on those sprays and hideous plug-in stink bombs that are sold as room fresheners.

OK, some bathroom smells are not nice, but lighting a match soon eliminates that. Unless you boil a cabbage for hours every day, though, cooking smells are wonderful. I certainly prefer the aroma of good food cooking to the all-pervading "room freshener".

Why some people wear perfume to a restaurant is beyond me. It prevents the wearer, and people nearby, from fully appreciating the smell and taste of the food.

My sense of smell is very happy with the natural world around me. And if I move away from you, it's nothing personal - it's just all these artificial products that make you smell.