5 ms·

I belong to the ban perfume group. I am allergic to most of them, it feels like someone is hitting me from inside my sinuses. And it is not because someone wear

I belong to the ban perfume group. I am allergic to most of them, it feels like someone is hitting me from inside my sinuses. And it is not because someone wears to much or smell to intensely either. Sometimes I barely smell it but it feels equally violently bad. I wish I knew what is so irritating in so many perfume so I could militate to have that substance banned instead of being in the no perfume militia!

ujkhsjkdhf234 1y ago
Do you get this feeling from scented soaps as well? If not, I wonder if you having a reaction to the alcohol in perfume.
- nick__m 1y ago
  Most of them but not all of them. Dove and even Irish spring us ok (not that it smell great) however my wife had to throw away many fancier soaps she received from a cosmetics sampler subscription. Essential Oils like fir needles, black spruce, orange, rosemary... don't affect me, I even like them (but I find lavender repulsive but it's not hurtful). And I don't feel like going to an allergy specialist for something as superficial as this is a good use of my time since my coworker, friends and family are not into perfume.
viraptor 1y ago
You can go to an allergy specialist to not only identify what exactly affects you, but likely also try to reverse the problem.
- o11c 1y ago
  "Reverse the problem" is severely overstated. Admittedly it can be useful for people with potentially-fatal allergies, but otherwise it's often the equivalent of building scar tissue.
  - decimalenough 1y ago
    Living in a tropical country, I found myself with increasingly bad allergy symptoms. I went to a doc and had an allergy panel done that clearly showed I was allergic to a weed that flowers all year around (boo). They gave me a nasal spray steroid that, to my utter astonishment, quickly and permanently cured the allergy, with zero side effects. I know I was lucky, but the point is that yes, it is sometimes possible to "reverse the problem".
AnimalMuppet 1y ago
My wife and at least one of my children are sensitive to perfume. They get headaches, at a minimum. A bit east of Elkhart Indiana, there's a place that claims to sell "natural perfume". Does anyone who is perfume-sensitive have any experience with that? Is it possible that the chemicals used in "non natural perfume" are at the root of the sensitivity? (I haven't dared to test it on my wife, so I'd be interested in any reports.)
- sharphall 1y ago
  It's unlikely "natural" has anything to do with it. Compounds that occur naturally are often synthesized, but it's the same molecule as found in nature. (example: vanillin) There are some scent molecules that are totally new and not found in nature outside of our production, but "naturally occurring" is a broad category that can include all sort of things individuals are likely to be sensitive to even after removing all the "natural" chemicals that are actual poison.
  - o11c 1y ago
    Cyanide is probably a better example.
    - IAmBroom 1y ago
      Mmmm, almonds...
- zdragnar 1y ago
  Plenty of essential oils (what tends to be used in these) are aggressively irritating unless diluted to people without allergies. Even when diluted, I am allergic to some, and my wife is allergic to others, though we get different symptoms than "unnatural" perfumes. Instead of migraines, it's closer to hay fever type allergies.
- tpm 1y ago
  There are several manufacturers of 100% natural perfumes -from the top of my mind, Raer (Berlin), Hiram Green, James Heeley I think too. That said I think it's unlikely this will be the reason. Another interesting thing to try would be one-note or other simple perfumes (like Pantomime).
jsbg 1y ago
> And it is not because someone wears to much or smell to intensely either. Sometimes I barely smell it but it feels equally violently bad. I don't understand how this is distinguishable from random smells going about life, like traffic, fresh rain, flowers, cooking, grass, etc.
- kulahan 1y ago
  It isn’t, but it seems less necessary, so it’s easier to single it out
- o11c 1y ago
  For me at least, most of the other debilitating chemicals appear in predictable and semi-avoidable contexts. Traffic chemicals appear strongest on busy motorways with stagnant air, where people outside of cars don't spend much time. Flower chemicals can cause problems but usually dissipate within 10 feet or so. Fresh rain primarily eliminates free-floating chemical attacks and does not cause one itself. Cooking is self-regulating because the person actively triggering the chemical emission is exposed much more strongly than people elsewhere even in the same room. Grass can only be crudely avoided or mitigated during the seasons where it's problematic. (Thank God for COVID bringing awareness that masks make it physically easier to breathe.) But perfume? You never know when you'll run across a person who chooses to be a targeted, walking violation of the Hague Convention. There's no way to mitigate this other than avoiding people entirely (which some people do choose to do, but which has negative side effects). That said, in recent years I find the perfume from cleaning supplies or laundry supplies to be more problematic than the perfume from people.
  - nick__m 1y ago
    I completely agree with everything you said with emphasis on your last three paragraphs.
  - jsbg 1y ago
    this all contradicts this part > not because someone wears to much or smell to intensely a normal perfume/cologne wearer is not going to smell 10 feet away also > Fresh rain primarily eliminates free-floating chemical attacks and does not cause one itself. yes, petrichor
nonameiguess 1y ago
Just here to commisserate and help the others who don't realize we exist that we do. Every time in my life I've had to lodge a complaint to an HR department, teacher, or whoever controls some indoor space to tell the other occupants that their scents can be quite irritating to others, I've felt terrible about it, like I'm deficient as a human and missing out on something others take great joy in. But oh well. It does happen. I don't know what it is. It's not all scents, and sometimes it is things that don't have much of a scent at all. But I will never use any perfume, any product with scent added, and aerosolized anything at all is always a minefield. Even letting my wife clean can be hazardous, because whereas I am always careful to hold the spray bottle close to the surface, she'll shoot it into broad air, where it gets into my sinuses and gives me a massive headache for the next two hours. I can't identify what it is that does it, but I can at least enumerate: * Any and every perfume I have ever encountered, regardless of the specific scent. * Any and every essential oil I have ever encountered. * Any aerosol. * Pump-sprayed solvents, including pure isopropyl alcohol diluted in water. What doesn't irritate me: * Food of any kind. * Shit and untreated sewage. * Rotting flesh. Each of these may still smell quite terrible, even to the point that I have to flee like any other person with working scent receptors, but it doesn't feel like someone poured acid into my brain. Iffy: * Plants. I guess these just depend on whether I'm allergic to their specific pollen or not, but the scents themselves are not irritating in the same way. If anyone else can find a pattern here, well, I'd be thankful.

ujkhsjkdhf234 1y ago

Do you get this feeling from scented soaps as well? If not, I wonder if you having a reaction to the alcohol in perfume.

nick__m 1y ago
Most of them but not all of them. Dove and even Irish spring us ok (not that it smell great) however my wife had to throw away many fancier soaps she received from a cosmetics sampler subscription. Essential Oils like fir needles, black spruce, orange, rosemary... don't affect me, I even like them (but I find lavender repulsive but it's not hurtful). And I don't feel like going to an allergy specialist for something as superficial as this is a good use of my time since my coworker, friends and family are not into perfume.

viraptor 1y ago

You can go to an allergy specialist to not only identify what exactly affects you, but likely also try to reverse the problem.

o11c 1y ago
"Reverse the problem" is severely overstated. Admittedly it can be useful for people with potentially-fatal allergies, but otherwise it's often the equivalent of building scar tissue.
- decimalenough 1y ago
  Living in a tropical country, I found myself with increasingly bad allergy symptoms. I went to a doc and had an allergy panel done that clearly showed I was allergic to a weed that flowers all year around (boo). They gave me a nasal spray steroid that, to my utter astonishment, quickly and permanently cured the allergy, with zero side effects. I know I was lucky, but the point is that yes, it is sometimes possible to "reverse the problem".

AnimalMuppet 1y ago

My wife and at least one of my children are sensitive to perfume. They get headaches, at a minimum. A bit east of Elkhart Indiana, there's a place that claims to sell "natural perfume". Does anyone who is perfume-sensitive have any experience with that? Is it possible that the chemicals used in "non natural perfume" are at the root of the sensitivity? (I haven't dared to test it on my wife, so I'd be interested in any reports.)

sharphall 1y ago
It's unlikely "natural" has anything to do with it. Compounds that occur naturally are often synthesized, but it's the same molecule as found in nature. (example: vanillin) There are some scent molecules that are totally new and not found in nature outside of our production, but "naturally occurring" is a broad category that can include all sort of things individuals are likely to be sensitive to even after removing all the "natural" chemicals that are actual poison.
- o11c 1y ago
  Cyanide is probably a better example.
  - IAmBroom 1y ago
    Mmmm, almonds...
zdragnar 1y ago
Plenty of essential oils (what tends to be used in these) are aggressively irritating unless diluted to people without allergies. Even when diluted, I am allergic to some, and my wife is allergic to others, though we get different symptoms than "unnatural" perfumes. Instead of migraines, it's closer to hay fever type allergies.
tpm 1y ago
There are several manufacturers of 100% natural perfumes -from the top of my mind, Raer (Berlin), Hiram Green, James Heeley I think too. That said I think it's unlikely this will be the reason. Another interesting thing to try would be one-note or other simple perfumes (like Pantomime).

jsbg 1y ago

> And it is not because someone wears to much or smell to intensely either. Sometimes I barely smell it but it feels equally violently bad. I don't understand how this is distinguishable from random smells going about life, like traffic, fresh rain, flowers, cooking, grass, etc.

kulahan 1y ago
It isn’t, but it seems less necessary, so it’s easier to single it out
o11c 1y ago
For me at least, most of the other debilitating chemicals appear in predictable and semi-avoidable contexts. Traffic chemicals appear strongest on busy motorways with stagnant air, where people outside of cars don't spend much time. Flower chemicals can cause problems but usually dissipate within 10 feet or so. Fresh rain primarily eliminates free-floating chemical attacks and does not cause one itself. Cooking is self-regulating because the person actively triggering the chemical emission is exposed much more strongly than people elsewhere even in the same room. Grass can only be crudely avoided or mitigated during the seasons where it's problematic. (Thank God for COVID bringing awareness that masks make it physically easier to breathe.) But perfume? You never know when you'll run across a person who chooses to be a targeted, walking violation of the Hague Convention. There's no way to mitigate this other than avoiding people entirely (which some people do choose to do, but which has negative side effects). That said, in recent years I find the perfume from cleaning supplies or laundry supplies to be more problematic than the perfume from people.
- nick__m 1y ago
  I completely agree with everything you said with emphasis on your last three paragraphs.
- jsbg 1y ago
  this all contradicts this part > not because someone wears to much or smell to intensely a normal perfume/cologne wearer is not going to smell 10 feet away also > Fresh rain primarily eliminates free-floating chemical attacks and does not cause one itself. yes, petrichor

nonameiguess 1y ago

Just here to commisserate and help the others who don't realize we exist that we do. Every time in my life I've had to lodge a complaint to an HR department, teacher, or whoever controls some indoor space to tell the other occupants that their scents can be quite irritating to others, I've felt terrible about it, like I'm deficient as a human and missing out on something others take great joy in. But oh well. It does happen. I don't know what it is. It's not all scents, and sometimes it is things that don't have much of a scent at all. But I will never use any perfume, any product with scent added, and aerosolized anything at all is always a minefield. Even letting my wife clean can be hazardous, because whereas I am always careful to hold the spray bottle close to the surface, she'll shoot it into broad air, where it gets into my sinuses and gives me a massive headache for the next two hours. I can't identify what it is that does it, but I can at least enumerate: * Any and every perfume I have ever encountered, regardless of the specific scent. * Any and every essential oil I have ever encountered. * Any aerosol. * Pump-sprayed solvents, including pure isopropyl alcohol diluted in water. What doesn't irritate me: * Food of any kind. * Shit and untreated sewage. * Rotting flesh. Each of these may still smell quite terrible, even to the point that I have to flee like any other person with working scent receptors, but it doesn't feel like someone poured acid into my brain. Iffy: * Plants. I guess these just depend on whether I'm allergic to their specific pollen or not, but the scents themselves are not irritating in the same way. If anyone else can find a pattern here, well, I'd be thankful.