Hyper-sensitivity to man-made scents?

Jack Flash said:
I'm surprised at how many folks here are so sensitive to smells. I grew up on a farm (you know, cows, pigs, chickens, all of whom have rather questionable hygienic practices) and just learned to tolerate barnyard smells. Not to mention that back in those days, farmers did not bathe and change their undergarments all that frequently. They also shunned deodorants. Oh and did I say everybody smoked? As a little kid, you just accept the world as it is. :o

Generally, no odors bother me. However, I used to work in an office with a guy who really took the cake. He always wore the same suit to work. Every day. He did not believe a person needed to shower daily, but instead he relied on liberal doses of cologne. Wow! The mixture of overripe BO and too much cologne did require me to minimize my interactions with this gentleman. :eek:
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I don't get his logic....if he didn't care how he smelled why even use cologne ?
 
Had to chuckle at this thread. In 1999 I contracted my first lung disease called hyper-sensitivity pneumonitis. I have an auto immune deficiency and this was a reaction to automotive paint. Anyway, the docs told me the inside of my lungs look like when you drag someone across carpet and they get rug burns. Full of tumors and eventually went away with drugs. However, almost any smell of perfume, deodorant, candles, cleaning materials, etc would bring me to my knees and I coughed my way out the door. I hardly went anywhere for a couple of years and my wife has never worn much perfume but nothing after that. My wife gives me a hard time now and calls me "super nose" because I can smell most everything well before she does. I can tell her something is going bad in the fridge well before it shows up. Since then I have contracted another and unrelated lung disease but it doesn't have the same symptoms of smell. When I go to National Jewish in Denver once a year, they stress no perfume, no odors to their patients and employees. I am amazed that someone will think they can wear a little perfume which smells more like a half gallon. Women and men who wear too much of that stuff are inconsiderate.

Several years ago when I was teaching at a technical college a young lady needed some help and we were in a smaller room looking for some parts and I started feeling very "uneasy." I had to get out of there. I knew her very well and asked her what she was wearing for perfume and she it is called "poison" and it is supposed to be an aphrodisiac. I asked her to not wear that again in a building with mostly males, she agreed. That stuff was wild and it is hard to explain what it does.

I believe in the work place we should not be afraid to tell others to cut our the unusual odors that are offensive to some of us. I also get a kick out of those who smoke and then try to cover it up other odors. Sheesh
 
Jack Flash said:
I'm surprised at how many folks here are so sensitive to smells. I grew up on a farm (you know, cows, pigs, chickens, all of whom have rather questionable hygienic practices) and just learned to tolerate barnyard smells. Not to mention that back in those days, farmers did not bathe and change their undergarments all that frequently. They also shunned deodorants. Oh and did I say everybody smoked? As a little kid, you just accept the world as it is. :o
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BO bothers me, but everything else you named is a natural smell. I lived in rural England for several years as a kid, so they don't affect me. It is some chemical(s) that they put in products like detergent, dryer sheets and perfume/cologne that sets me and others off.
 
At one point in my career I had 53 women working for me. Yes, there were several who were sensitive to various smells. One was so severely bothered I moved her into a private office and she could keep the door closed. I recall many conversations with young and not so young ladies advising them of the offensive qualities of various perfumes. This was not the more favorite recollections of my career.
 
LVSteve said:
BO bothers me, but everything else you named is a natural smell. I lived in rural England for several years as a kid, so they don't affect me. It is some chemical(s) that they put in products like detergent, dryer sheets and perfume/cologne that sets me and others off.
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Well, BO is a natural smell too. I would have to say there are some natural smells that are too horrible to endure (for long anyways).

1. When I was a kid, Dad had his field tiled (drainage tile). The trenching machine hit the long forgotten unmarked grave of a deceased goose the dog had killed. Natural though it was, the smell was unbearable. You had to get away.

2. About 25 years ago, I was tooling along a country road in Ohio in my 280Z. Windows and sunroof open to the cool fragrant spring air. Then I passed over a skunk that had been recently hit and died right there in my lane. WOW, WHAT AN AWFUL SMELL! It was sucked right into my car and stuck with the interior for at least a week. It really stunk. Glad I was not dating, I would have had to rent a car!
 
YES! BUT NOT TOO OFTEN.

I would get dizzy/lightheaded if in an elevator with a certain women & her perfume, just hers. People react differently, what a shock. :eek: I got a bunch of "higher end" colognes & aftershaves as my bro got them free. Dolce Gabbana, Guerlain, Antonio puig, Thalium, etc etc & always got the most compliments from old spice. :rolleyes: We were not allowed to wear scents at work due to possible "sensativities". What smells good to one may be awful to another. Soot from candlewicks & something from aerosol sprays bother me too.
 
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Jack Flash said:
... I used to work in an office with a guy who really took the cake. He always wore the same suit to work. Every day. He did not believe a person needed to shower daily, but instead he relied on liberal doses of cologne. Wow! The mixture of overripe BO and too much cologne did require me to minimize my interactions with this gentleman. :eek:
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tattooo said:
I don't get his logic....if he didn't care how he smelled why even use cologne ?
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I never asked him, but I think he had the delusional belief that the cologne covered all other smells.
 
soFlaNative said:
I work in a wastewater plant.
Chock full of man made smells.
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Or woman made smells.
I'm gonna tell on my wife.
One night as we're sitting in bed my wife lets one rip. Smelled so bad it made my eyes water.
Just then one of our cats comes into the room, jumps on the bed, yowls and runs out of the room.
 
tattooo said:
That mix of funk and fragranced toilet water had to give you a migraine..... lol
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Reminds me of the stories about the Moscow subway. If there isn't already one, there should be a Russian proverb saying "There are no rats on the Moscow subway, they can't stand the smell."
 
I've been thinkin' 'bout getting a new grill. My old one's starting to get kinda funky looking.
Instead, I decided to refinish it.
Yesterday, we went to our local Ace Hardware store.
I walked past a woman that smelled like she bathed in some kinda cheap fragrance.
What really kinda bugs me is when people wear a strong fragrance on the trails around here.
 
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