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I was searching for something on this forum and came across threads on smells: people liking the one at a certain shop, others not, perfume and whether it should be banned in public places, and how workers in that certain shop felt unwell from inhaling something, etc.

There is a chain of cheap shoe shops which when I enter I get overwhelmed by a smell of formaldehyde and I have to walk away quickly before.

New furniture, new carpets, etc, they call have this horrible 'outgassing' effects on me. I suffered over Christmas while at Mum-in-law's.

Once Mum-in-law brought me some lovely, lovely lilies as a 'Thank you' for hosting her. The scent hits you as you walk through the door, and it's placed in the room right at the back.

My son started being very argumentative and difficult. Every little thing was annoying him, it seemed.

Then I thought, if aromas could be used to calm, then surely aromas could also stimulate. I removed the flowers, and soon, my son calmed down.

Anyone with similar experiences?

very much so! One good reason to avoid "malls" - that poison cloud wafting out from Boots........positively retch-making!
My personal hate is as you say "household placcy gas", made up of a mixture of fumes from foams (in furniture, under carpets etc.), mdf, and those inventions of satan - the "plugin fragrancer" emitting noxious toxins, thinly disguised with synthetic pongs! I'm very sensitive to "foams", and notice my chest tightening within a few minutes of sitting on a sofa filled with it - within half an hour, I'm positively wheezy!
I look at small children, strapped into plastic car seats, filled with foam, with all that awful "new car" cocktail of solvents wafting about inside, with the odd waft of diesel fumes thrown in..........................and they wonder why asthma is so prevalent!
Pongs are positively psychoactive..........plant lavender by the acre!

my MIL uses those plug in air fresheners, but she smokes like a kipper factory, so the house is thick with clouds of smoke and then over laid with this ridiculous pong.
Once she said, when we went to visit "can I have a cigarette now the children (or the boy and pregnant me, whichever), have gone upstairs?" Dh looked aghast. She said "I could light a candle".
Had my father only known about the lung restorative properties of candle smoke over cigarette smoke, his chess nights would have been very different...

I know some smells are nasty and make me go urgh, I've never really considered their effect on my mental health though.

One thing I do know is that allot of cleaning products and espcially the plug in and aerasol air fresheners make my asthma react badly. There are few things in the world that are better for an asthmatic then well aired rooms that are regularly dusted with just a damp cloth (I use flannel). I know some people like the supposed comfort of carpet but again, as an asthmatic I find it easier when I live in a place with wood/lino/laminate floors that can be quickly cleaned with a damp mop once a day.

Mr. QuakerBear hates air fresheners, his beautiful logoic tells him that if there is a bad smell, it is an indicator that there is a problem somewhere that needs to be sorted out. Air fresheners do not solve the problem, they mask the signs of it.

Apparently, now that smoking has been banned in pubs, all the patrons are complaining about the smells of stale beer, loos, or stale food. It just shows how dirty those places are.

I hate airfreshners. But I do like scented candles or those oil burners. A much more subtle smell. Fresh flowers are the best though.

Zoe

I do like some natural smells - essential oils rather than artificially scented candles etc... Perfume makes me all uptight and tetchy (like Martin one of the reasons why I avoid "malls"). But so does the musac in those shops. I can't go to B&Q anymore... Or if I have to, I quickly grab whatever I need and run out again.

Malls - the mouth of Hades..........add to the synthetic pheromone stench the jangling fluorescents, the apology for air that they give you, the never ending loops of "music to slash your wrists to" and the shambling braindead who inhabit the places..........
In recent years, I've avoided them all like the plague, and like Ina, if I do have to go into a "superstore" it's gallop in, grab what I need pdq, and leg it out quick!
I think the nearest I've ever come to clouting a woman is when waylaid by some painted harridan who tries to spray you with "fragrances" - my reaction being "gas,gas,gas - masks and leggit!"

Martin wrote:
I think the nearest I've ever come to clouting a woman is when waylaid by some painted harridan who tries to spray you with "fragrances" - my reaction being "gas,gas,gas - masks and leggit!"

I used to scream at them "I'm allergic"!!! Now, if I have to enter the shop, I investigate from outside which entrance is the safest... Saying that, I haven't been "to the shops" in Aberdeen more than once this year. And that was to buy a cheap pair of jeans for work at Primark. (Yes, I know, I know... But the ethically correct, organic jeans are not yet available in my super size! )

Now how come you guys get sprayed with perfume? Are you wearing a SUIT Martin??? I've found that if you go in places like that looking like a scruffy mess then the perfume women avoid you like the plague - not that we have any shops like that in Brittany!

Millymollymandy wrote:Now how come you guys get sprayed with perfume?

Yeah, that made me wonder about him, too...

I worry about my hubby's working environment. he is a train maintenance engineer for FGWR and spends all day in an oily pit dealing with diesel trains. not only do i wonder what's going on in his lungs but also what's going on on his skin.

I'll have to put it down to my animal magnetism......I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would WANT to risk spraying poison clouds at a grumpy figure in tatty waxed jacket, and muddy wellies!
The worst offender is that tip of the evil "Big Pharma" iceberg - Boots! - I don't know where they find these strange crepuscular creatures that staff them -skin that's never seen the sun, deathly talons (how do they wipe their bum?), and an evangelical glee in polluting your airspace!

My better half was walking though a perfume dept the other day just for a short cut, a shop assisant said "would you like to try..." cath cut her off and said firmly "NO", she sprayed her anyway. Caths arm came up bright red in seconds, Cath really kicked off, made them get a wet towel and cleared the whole perfume dept.

Martin wrote:
, deathly talons (how do they wipe their bum?),

Very carefully?

Sorry! I love smells and when we get to solvents and stuff the chemist in me comes out - I love to smell them. Working in the paint industry many years ago taught me to identify a considerable number of solvents by smell. I suppose that does explain some of my grosser aberations .

Nev

this raises an interesting ethical dilemma - if a bloke did that to me, he'd get a smack on the beak - in these "enlightened" times where women demand full equal rights, should one extend one's reaction to blatant assault in the same way?