From Maria Jones, Akron, Ohio 

The first reaction to scents that I recall was in my early twenties.  It didn’t register in my mind that it was a sensitivity at that time, but when I would walk through a popular department store (O’Neil’s, where their perfume and cologne counters were at the entrance and their clerks were spraying it freely on everyone who passed) I would get a headache.  It was not a major problem then, but as the years have passed it has gotten worse and I know for certain it is a “sensitivity”.

When exposed to perfumes, colognes, air fresheners, candles, and the like, with one breath my head will ache.  It’s an instant reaction.  As I continue to breathe these scents in I get hot, dizzy, nauseated, with a continued nagging headache.  It feels like my brain is swelling in the back of my head.  In some instances I feel drugged to the point of drowsiness and blurred thinking, and my heart will sometimes race.  I used to think I was having anxiety attacks until I made the connection.  Once I reach the point of drowsiness, the only thing I can do is sleep it off, and it may take the remainder of the day and night until I finally get over it.

I used to enjoy wearing colognes and perfumes as a teen and young adult, and when I began having trouble I would search and search for something I could wear.  But there does not appear to be anything I can tolerate now.  I thought maybe if I would wear it way down on the back of my legs I could tolerate it, but not so.

Not all scented products for personal use affect me, but it’s trial and error.  Some shampoos and soaps (with natural scents) are okay, but I definitely have to use unscented hair sprays.  Even some of the unscented hair sprays contain an ingredient that affects me.  So when I find one that works for me I’ll try to stick with it.  Lotions are a real problem.  The oils in lotions seem to really cause the scents to linger and be strong.  I’ve noticed that a person's body heat will warm the oil on the skin and cause the scent to be released.  I’ve quit even testing lotions because once it is on my skin I have to wash it several times with soap to remove the scent.  By the time I get it off, it has already caused me problems.  I don’t seem to be affected too much by others’ soaps, shampoos, and hair sprays, but lotions definitely affect me.

I have endured this problem silently for a long time, avoiding the situations when possible.  If someone rides in an auto with me, I will request they not wear perfumes or I will drive myself separately.  When I’m in a store or public place I can sometimes move away (although not always before the symptoms begin).  My problems are really exacerbated when at church or work where I have to be exposed to the scents for extended periods of time.  I finally reached a point last year where I was ill after almost every church service.  I would go to the car and wait for my kids.  They got frustrated because they couldn’t understand how I could be sick almost every week after church.  They didn’t see the typical “allergic reactions” like sneezing and sinuses, so they could not understand.   Finally, after one very difficult Sabbath, I asked our minister if we might start a “scent free” seating area.  He was very open to it and within a couple weeks a section was roped off for this purpose.  It has made a difference for me.  I know some people don’t understand the situation and may resent my having the whole back left side of the auditorium to myself, but hopefully after reading the article in the United News they will be a little more enlightened on the subject.

I am aware people enjoy their scents, and I do respect that.  I would rather endure the misery than to take something from them they really need.  (I have learned from a psychologist I once worked for that some people actually have a psychological need to wear strong perfumes.  We had one patient who you could literally smell her cologne before she ever got up the elevator to our second floor office!)  I have had some people try to reassure me that they are not wearing “much” perfume, but they don’t understand that there’s no difference between “much” or “little” when you have a sensitivity.  Putting a row of seats between myself and the scent does not help either.  Scents travel with the air currents in a room and I can be affected by it at quite some distance.

I have had to deal with my problem at work too.  Being in an office with all women, one can only imagine.  My supervisor enjoyed wearing a perfume that was very strong and created real misery for me, in addition to the colognes worn by the other workers.  It was not easy the day I had to approach her and explain my problem and request she stop wearing it, along with other people in the office.  She was a little confused and irritated at first because she felt an expensive perfume would not cause this problem.  But I assured her the cost of it had nothing to do with it.  She has since considered my problem and stopped wearing the perfume and has advised the others about their perfumes (although they forget and I have concluded I’ll just have to deal with it).

One new employee was sent home to shower and change clothes because her lotions were so strong.  Although I was the only one becoming ill from it, others even noticed how strong it was.  Some days are worse than others.  Recently I have been given my own office where I can now keep the door closed and avoid a lot of the exposure.  (An interesting point is that when my supervisor told her husband about my problem with her perfumes, he then admitted to her that they also bothered him, but he was afraid it would hurt her feelings if he asked her to stop wearing it.)  Hopefully, I won’t ever reach the point where I can’t at least put up with exposure to scents in the office.  I really do enjoy my work and I would not want to have to leave.

Some recall experiences in their lives that may have set off their sensitivities.  I don’t recall anything that I was regularly exposed to, or abruptly exposed to, early in my life except that I lived in what was once known as the rubber capital of the world.  The smell of rubber (which Akron called the “smell of money”) traveled to our suburban neighborhood almost every weekday around 6 PM.  It was a horrid smell (similar to the smell of tar, which also causes me to get a headache with one breath).  I don’t know if this might have anything to do with my sensitivity.  To my knowledge, no one in my family has a similar problem.

I know there are others who have much more extreme symptoms than I, and I can only have sympathy on them.  There will never be a way to get completely away from everything unless we live in a bubble.  We can only hope that we can all learn to be considerate of each other and realize that this may include sacrifice, at times, on all of our parts.

I do see one humorous side to the “scented products” issue.  A person may start their day with a shampoo that makes their hair smell like sunflowers, a bath soap like cucumbers, a deodorant like baby powder or ocean wind (if you’re male), hair spray like spring flowers, perfume like “Poison” or men’s cologne like a sailor from the sea, hand lotion like cherry almond, clothes washed in mountain spring scent and dried with a fresh rain scent sheets, breath like mint (thank goodness!), and a coat or suit that smells like dry cleaning fluid – all at one time!  Did I miss anything?  Isn’t it just a little WEIRD?!  If anything, it seems a bit much!