Fragrance: Lotion Users are Overusers, Too

03.19.2009

Categories: Uncategorized

: Image by Danny McL via Flickr

In a short-term sort of way, it’s not in my best interests to say this. But, since I would like my field of perfumery to not die of a bad case of nanny-state, and because I for one wish to stick to using natural materials¹ I will say this:

Fragrance policies are the fault of irresponsible fragrance consumers, and scented lotion users are part of that. You can use perfume/scented lotion irresponsibly just as you can drink irresponsibly. Like it or not, if what you do impacts the people around you, you’re responsible for it. This is especially true if you cause someone to have an allergy attack. It’s on your head if you cause someone anaphylaxis.

Using natural perfume is no guarantee that you will NOT cause an allergic reaction – that coworker who’s allergic to roses? She’ll still curse your name when you come in soaking in something rose.

When I say “using perfume” I also mean anything that has fragrance compounds in it, especially including lotions. I’ve had a lot of people tell me they don’t use perfume, they “use lotion” as though lotion is somehow less invasive. Lotion is usually a more invasive odor because you apply it to your entire body, and not to patches of skin. It also sinks into your pores, causing it to last longer, and reaffirming that coworkers and people who share public transportation with you will probably hate you. You may be enjoying that smell all day, but you are in the process likely robbing someone of the ability to smell, see or breathe.

I love scent. I do wear my perfumes, though not that often for the sake of keeping my olfactory palate clean and open to variety. I wear exclusively unscented lotions, partly because of an allergy condition that I have, but also because the scents that stick best in lotion bother me and others.

There is a way to wear scents out in public without asphyxiating strangers and loved ones. I call it the one-foot rule: try to keep your perfume/lotion light enough that people have to be within intimacy range to smell it. The way to do this is simple: don’t wear so much of it. Rather than spreading scented lotion over your entire body, use the lotion just like you would a solid perfume – and layer it over top of any unscented lotion you use to moisturize your dry areas. If you do use perfume, you only need to put some on one major pulse point – over your heart, on your wrists, on the back of your neck. Only one of these points, not all of them.

And if you’re going to be in a tightly packed area, like on a train or airplane, please – don’t wear any fragrance if you can help it.