A few cities have initiated Fragrance Free zones (such as the workplace, certain restaurants, waiting rooms, etc). Fragrance contains some of the exact same chemicals that are harmful in cigarette smoke. It also contains pesticides--that's right, the same chemicals in pesticides are in many synthetic fragrances.
Like smoke, fragrance is loaded with carcinogens and toxins, but it's actually much harder to get away from second hand fragrance. Smoking is banned almost everywhere and easy to avoid. If a smoker shakes my hand, rarely does my hand then reek of smoke, and if it did, I could easily wash it off. When someone wearing fragrance does the same, I can scrub with a brush and can't get that stuff off, then I'm forced to smell it all day. If someone sits on my furniture wearing fragrance, guess what? It doesn't come out. If I go to someone's house that uses fragrance, I have to strip down and put everything I was wearing in the wash when I get home. The stuff is the devil. And when you don't wear synthetic fragrance, you can smell it a mile away.
Is this what people are trying to achieve with their perfumes and colognes? Do they want to smear pesticides and carcinogens all over their bodies to marinate in that stuff all day? Do they want to give others headaches and asthma attacks? Do they want to contribute to the toxic burden in our water supply, the prevalence of hormone disruptors, do they want cancer? Of course not. They think they are making themselves more appealing and they think they smell nice. They have no idea they are making people gag.
They ban trans fats and smoking, and now I'm hearing the same is happening with perfumes and fragrance. For more, read
THIS and
THIS.
Does fragrance bother you or make you sick? Email me your thoughts at ecomamasguide@gmail.com and I will share your stories (anonymously) in a follow up post.
