Just back from choir

[averygoodun42]

Perfume should be outlawed. Seriously. I'm not talking about all scenty things (I have no idea whether I have a problem with BPAL product-wearers, though I doubt it as essential oils tend not to be so...), I'm talking about the stuff that wafts off people and clogs the lungs of the pulmonary impaired from four feet away.

I'm trying to decide whether to post a bitchy comment to facebook or not. I don't think the offensive personder is on my friends' list, though, so it would just be bitchy rather than hinty.

*sigh*

I will refrain. Despite my pre-asthma-attack-and-migraine mood.

Hopefully The Organizer will send out a nicely worded reminder about this topic (again!!!) to our group list. Also, hopefully my rather juicy coughs during practice got the point across.

Sorry, just this issue really pisses me off in this case. I am not the only pulmonary-impaired person in the choir, and everyone who might wear perfume knows that the other really (really) sensitive person is on shaky ground where health is concerned without any additional triggers.

*growls*

Bah.


Of course, I might have been more laid back about this had I not come home to a railroad set that's about to be donated to some lucky child who doesn't live in this house.

Babe is not getting toys for his birthday or Christmas this year. Not unless he learns to take care of what he's already got in the meantime.

Comments

[cecelle.livejournal.com]

Believe me, there are some BPAL scents that would knock a cow over! I love wearing scents, but wouldn't if there was someone sensitive. If they have been asked not to wear perfume, they shouldn't. That's just courtesy.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

Mm. And thinking about it, the threat of migraine started when I used some essential oil scented soap earlier today. (That was in someone's home, though, so that was my bad.)

But yes, when told that other people will be affected negatively by an action, it's only polite to STOP doing it!

Hmph.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Go Organizer- how frustrating for you! I'm convinced that perfume wearers are so used to it that they mindlessly apply in the morning without ever really smelling it. I'm not allergic to much, but I have a v. sensitive schnozz, and sometimes even bath product or hairspray residue gets to me.

Learning to pick up toys after use is a lesson every kid has to learn. My mom threatened us with donating once, and we never forgot it.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

She actually suggested that I write the note and send it out because it might have more of an impact knowing it really is affecting someone (me) they like (supposedly). Choir Director sent me a note after I sent it out saying if I knew who it was, he would happily "yell" at them, as repeated offenses on this are completely unacceptable.

Oh. You know, this is pretty slow of me, but your hairspray residue just got my brain into gear. I know who it was because she went to the salon right before coming in. Doh.

After gentle prodding from my mum, I've scaled back the consequences for not picking up and struck a deal with Babe. He can keep his toys as long as he keeps them in HIS room. The ones in the living room need to be picked up, though, or they are gone.

[keladry_lupin]

That was Rule Number One when I was in the Southern California Mormon Choir: NO PERFUME OR COLOGNE. No exceptions. I was grateful, even though I'm not particularly sensitive, because I've sat through lots of rehearsals for other choirs where there was no rule like that.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

It's a really good rule. If you're exercising your lungs, the air needs to be as clean as it can be.

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

It would seem only sensible to not wear perfume in a context where everybody is going to be drawing huge quantities of air deep into the lungs. I'm glad your organiser is on top of it, and sorry you've been slapped in the face with this.

I can't abide heavy perfume - never wear perfume (though I like lavender or orange-scented shower gel!) - and think, actually, that it's rather common to slap it on like a prostitute. A little is nice; a lot stinks.

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

Call me a whore then.

Shrugs.

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

Dearest Shiv - I've sat next to you. Your perfume has failed to either knock me flat or make my sinuses explode. So there. *hugs*

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

My favourite perfume is Opium. WHen I wear it large buildings tremble.

My seoncd favourite is O which smells like dirty sex, and when I wear it the tube breaks down.

I quite like Poison and that's banned under several treaties

In fact I'm going to put some on now.

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

Perfume as chemical warfare! You've just made tears of laughter roll down my face!

I rather like opium, too, though when I was still using perfume i found it too heavy for me. I vividly remember when Poison first came out - ye gods, the streets of Hull were filled with a miasma that was more solid than a North Sea fog. I think it should be limited to one wearer per room. Or per building. Or possibly, per city....

Never smelled O. You'll have to wear it next time we meet.

I like JeanPaul Gaultier's perfume, but last time I had any, I wore it so rarely it just went off, so there's no point, really.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

Precisely. I just realized who and what it was, though. One of the sops went to the hairdresser right before rehearsal. Hair products are deadly.

I agree. There are some perfumes I really wish I could wear, Channel no. 5 and Joy come to mind, but even those need to be used sparsely.

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

I've had real ,problems with anything that has lavender in. So I can sympathise. Otoh you wouldn't like what I smelled of after a hard day in the office and travelling on the underground.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

Lavender is one of my problem scents, as well, though actually, I'm allergic or sensitive to pretty much anything that blooms. And, well, you might stink at the end of the day, and it might not be pleasant, but... well, there's really no winning, is there. Cause a ton of unshowered people in an enclosed space is pretty horrid, too, though maybe without the same health consequences.

(Good god, the caffeine is already kicking in. Blab blab blab)

[kribu.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. I've had that problem when in the vicinity of perfume wearers on the bus (and often, nowhere to go to get away from there). Runny eyes, sneezing, headache - all guaranteed.

I suppose it smells better than stinking of sweat (although some of those perfume smells are pretty horrid for my nose), but at least the stench of sweat, while vile, doesn't tend to trigger such things for me, unlike perfume or concentrated scents in general.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

I would rather deal with the discomfort of the smell of sweat than having people mask it with perfume, just because the discomfort of sweat is far less debilitating. As soon as there's fresh air, it's gone.

But... I don't know. Soap is good. Bacteria is bad. Perfume is worse.

[southernwitch69.livejournal.com]

I hate when someone's perfume feels like it's closing in on me. There's one scent in particular I hate. I've dubbed it the "Old Lady Scent" and have no idea what it is, but... ugh.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

It's maybe one of the reasons I'm only claustrophobic around people. They're invading my air with their scent.

Geoff asked me if it was at least a nice scent, but in all honesty whenever I smell fragrance I don't smell it as nice or nasty because the alarm bells in my lungs are distracting me. ;-)

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

I hate perfume. It gives me such a headache.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

Headache at the least for me, asthma at the worst.

Oh, and I figured out what it was: hair product. nasty stuff, that.

[ayerf.livejournal.com]

Some scents are rather obnoxious... while some perfumes used in moderation smell fine to me, others not so much. And some other scented things... ugh. Lynx deodorants, especially in spray form, I find headache inducing. I find it very ironic that they're advertised as attracting women.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

If used sparingly, almost no perfume bothers me as long as I keep it off of me. Aerosol fragrances of any sort are evil, though. And most colognes are gross, especially when combined with a guy's sweat. Ew. I would actually rather smell the sweat alone.

Back when no one bathed, I can see how perfume was absolutely necessary. We mostly have running water and soap and hygiene now, though. Fragrance really isn't necessary in the way it was, and the additives they put in perfumes, hair products and the like... they're killer.

But I digress. Choir director and Organizer are very supportive of this rule, so yay.

[juniperus.livejournal.com]

The culprit for the waft (and, at least as far as my reactions go, for all of my adverse reactions to other people's scent) is perfumer's alcohol. The cheaper the cologne/perfume, the higher percentage of alcohol it has.

There needs to be a no perfume/cologne rule, because it wafts.
And the words ASTHMA and MIGRAINES need to be used by the director. Do you have an inhaler? I'd bring it with you and use openly when needed until whomever it is gets their head on straight.

It's not as if anyone is saying they can't put lotion on in the morning if you're rehearsing at night - for that much waft to be taking place, the insensitive application of the scent was not long before rehearsal.

Although I've had issues personally wearing certain BPAL blends because I react strongly to a component, I have never had a reaction to someone else wearing it. The vast majority of oils don't have significant throw unless the individual bathes in it (ie, you might notice it at, say, 3 feet away... so face to face close conversation, a hug, etc. I usually need to be hugged or trapped with you in a closed car for anything to be noticed, from what I've been told, and the amount I apply is with that specific non-intrusive goal in mind), from my experience.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

Alcohol is definitely a culprit, but overuse is also a culprit. I (finally) figured out who and what it was that set me off - one of the sops went to the salon right before practice. Hair products are nasty and usually used in excess. (I could never live in Jersey.)

However, I know that even mild fragrance can set me off. Essential oils in soaps, for instance, will give me a headache if they're oils I'm sensitive to. However, that's with constant dermal contact. If someone else uses that soap, I'm not going to react to them. Not unless they spilled the bottle on themselves. As you you say, if you have to be hugged to be smelled, you're probably safe. ;-)