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Sep. 20th, 2004 05:10 pmYou know, if it was me, I wouldn't care. But it's not. For me, it's only an issue of bad taste. For some people, it's a matter of being able to draw breath.
I'm talking about scents. Everywhere, scents. People wearing perfume, using scented soaps and scented deodorants, washing their clothes with scents, drying them with scents, chemical, artificial scents that are inescapable.
...and becoming more so.
I personally don't have allergies. Through the lottery of genetics, I drew the lucky straws, and as yet have displayed no tendency to allergic reactions, but People I Love /do/ have allergies. Any number of them. As of now, the laundry soap my family uses has gotten a "New! Fresh clean scent!"
It drives my mother out of the house (eyes running and throat closed), so It's time to change detergents. Why, why, why? It's not fresh. It's not clean. It's nasty and heavy and cloying. I hate the smell and I'm not even allergic. Mom can't even pick out the new detergent to change to; she can't brave the cleanser isle in the store - because of the scents.
Why does everything have to /reek/ in some new chemically formulated way? Hello! More and more of us have allergies every year! And yet, more and more things are adding more possible allergens! And more and more people use products that smell strongly without stopping to think "I am afflicting this scent-pollution on everyone around me." And I can't protect people I love from the air they breathe, darn it!
All these scents are like people running around with little speakers on all the time. There would be a constant din of noise drowning out useful information and driving us mad if that were the case; the effect is the same with these scents, mingling and clashing and choking asthmatics in public places. It is simply because we depend less on our sense of scent that people don't notice... unless they're allergic. (Or, like me, notice that whiff of scent and look around to see if anyone with me needs to move to clearer air.)
I'm talking about scents. Everywhere, scents. People wearing perfume, using scented soaps and scented deodorants, washing their clothes with scents, drying them with scents, chemical, artificial scents that are inescapable.
...and becoming more so.
I personally don't have allergies. Through the lottery of genetics, I drew the lucky straws, and as yet have displayed no tendency to allergic reactions, but People I Love /do/ have allergies. Any number of them. As of now, the laundry soap my family uses has gotten a "New! Fresh clean scent!"
It drives my mother out of the house (eyes running and throat closed), so It's time to change detergents. Why, why, why? It's not fresh. It's not clean. It's nasty and heavy and cloying. I hate the smell and I'm not even allergic. Mom can't even pick out the new detergent to change to; she can't brave the cleanser isle in the store - because of the scents.
Why does everything have to /reek/ in some new chemically formulated way? Hello! More and more of us have allergies every year! And yet, more and more things are adding more possible allergens! And more and more people use products that smell strongly without stopping to think "I am afflicting this scent-pollution on everyone around me." And I can't protect people I love from the air they breathe, darn it!
All these scents are like people running around with little speakers on all the time. There would be a constant din of noise drowning out useful information and driving us mad if that were the case; the effect is the same with these scents, mingling and clashing and choking asthmatics in public places. It is simply because we depend less on our sense of scent that people don't notice... unless they're allergic. (Or, like me, notice that whiff of scent and look around to see if anyone with me needs to move to clearer air.)
