Taking a Break From Wearing Fragrances.

Only recently I have found out through websites like Basenotes that the majority of people are getting along with smelling fragrances on themselves for ~8 hours whilst only using 2-3 sprays, for the fragrances I own anyway.

Up until recently I was using far too many sprays on myself, and all on my neck too. I've tried the 2 sprays on your chest or 1 on the back of the head or 2 to the arm, back of the knees, you name the combination I've tried it, but my nose is not picking up these scents like others can.

I've recently been to see my doctor who dismissed any notion that anything other than a dangerous amount of fragrance wearing would be able to damage olfactory nerves, and also that my recent facial injury (top of my nose to be precise) was not serious enough to cause damage to my sense of smell either.

What she did recommend though is that I take a 2-3 month break from wearing fragrances if I had olfactory fatigue. I do wear fragrances every day and have done so for at least 2 years now, bear in mind some days/nights I was naively using 10+ sprays of the heavyweights and I probably went through as many frags as most people do in 4 years.

Has anyone here ever gone without fragrances for a couple of months and come back with a better sense of smell? I've never been able to smell my frags on me for 8 hours unless I reapply during the day and I really want to able to just use 2/3 sprays to achieve the same effect and maybe my doctor's advice would be beneficial.

Wow I see. Did you stop as a result of using too much fragrance? I don't think I've ever gone 20+ but a couple of nights I have used 10+ of 1 Million and wondered why I wasn't projecting when in actual fact I was probably killing all known life around me.


Thank you for your advice, I think I am going to leave myself fragrance free until I'm back home for Christmas at least and see how that works out for me.

I really am disappointed in myself for using and wasting that amount of fragrance, although my doctor didn't seem worried at all about my fragrance issue I would really hate for my sense of smell to be irreversibly damaged in any way.


I tried that last night with Spicebomb, I sprayed it once on my chest without breathing in and blew on it although I didn't leave the room. This was right before bed and when I woke up 6 hours later the results were mixed, although I couldn't smell anything initially if I rubbed my chest a bit I got a tiny waft of the leather and tobacco drydown.


I thought this too considering my obsession with fragrance has led me to wearing and testing all manner of fragrances day after day for a couple of years now.

I'll definitely take your advice when I return to my fragrances, I guess as soon as I heard about the majority of people only applying a few sprays I expected immediate results too and when I didn't I got frustrated at myself


Interesting that someone else feels my olfactory pain! I've wondered over the past few weeks that perhaps you can 'train' your nose to pick up more middle and basenotes. I've been trying to use my nose a lot more in every day life, when I'm out and about, at work, at the park, to try and distinguish the natural smells we maybe overlook everyday.


I really want to believe in less is more, that's my motivation behind all this! I would love to one day be able to have fragrances waft after 8 hours with 2 or 3 sprays!

Funnily enough I have looked into Neti Pot's. They seem like a great idea if you have bad sinuses and constant blocked nose but I don't really think that's my problem.

Knowing me though I've tried loads of solutions that people have posted on here for olfactory fatigue so if I still can't smell very well with minimal sprays after my break then I'll give it a go!


I don't think I have either until today, maybe on days where I'm feeling quite ill.

Thank you for this response treeman, it really made me think a lot.

I've been researching olfactory fatigue on this forum, other fragrance forums and even medical papers for a couple of weeks now. I've tried all the tricks of the trade, smelling coffee, wearing various different unscented moisturisers, using literally dozens and dozens of low usage spraying techniques whether that be amount of sprays, places on the body, distance of sprays and I just cannot understand why my nose is not picking up any hint of what I use after an hour or two. Naturally as a fragrance lover it's got me worried that my nose isn't functioning normally.

Don't get me wrong as soon as I smell something not pleasant like burning or rubbish my olfactory fatigue thankfully kicks in with no problems at all, its just I look back and in hindsight my constant exposure to excessive spraying of fragrances when I was younger was not a very clever thing to do and I often think if it has hindered my chances of ever being able to experience what the majority of fragrance lovers can experience on a day to day basis with their normal spraying techniques.

I also watch a lot of YouTube reviewers who preach about the 1 on the chest/2 on the neck/2 on the arms etc way of spraying and I take it they very rarely rest their nose OR get olfactory fatigue. I wish my nose was like theirs!


Yes diet seems to be important, luckily enough I keep my diet quite clean and I exercise or train for around an hour at least 5 times a week.

I've never thought about using unscented shower gels before, perhaps I'll give that a go with my unscented moisturiser.

Keeping my fragrances in a daily rotation is something I've done for a long time now, unfortunately I can't smell any of them past the 1 hour mark it seems!

Funny enough you should mention a neti pot!

A bit of an update, I took a week off wearing fragrances, spent a lot more time outdoors trying to use my nose to pick up scents I would otherwise be oblivious too, kept eating clean and exercising regularly.

But I think the one game changer was the neti pot I ordered. I looked at it initially and was skeptical whether I wanted to shove salty water up my sinuses, but when I completed it first time it was a surreal feeling. All too often I get a bunged up nose at this time of the year and my family does have a history of sinus related pains and infections, the neti pot definitely cleared something up my nose!

Now I'm getting better longevity/silage than I ever have done before, for example I used two sprays of Allure Homme and was catching wafts of it 6 hours later, which is great for my nose. I'm thinking I'm going to have to solve my dry skin problem if I want to make my fragrances last a little longer.


You must either never suffer olfactory fatigue or be lucky enough to be able to buy fragrances all the time!

Yes, I always make that I boil the water first regardless.

I agree with the point about spraying under your shirt, this is the only place I spray now, as my body warms up during the day I can smell it more regularly.