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Fragrance-free?

post #1 of 26
2/2/13 at 2:08pm
Thread Starter 
Relative newbie here but sometime lurker, and this might seem like a strange place to ask this question, but I'm interested.

Claude Debussy, in an essay called M. Cloche, the dilettante-hater, reckons that some days you just shouldn't have to put up with music. Does anybody feel the same about perfume?

I ask for two reasons. Firstly, because, while I'm getting more and more obsessive about smells, I'm personally sometimes a bit ambiguous about whether I want to be wearing them. It took me a long time, and quite a fair few rows with an ex-girlfriend, to come around to perfumes - being dragged into high-street stores in France in the 90s and force-testing a confusing array of 90s aqueous, unisex, uni-innoffensive smells, before the same ex-girfriend, in an inspired moment, just gave me a bottle Guerlain Vetiver. The rest is history.

Secondly, it's winter. Winter means jumpers. Jumpers, if they're lucky, get washed once a year. Changing your perfume daily with wool around really does not work. I can now smell three different scents and am getting a headache.

So, I realise many people here are getting towards scent fanatics, but do you ever just... give it a rest? Take a day off? Just interested.

Giving my sweater a rest today.
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post #2 of 26
2/2/13 at 2:29pm
Even if fragrance gets on your jumper (Americans say "sweater") it evaporates in a few days. I have had a sweater in my closet for 4 or 5 days and if I put my nose close, I could smell the last fragrance I wore, but it wasn't strong. Some days I do without fragrances, but only occasionally as I have a love of different scents and like to catch a whiff throughout the day. My "rest" often is when I put a light scent on in the morning, and by afternoon I don't smell it anymore. The rest of the day may be "scent free" unless I chose something else.
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post #3 of 26
2/2/13 at 2:37pm
I very rarely go scent-free, perhaps only when I'm sick. However I don't always want to wear something strong like Montale, TF Private Belnd, Nasomatto so I have scents like Mugler Cologne, Prada Infusion for times like that.
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post #4 of 26
2/2/13 at 2:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlHamr View Post

Claude Debussy, in an essay called M. Cloche, the dilettante-hater, reckons that some days you just shouldn't have to put up with music. Does anybody feel the same about perfume?

I personally don't.
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post #5 of 26
2/2/13 at 3:02pm
Only when I haven't time in the morning or feel a bit sick (I have a bit of a weak stomach) will I not wear fragrances. On more rare occasions, I'll take a day or two off because it's nice for a change.
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post #6 of 26
2/2/13 at 3:31pm
If I've been wearing a lot of different scents I can sometimes just get plain sick of it all and go without for a few days. Or stick with a single fragrance for an extended period of time.

I can't wear clothes that smell different than my SOTD. It annoys me to no end.
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post #7 of 26
2/2/13 at 3:34pm
AlHamr,
You made an important distinction: Being interested in scents as opposed to wearing them.
I happen to be interested in both. Very, very rarely I go without a scent. I don't know perhaps if there's a respiratory illness, cough, or a stomach ailment. Other than that, I like to smell something on me and around me all day. This includes home fragrances of all sorts.
I never put fragrances on my clothes. I enjoy them on my skin and what little transfers, evaporates pretty quickly or gets covered by the next one. I've never had a problem with that.
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post #8 of 26
2/2/13 at 4:20pm
during the summer time i give my nose complete rest for a month or so....dont wear any perfume...especially when on vacation...then use it only in the evenings if at all..and am not so crazy about them... then when i come home my perfume collection feels so good like i dont need to add anything else, and have enough ...until the winter comes! and darkness...i noticed the connection between lack of sun and craving for perfumes!
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post #9 of 26
2/2/13 at 6:17pm
I have been lately. I don't know what it is, I've been feeling kind of blah and oversensitive about scents lately.
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post #10 of 26
2/2/13 at 6:32pm
I do feel like I've gotten to a scent overload point every once in a while and have to go a day or two without wearing anything. It kind of helps my nose to "reset" itself. By the time a day or two goes by without wearing a scent, I'm usually yearning to wear on e of my favorites and the obsession takes over for a few more months. Maybe that sounds weird, but that's how it is for me.
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post #11 of 26
2/2/13 at 7:50pm
Nothing wrong with that. I go scent free about 1 day every two weeks. Helps me to appreciate my fragrances even more the next time I wear one.
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post #12 of 26
2/3/13 at 12:06am
Never contemplated it - even if I am ill fragrance can often have a therapeutic effect.
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post #13 of 26
2/3/13 at 12:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Izzie View Post

If I've been wearing a lot of different scents I can sometimes just get plain sick of it all and go without for a few days. Or stick with a single fragrance for an extended period of time.

I can't wear clothes that smell different than my SOTD. It annoys me to no end.

That's pretty much exactly my position.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by jbthorpe View Post

I do feel like I've gotten to a scent overload point every once in a while and have to go a day or two without wearing anything. It kind of helps my nose to "reset" itself. By the time a day or two goes by without wearing a scent, I'm usually yearning to wear on e of my favorites and the obsession takes over for a few more months. Maybe that sounds weird, but that's how it is for me.

I agree. But the point of the Debussy essay if I remember correctly (I no longer have it) is that you can get too much of a good thing and sometimes it's good to hear what's going on around you. Equally, sometimes it's good to smell what's going on around you - people, grass, flowers, rain, house fires - that kind of thing.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaelee View Post

I have been lately. I don't know what it is, I've been feeling kind of blah and oversensitive about scents lately.

Without wanting to get too personal, are you sure you sure you shouldn't go and have some erm... medical tests?

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Re the jumper thing - it really is amazing how long some scents can last and the affinity wool has for them - especially their synthetic elements. I don't spray on clothing but wool just soaks it up from skin like a sponge. It puts me off some very nice perfumes when their not so nice tail end ends up welded to your favourite winter jersey (I'm looking at you Encre Noire).
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post #14 of 26
2/3/13 at 1:02am
If I ever go fragrance free then it's because I know I'll be in very close quarters with a bunch of people that I don't know. Then again Acqua Di Gio is perfect for times like this

To me, every day is a new opportunity to match a scent with my mood.
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post #15 of 26
2/3/13 at 8:09am
I don't wear fragrance at work because I have to use my sense of smell as an assessment tool. When I come home after a hard day of smelling some truly hideous odors my fragrance collection is better than a few stiff drinks.
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post #16 of 26
2/3/13 at 8:20am
Yeah, I own a lot of fragrances but I don't wear fragrance everyday.

I say probably half of the time I don't wear anything.

I spray something on when I feel like it but I dont have the compulsion to have a scent 24/7
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post #17 of 26
2/3/13 at 8:32am
I go without fragrance at least one day a week. Mostly because I've forgotten to wear any.

I do deliberately stay scent free for a few hours after an evening bath. Helps to reset and have a think about what I want to wear that evening and overnight.
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post #18 of 26
2/3/13 at 8:59am
I appreciate your original point. Fortunately, scents seem to be less intrusive, in a way, than sound. At the level I wear fragrance, I can smell it initially after application, and then the occasional waft as the hours go by or if I take a whiff of an application point. Therefore, despite the presence of fragrance, I can still smell all sorts of other aromas in my environment just fine. The constant presence of music can clearly distract from or blot out distinct sounds that are occurring nearby.
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post #19 of 26
2/3/13 at 9:00am
I only go fragrance-free in times of extreme sickness (when the slightest odorous influence can cause nausea and/or worsen both my physical and emotional state), in traditionally and/or legally imposed fragrance-free environments, during times of immense professional stress, but other than that, I quite frequently wear fragrances on any given occasion or without any particular occasion.
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post #20 of 26
2/3/13 at 10:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlHamr View Post

Without wanting to get too personal, are you sure you sure you shouldn't go and have some erm... medical tests?

Oh no, not THAT kind of blah. It's just that, when I think of my normal perfume collection, I get this feeling like Get. That. Stuff. Away. From. Me. Now. And I'm more prone to getting headaches/etc when I DO try to wear one.
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post #21 of 26
2/3/13 at 6:02pm
Everyone's different. To me, fragrance is part of my daily personage, no different than putting on a shirt or combing my hair in the morning. Very rarely do I have a day that I don't take a shower or wear pants. Last time that happened, I got sent home from work.
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post #22 of 26
2/3/13 at 6:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by docluv45 View Post

Fortunately, scents seem to be less intrusive, in a way, than sound. At the level I wear fragrance, I can smell it initially after application, and then the occasional waft as the hours go by or if I take a whiff of an application point. Therefore, despite the presence of fragrance, I can still smell all sorts of other aromas in my environment just fine. The constant presence of music can clearly distract from or blot out distinct sounds that are occurring nearby.

I feel the same way, 100%.

It was great to read that Debussy quote. I'm a musician, and sometimes I feel the same way: I just can't deal with hearing more music. I want to *not* hear music for a while.

But so far -- and I haven't been interested in fragrance for that long -- so far I haven't experienced that feeling with fragrance. So far I'm interested every morning in figuring out what to enjoy smelling throughout the day.

Great topic, AlHamr!
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post #23 of 26
2/3/13 at 6:49pm
I usually wear fragrance to work, but often won't on the weekend around my wife and child or even occasionally on a week day. I don't usually wear scent when I visit a hospital. If I'm going to be outdoors in nature I'll often avoid wearing scent so I can tune into the smells of nature. On those occasions it annoys me if I can smell some residual perfume on a sweater or other item of clothing.

I enjoy scent, but I only recently moved from being one of those people who can't stand perfume to appreciating it. I find scent does cling to my sweaters (LIDGE you tenacious bastard), and if I don't air it the scent remains, but it is usually overpowered by my scent of the day.

I listen to music every day, and my spending on hi-fi and music far outstrips my spending on scent, although I don't want a soundtrack to all of my daily activities. I occasionally would like my theme music to play from nowhere when I enter a room, in a way that I'd never want my sillage to announce my presence.
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post #24 of 26
2/6/13 at 1:20am
Thread Starter 
Well, you'll be pleased to know I'm off the wagon again. But and I do HATE it when I'm wearing one scent and can smell one or any number of others on my woollens! Still haven't found a solution to that one.

Thanks for all your replies!
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post #25 of 26
2/7/13 at 3:28pm
only time I go without a scent is when I am really hungover and have early work.
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post #26 of 26
2/8/13 at 5:12pm
I work in an officially scent-free environment, although everyone seems to be breaking the rule. I smell dozens of applied fragrances, many different laundry soaps and softeners, hand lotions, hair care products, deodorants, antiseptic salves, and--if you'll forgive me, ladies--I know exactly what time of the month it is for each of you, and when that no longer applies. I know when people last visited the toilet to read a book. In other words, I smell it all, and can't get away from it. There is no fragrance-free moment for me.

When I began experimenting with fragrance, certain colleagues complained. Okay, fine, I thought, I'll go all natural. It just so happens that I have a wonderfully masculine, musky, simply gorgeous natural body odour which projects. That's my fragrance-free fragrance, and, after wearing the same undershirt for several days, it's truly unsettling to anyone affected by the power of testosterone. When the aforementioned colleagues are absent from my department, then I play with my small collection to the delight of those who do not complain. No one yet has complained when I smell unabashedly, ferociously male. It's what nature has given us, hide it though we often try...
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