As we all know artificial perfumes are a feature of modern
life. Usually they pass me by without notice but I had three recent encounters
which lingered. Not in my nostrils presumably, but somewhere in my
olfactory brain which can be a powerful memory stimulus.
Encounter the first occurred while we browsed through a shop
display of rugs. After a few minutes browsing a perfumed miasma with an orange
face drifted in our direction. The Perfumed One did try to assist us in rug
inspection but somehow our questions were never quite processed into helpful
answers on his part.
It was a strange, disconnected experience, as if the three of us were lost in a London fog with no visible landmarks and nothing to guide us but
a determination to be somewhere else. We soon acted on that determination, muttered
something and made for the car park, the air of which was comparatively fresh
in spite of all those alarming stories about our killer atmosphere. In our
experience killer atmospheres are to be found inside, not outside.
Encounter the second occurred at our local swimming baths
while we watched the grandkids at their swimming lessons. The spectator area
was rather crowded and I ended up sitting next to a young mother wearing rather
too much perfume. It wasn’t an unpleasant perfume and for all I know it was horribly
expensive but there was far too much of it. Not quite eye-watering but too
much. It may even have neutralised the atmospheric chlorine. Perhaps that was a
bonus.
Encounter the third was my new shower gel. I buy cheap
shower gel and even then I wait until it is on offer, so its perfume component
isn’t the most subtle. My latest purchase has a strong lavender aroma which I
quite like but it always reminds me of furniture polish, as if I’m polishing
myself in the shower. Oh well - if I ever have dreams about life as a gateleg
table I’ll know why.
3 comments:
I remember commuting on the London underground in the early 1990s, and women suddenly started wearing really pungent, throat-catching perfumes. There were many different types that could be discerned, but a lot had the same really penetrating back-note. A chemist friend told me that it was a new aldehyde-based product. I have no idea what that means, but apparently the boffins had made a major breakthrough. I occasionally encounter it today, but it seems to have gone out of fashion. Presumably some middle-aged women are finishing off the big bottle they were bought in 1992.
As someone diagnosed with Anaphylaxis at risk from a common medical thing we have to check everything out. In the last couple of decades the fragrance chemicals and food ones in commercial products have increased in use to a huge extent. There are a lot of people out there now reacting. It is not surprising given that a lot of is derived from the research done on chemical warfare in the past. We are all now in the trenches.
Sam - there may well have been new aldehyde-based products in perfumes at that time. For example cinnamaldehyde occurs naturally but can be synthesized and has the aroma of cinnamon. Other derivatives have different odours. As you say, the heavy use of perfume seems to be unfashionable now.
Demetrius - one problem seems to be that adverse reactions occur at an individual level and are not easy to estimate. Yet anecdotal evidence suggests the problem is widespread and people are discovering for themselves that they need to avoid certain substances in food, drink and the domestic environment. For example we both react negatively to oil-based fragrances which are so popular now.
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