My Mother's Perfume Cabinet

The one thing that drove my mother nuts about me was my super sense of smell. Whenever I came to visit, she would make a point of emphasising that she wasn’t wearing perfume so as not to worry. The thing is it must have been torture for her because she loved perfumes. She had a cabinet full. She was also overflowing in the cosmetic department. I mean skin creams, eye creams, hand creams, everything creams. She had sensitive skin, so she tried every brand, and every brand had an odour.

Later in life she took to buying unscented laundry detergent which was a plus for me. Did she finally realise as she got older that like me, she had an acute sense of smell? Sometimes she would mention the smell that came out of my suitcase when I unpacked, or that the room I stayed in when I visited needed airing.

What made her love perfumes, scented hand lotion and yet react to natural human odours? I’ll never know, but just the other day while researching a bit more into the effect of fragrance on our immune system I came across some interesting research.

Did you know that there is a category of people called super smellers?

People with a heightened sense of smell are not an anomaly; they are a distinct section of society with gifts and challenges just like everyone else. And did you know that out of all our senses the nose has the most direct route to the brain?

While what we see, hear, taste and touch travel through the thalamus, which filters and organises sensory information, the sense of smell goes to the olfactory bulb which has a direct line to our memory and emotion. Smell can pull up an old memory from 20 years ago and its corresponding emotion before you’re even conscious of it.

Thinking about it this way; smell is precious and supports cognition. Without our sense of smell the world can feel duller, less vibrant.

The opposite of a super smeller is someone who’s lost their sense of smell. Studies show that a prolonged loss of smell can lead to depression, memory loss and diseases, like Alzheimer’s and dementia.

But what does all this have to do with my mother, her passion for perfume and my anathema to it? Turns out quite a bit.

I haven’t done well with smells since I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2008. This was around the same time I was exposed to fiberglass chemicals being sprayed on a pool during a trip to India. At the time I thought the smell was overwhelming, I had headaches for a few days which eventually subsided. But after that I noticed my reaction to chemical smells and fragrances increased. I felt weak, shaky and faint every time someone came into a room with perfume or aftershave. Even clothes washed in Tide or dried with Downy made me feel unwell. Air fresheners in cars, a newly varnished deck, any volatile or strong smell burned my sinuses, gave me anxiety and sent me to bed for the day. Even though the filter between my nose and brain seemed to be gone and a room full of any kind of strong smell was difficult to navigate somehow, I managed. I was travelling the world teaching yoga, I had to stay in Airbnb’s and other people’s places, I was embarrassed to tell them I couldn’t cope. My family was supportive but work colleagues and acquaintances, students? You can’t insist that everyone you ever meet everywhere arrive fragrance-free.

In my early 30’s living in counterculture Byron Bay meant that we had various spiritual gurus coming through town. I enjoyed their talks but before we could enter the room, we were told not to wear any perfumes or essential oils. Apparently, these enlightened somebodies were also sensitive to smell, and the fragrances somehow affected them in unseen ways.

Years later I get it. I don’t believe it has anything to do with enlightenment though. I just think chemically induced smells are toxic, and it’s impossible to relax when the air is filled with them let alone impart words of wisdom.

So despite living with what I would say is an invisible disability for more than 15 years I’ve been pretty quiet about it. Until we found ourselves in an Airbnb during our Easter holiday and my 60th birthday which was loaded with reed diffusers. We gagged as we opened the doors. The bin was lined with lavender scented bags, the sheets were obviously washed in something like Tide and a fabric softener. The whole experience is my idea of a horror show. The pièce de résistance was when John went to put the reed diffuser back and spilled the whole thing all over him and in his eyes. We were lucky we didn’t incur a hospital visit.

As we drove off, thankfully John was okay, I thought to myself. Why isn’t there a way to find accommodation that’s fragrance-free? Is there a filter for it on Airbnb? A little sleuthing led me down a very deep rabbit hole to discover that in Australia there isn’t really anywhere safe for those of us with chemical sensitivity and fragrance intolerance to stay. And sadly that means that there are millions of people that don’t travel, don’t even leave their homes because our public spaces (yes our shopping malls, dentist and doctors offices) are pumped with fragrance. They literally put it through the airconditioning system. It’s scary!

So instead of hoping that things will change, I’ve decided to be the change and am in the throes of building a directory to support super smellers like me to find fragrance-free and low tox stays in Australia. I haven’t launched it yet, just building it and dipping my toe in the fragrance-free space but just wanted to give our readers and followers a heads up as to why I haven’t been regularly writing and sharing here…

with great respect…

Rachel