That stinks!
I wanted to get that line out of the way first
I was struck by a letter printed in the latest AMC Outdoors (Oct. ’07, Toxic Soup). The mention of becoming chemically sensitive and it affecting hiking – the writer stating “is problematic due to the large number of people who actually wear chemical perfumes and body care products while hiking” - hit home to me as I have found myself dealing with the same issue more and more in recent years. I know people are sensitive to different things and their body’s reaction is different also.
For me the offending scents either immediately burn in my nostrils or I begin to taste them on my tongue. If I continue exposed to something I will get sores in my mouth and have also had my throat glands swell. So obviously, I react quite quickly by trying to get away from the scent but it is not always as easy as it may seem. For example when crossing paths with someone(s) with an offending scent, it isn’t just there as you pass but it’s like walking into a cloud of it, sometimes for a long way, down the trail; or coming up behind others I can often smell them long before seeing them.
On the trail I have found that perfumes, colognes, powders, deodorants, sunscreens, bug repellants, hair products, soaps, etc., are sometimes even more problematic because of the person’s body heat. Even water repellant products and boot treatments give off odors. But not all scents are a bother to me and the heightened sense of smell is sometimes nice when you pick up odors in the wild – the only natural one so far that is bad is skunk!
My worst experience was just before starting a hike one fine day. I entered the restroom at Lincoln Woods just as several women were exiting. While inside I could hear them outside the door chatting and laughing and as I exited I was sprayed in the face with bug repellant which they were all liberally applying to themselves right in front of the door! Now while that would have probably annoyed most anyone it would have created more of a problem for me if I could not get it off my clothes – you see one time I encountered a friend whom I had not seen in a while and she gave me a big bear hug. She must have had some kind of powder on as the scent lingered on my clothes enough that I had to get out of them as soon as possible (fortunately I was nearer home than I would have been at Lincoln Woods.)
This is getting long but I am interested in whether others here are affected by scents. If not do you consider it when using scented products? If not will you consider it now?
I wanted to get that line out of the way first
I was struck by a letter printed in the latest AMC Outdoors (Oct. ’07, Toxic Soup). The mention of becoming chemically sensitive and it affecting hiking – the writer stating “is problematic due to the large number of people who actually wear chemical perfumes and body care products while hiking” - hit home to me as I have found myself dealing with the same issue more and more in recent years. I know people are sensitive to different things and their body’s reaction is different also.
For me the offending scents either immediately burn in my nostrils or I begin to taste them on my tongue. If I continue exposed to something I will get sores in my mouth and have also had my throat glands swell. So obviously, I react quite quickly by trying to get away from the scent but it is not always as easy as it may seem. For example when crossing paths with someone(s) with an offending scent, it isn’t just there as you pass but it’s like walking into a cloud of it, sometimes for a long way, down the trail; or coming up behind others I can often smell them long before seeing them.
On the trail I have found that perfumes, colognes, powders, deodorants, sunscreens, bug repellants, hair products, soaps, etc., are sometimes even more problematic because of the person’s body heat. Even water repellant products and boot treatments give off odors. But not all scents are a bother to me and the heightened sense of smell is sometimes nice when you pick up odors in the wild – the only natural one so far that is bad is skunk!
My worst experience was just before starting a hike one fine day. I entered the restroom at Lincoln Woods just as several women were exiting. While inside I could hear them outside the door chatting and laughing and as I exited I was sprayed in the face with bug repellant which they were all liberally applying to themselves right in front of the door!
Now while that would have probably annoyed most anyone it would have created more of a problem for me if I could not get it off my clothes – you see one time I encountered a friend whom I had not seen in a while and she gave me a big bear hug. She must have had some kind of powder on as the scent lingered on my clothes enough that I had to get out of them as soon as possible (fortunately I was nearer home than I would have been at Lincoln Woods.)This is getting long but I am interested in whether others here are affected by scents. If not do you consider it when using scented products? If not will you consider it now?
