Sense and ‘Scentsitivity’: Is there a case for a fragrance-free world?

As we spend more time indoors, many health authorities are advocating for fragrance-free products.

Eloisa Reyes started making perfume-free soap to fulfill a need of her own.

She noticed the scented detergent she used for her sheets was giving her an allergy. So she went fragrance-free.

“I was able to go to bed without feeling suffocated, without coughing I wasn’t sneezing, I wasn’t having headaches,” said Reyes, the owner of Saponi soaps.

When she started selling her all natural, botanical soap, she didn’t expect to capture a big slice of the scent-free market, but sales unexpectedly exploded.

“It’s been amazing, I had no idea so many people had sensitivities,” Reyes said.

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Reyes and her customers are part of an estimated 30 per cent of Canadians who report being irritated by scents, according to Asthma Canada data.

The Canadian Lung Association says perfume can create reactions ranging from migraines to skin rashes, difficulty breathing and in some cases, worsen asthma symptoms.

As workers return to the office, the question of going perfume and scent-free lingers in the air.

“If you think back 20-30 years ago, people didn’t think much of smoking indoors, in restaurants, in malls and airplanes and so forth, but now, people won’t imagine doing that,” said Jeffrey Beach, President and CEO of Asthma Canada. “I think we have to get to that place with sensitivities.”

Beach says it’s not a matter of liking smells or not, it’s a matter of respect for others’ health.

Perfume can contain hundreds of chemicals.

Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, says that while no studies have been conducted so far that show that perfume used in normal amounts can create significant health hazards such as cancer, there is a case for a scent-free environment.

“Because it’s in the air, together with everything else,” Schwarcz said. “We don’t know all of the reactions that occur, when you put two chemicals together, it’s hard enough to find out what they can do. When you have thousands out there, you don’t know all the interactions that can occur.”

For those who do suffer from respiratory issues like Reyes, fragrance-free is a gift that makes “scentse”.