Perfidious Scents

In my new house, among the bits and bobs abandoned by the landlord in the rush to depart, were two bottles of hand soap. Each was the fashionable pump type, almost empty, and scented. My sweet W, as the child of parents plagued by allergies, loathes such products. Scent is banished, where possible, from every liquid product we buy: laundry detergent, dish soap, antibacterial liquid hand soap. We are personally unscented, too. Deodorant, antiperspirant, lotions, bath soap – all are unscented. W doesn’t wear aftershave or cologne, and while I love perfume, in deference to his preference, scent does not form a part of my daily grooming ritual.

W is not alone in eschewing scent, obviously, since unscented products are quite common. It does seem however, that America is obsessed with scented products – or rather, obsessed with the elimination or covering-up of scents deemed ‘unsuitable’. I personally don’t remember scent being such a large selling point for such household products in the recent past. I mean, when Madge touted the virtues of Palmolive, the scent was the last thing she mentioned! Air fresheners were something used by hotels to cover up the fact that other people had bodily functions. Ammonia smelled like ammonia, detergent like detergent―not lemon, violets or newly mown grass. What is new to me is the idea that EVERYTHING must smell like something other than what it is.

This is tied to many things, not the least of which is that Americans seem to spend their entire lives in hermetically sealed environments – despite a concomitant obsession with a ‘healthy’ lifestyle that includes outdoor exercises like running. It is hard to reconcile these two extremes – life spent running from sealed environment (house, car, job and back) to sealed environment, while designing into that life time spent out of doors for exercise. The natural world is filled with unavoidable scents – both pleasant and unpleasant. But the very folks who enthusiastically run their various routes through it, are the same ones who buy products designed to mask, minimize, eliminate, or re-scent their homes and other closed environments. This view is strictly my opinion, of course, but it is based on readily available evidence – television commercials. I dare you - count the number of times, in a 'normal' viewing period, where odor-control products are advertised. Better yet, the number of times some phrase like "has a pleasant -insert appropriate noun/adjective here - scent" occurs! I dare you!!

And this is where the scented soap comes in. It is “Mango Mandarin ™ Anti-Bacterial Moisturizing Hand Soap with Green Tea Extract and Shea Butter”. OK, I like mangos, and mandarin oranges, and green tea, so these aromas are not unpleasant. It lathers nicely, seems to clean well, and yes, the moisturizing is nice. But – and I fully realize that this reaction is probably an effect of my PERSONAL idiosyncrasies – every time I use it, I WANT CHOCOLATE. Specifically, I want a Terry’s Dark Chocolate Orange. Every damn time I wash my hands.

Unbearable.