I have a very sensitive sense of smell. In Nursing you must use all of your senses in observation and assessment of patients. The sense of sight to note color and appearance or facial expression. The sense of touch to note temperature, moisture or dryness, texture and edema. The sense of hearing for breath, bowel and heart sounds. The sense of smell for the odor of infection. Blood has a smell.
I am sensitive to scents that people wear whether mens cologne or ladies perfume. I really don’t like it when people drench themselves in scent. It can be overpowering and not in a good way.
Heavy scents are really bad for people with allergies or people sick in the hospital. I was told in Nursing School that it is not good for Nurses to wear perfume when working with patients. It can be uncomfortable for them and cause nausea.
I recently read a novel about a young girl coming of age in the South called Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal. It is set in New Orleans. I have always thought that part of the country romantic and mysterious. A place of Cajuns, zydeco, jazz, voodoo, bayou, mardi gras and the French Quarter. In the book the main character, Ibby, is taken to a perfumery by her grandmother. The owner makes up special perfumes for each client. The client gets to choose the scents that are blended together to make one unique perfume.
I do not wear perfume every day. I usually wear it when dressing up for a special occasion. I guess I think of it as something special for a special time. I like Chanel No. 5. I have had some bottles of it for several years and they have held their fragrance.
When you shop for perfume you can spray it on a small paper card to sample the various fragrances. Your nose will wear out after sampling a few. Scent overload.
Perfume scents will smell differently on different people. It has to do with our individual body chemistries. We have our natural pheromones as well. Our own natural smell that is supposed to attract us to each other.
Many smells can be appetizing. Like the smell of fresh bread, coffee and fresh soup on the stove. Yesterday the smell of the giblets cooking with onions and celery on the stove and later the stuffed turkey roasting in the oven filled the house. When the kids or my husband came in the house they said it smelled great. I remarked that I should bottle the scent and market it. I could call it Debbie’s Thanksgiving.
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush 
Reblogged this on galesmind and commented:
I am hypersensitive to many perfumes and had many good dinners ruined by some idiot that took a bath in something before coming there. If you can’t smell the food you can’t taste it. My mom wore Channel number 5 but always told me only someone very close should ever be able to smell it. Great post people should be aware of others when putting on any scent.
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Thanks Gale. I know what you mean. Our sense of smell is definitely linked to our sense of taste. Thanks for the re-blog. 🙂
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I’m sure it would smell lovely, Deborah! I, too, use perfume only for special occasions …
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Thanks Anna. I thought it would be good to spray around the house like aromatherapy. 🙂
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Lovely post and very instructive. But read at the wrong time…before dinner. I could smell your dinner from here and I’m starving.😉
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😀 Sorry about that. It does smell pretty good though. 🙂 Thanks Lucile. 🙂
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I used to love Chanel ! Have you ever smelled Cristalle by Chanel? It’s green and citrus and light and fresh. It was my favorite, how I wish I could wear perfume again.
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I don’t think I have smelled Cristalle. I do like light citrusy fragrances. I will have to check it out after the holiday season crush. Many people are sensitive to fragrances. I know if there is fragrance in face creams I usually can not wear them because I get a reaction of itchy skin. So often I buy fragrance free products.
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Interesting post, and I enjoy what you did with the SoCS prompt. I especially enjoyed the point you brought up about how a scent will smell differently depending on who’s wearing it; I love when science and biology are made so evident in our day-to-day lives like that! Reminds us that there’s more to us, working behind the scenes, than we sometimes remember… 🙂
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Thank You for you kind comment. Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
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You’re not supposed to wear scents in the restaurant business either (or use scented candles) – the smell can affect the taste of the food.
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Thanks for mentioning that Kim. I did not know that but come to think of it I have not noticed wait staff wearing scent. And that would bother me as well if I were the diner. One of the other commenters said that it bothered her so much that it did affect her taste of food when visiting other people.
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Conversely, they say that some food-based scents (vanilla, cinnamon and apple pie spices) cause people to feel relaxed and trustful.
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Yes definitely. Some scents are relaxing.
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