Quoted from battle dwarf

thanks san j. i will google for them becuse i already know what i can get with in 50 miles of me

Unfortunately for you, it is crucial that you actually smell the perfume on your own skin before you can know whether it is something you can wear in good health. The internet can't provide you that experience.  One thing I'd encourage you to do is request a free sample of any and every fragrance you think you might like to try.

San J,
Reading this thread reminded me of going through Fragonard in France. Those "noses"
must miss out on so many foods and spices in order to do their job!
My Grandmere could have worked for them. She could walk into your home and tell you exactly what you made for dinner the previous evening. Mais, she was also a gourmet, bien sur! I have memories of her and my mother always sniffing and wrinkling their noses around everything...extremely olfactory!  

I don't know my secretor status yet, but am guessing I'm a nonnie & I have a super sensitive nose!  I have crazy allergies & asthma & on days when one or both are acting up, I can't even wear scents that I like & have worn without incident for years!  Certain scents send me over the top.  Patchouli is the most offensive to me... immediately gives me a headache, makes me nauseous, ruins my nose for other smells as it seems to linger forever.  Occasionally, I'll walk into an aisle at the grocery store & it'll smell as if someone's bathed in it, I have to leave the aisle (and maybe the next several aisles) to get past the smell.  Ugh!!

Interesting thread.  I just learned that I am a nonnie, and my sense of smell is very heightened.  

My hubby thinks I am crazy because I can smell all kinds of things before he every notices them.

I am very sensitive to perfumes and other strong fragrances.  They usually cause a headache.  I am also aware that my liver is over loaded, this too causes reactions to strong odors.  I am in the process of cleansing the liver and gall bladder.

I love the classic Guerlains.  I love fine fragrance.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of cr@p out there, and we are constantly flooded with new releases each month of more of the same.  But there are still good fragrances, natural fragrances, and even though "good" or "pleasant" is a subjective perception, my husband who is a non-secretor with a very sensitive nose, and who really doesn't like perfume much, can always seem to tell a 'good' fragrance from a 'cheap' one.  Apparently, the aromachemicals that are used to make many perfumes now, and that often smell harsh to my nose (I'm thinking of "cashmere woods", whatever that is), are not cheap.  They are expensive, I presume because they are patented by the large fragrance manufacturers.  My hormones won't allow me to wear many of the fragrances I've enjoyed in the past, particularly scents that contain jasmine, which turns my stomach now.  But I love rose and vanilla and sweet scents lately.  I have one of Valerie Worwood's aromatherapy books.  She's great, I highly recommend her books.  I enjoy that aspect of fragrance very much, and I've been collecting a few essential oils to use.  I still enjoy commercial fragrances,  but my nonnie nose, or hormonal nose, is just a lot more selective these days.

I had to walk through the "scented cleaners" aisle of the  grocery store today, and it was awful! But I needed to get some more bon ami and matches, and  those are in the same aisle as the nasty chemical cleaners.

I wish I could find a store that sells only all natural and unscented cleaners, so I woudln't have to walk through that mushroom cloud to get the items I need. But i'm not willing to spend 10X as much on products at the HFS when the local supermarket does carry unscented products at good prices.

While filling my water bottles this morning at the nearby spring, I couldn't help smelling the cheap over scented washing detergent on some people's clothes as they arrived to do the same, with their bottles in recyclable bags & other environmentally friendly receptacles...

I couldn't help musing, as I tried not to wrinkle my sensitive nose, re the irony of some people bothering to go out of their way to collect non fluoridated/chlorinated water, & use environmentally friendly containers, while at the same time polluting theirs & other's environments (most probably eventually, this very same underground water supply we were tapping into) with their toxic & smelly scented "cleaning" products

Yes, the scented detergent aisle is headache-inducing.     Also, the scented candle places.

Yes indeed!! I cannot go to a certain place to shop due to their being a Lush shop (scented soaps etc) When I last re-visited Hobart, (trip back to Australia) after an absence of 2 yrs, I noticed they had (in our time away) opened one of these stores by its smell (even in the outdoor windy environment) before I even saw it, from a block away

There is a Chinese resteraunt here that wreaks heavily of very strong incense. There is no way I could possibly eat there. I would think they would want you to smell food to get you feeling hungry.

I think my sense of smell increases towards soaps since being on a cleaner diet.
And/or possibly while detoxing.
Rather like when I was pregnant smells of newspapers and certain things was very exaggerated and I felt very turned off.
Perhaps it is our body's warning us?

I just got my secretor profile. I am a secretor with an extremely sensitive sense of smell. I can't be around any chemical smells or smoke of any kind. No perfumes, no detergents, no shampoos, no deodorants, etc that smell or I get bad sinus headaches. Cigarette and fireplace smokes give me migraines. For example, one day I was trying on foundation makeup in a department store that was supposedly "organic" and "fragrance-free". I walked around the store a little while with it on my face to see if I should buy any or not. It didn't take long before I got very dizzy and got a bad headache. The woman who applied it removed it as soon as I returned to the counter. This has been my situation for as long as I can remember. Everything chemical that has an order makes me ill. In fact, if I hand wash something and it didn't dry fast enough and has even a slight mildew odor, I have to re-wash it. And after I wash my sheets in fragrance free gentle detergent, I have to let them air out at least a week before I can put them on the bed.

Quoted from O in Virginia

Also, the scented candle places.

truly terrible.
makes my head spin just thinking about it.

Quoted from NoMorePartyInMyMouth

I am very sensitive to perfumes and other strong fragrances.  They usually cause a headache.  I am also aware that my liver is over loaded, this too causes reactions to strong odors.  I am in the process of cleansing the liver and gall bladder.

I suspect this is what is going on with most of us, I know this is true for me.

Quoted from O in Virginia

I love the classic Guerlains.  I love fine fragrance.

Are there any high fashion houses that sell all natural perfumes without the chemicals?

I love Chanel Platinum Egoiste but don't wear it b/c it's not natural...

When I pick my husband up from work, I can always tell if he has eaten out by the cooking smells on his clothes Must be the particular oil the restaurants use - luckily it doesn't repulse me
Unlike a perfume a former colleague of his always wears...I am sure she tops up just before heading home as I have been in the bathroom after her...She has asked for a lift home twice now in last few weeks after work functions & I am the designated driver since I don't drink... Weirdly I can get drunk-feeling on her perfume, in the 15-20min drive home & that is with the window down

I grew up in a houshold where my mom smoked, as I assume most adults did at that time & it never bothered me. Smoking was all around & it was fine. Later in life, certain smoke smells bother me & others don't.
As for the perfume thing, I noticed that since my 50s, perfume really bothers me. Someone suggested it might be the synthetics & I think that must be it!
I often wake up with a cough which usually starts when I get(stand) up. I would think lying down would precipitate coughing as the congestion would flow backward.
I am sensitive to food combinations & have been 'cheating' more in that area. That makes me cough, too.
My sense of smell varies. I assume there is some congestion problem depending on what I eat. [I do avoid dairy & I can imagine how bad things would be if I ate it.] Sometimes I smell faint odors & sometimes not.

Nowadays, people bathe more & there is less bad breath. I don't think we could go back to the old days. We are more conditioned to breathe fresher air & are spoiled in that area.

As for cooking odors, I like them. They make a  home feel "homey."

Mrs T - could a varying sense of smell be linked to exposure to environmental & other toxins?! Yesterday I was in a factory that imports/packs natural bathroom products - (body lotions/soaps etc) for nearly a hour... I then came home & ate split peas & later macadamias & reacted to both...
Then this morning, while reading the paper, I could smell the potpouri I had on the table & it wasn't making me feel too good It has been there for years & I never smell it usually (well not that way anyway)

Quoted from 14922

Are there any high fashion houses that sell all natural perfumes without the chemicals?

I love Chanel Platinum Egoiste but don't wear it b/c it's not natural...

The only natural perfume that I have ever heard of is a dash of vanilla extract.  Thank you, Granny of the Beverly Hill Billies.

Extract of rose?  For those not allergic/sensitive - like my wife.

I could do a blind taste test without putting anything in my mouth. Not a blessing, though. I have to turn it down to eat. And I love food! It's just TMI sometimes. The alterations (heating, combinations, seasoning) can sometimes have "corrupting" influence that I smell long before actually tasting.

Natural things are generally OK, Not so chemicals or perversly altered compounds, like synthetic perfumes.

Quoted from Averno

Natural things are generally OK, Not so chemicals or perversely altered compounds, like synthetic perfumes.

Even though I have aired rooms, washed bed linen etc since he left on Friday, I still can't quite get the smell of a boarder's products out of my house... It is lessening but even my husband can still detect it & the pillow slips have been on the line for days & continue to smell

My husband is a nonnie and has an incredible sense of smell. I always joke and tell him it's like he's pregnant since pregnant women are supposed to have a heightened sense of smell.  I wouldn't know since I've never been pregnant.  For all I know, I could also be a nonnie - still don't know but I certainly don't have the sense of smell like he has.

I have an amazing sense of smell (and supernatural hearing too!). But I'm not sure about being a nonnie. I still haven't done the test (that's why I put "other".

   It's funny that this thread resurfaced because I was just thinking yesterday how heightened my sense of smell was after 3 days of juice fasting for my Liver Flush last night.
   I do tend to smell things when my husband doesn't.