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Comment by war1025 | Hacker News Reader

A few years ago, I went into one of those mall stores that sells candles, lotion, etc.

I could smell the very first candle I picked up. After that the cacophony of smells was apparently too much for me and I couldn't smell anything at all until after I left the store.

So I guess it could be that they all have coronavirus, but it seems just as likely that they've all been cooped up inside their houses with probably overly filthy air and their noses just can't take it anymore.

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It sounds to me that what you are describing is known as olfactory fatigue. A new smell will become ‘normalised’ after a few moments, and you’re unable to distinguish it any longer. That would not work in the scenario that you described since the scent of the candle would be ‘new’ in the context of the normalised home environment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_fatigue

Febreeze has created a whole marketing campaign based on this phenomenon. They use the term “nose blind”.

I wish my brain worked that way. I just get migraines when I walk into those stores. It’s really one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I hold my breath walking past Lush shops.

Sometimes I have to use the fairly fancy department store in Copenhagen (Magasin). I often walk all the way round, so I can enter in… handbags or something, I don't know, I just know it doesn't smell. The more convenient entrance is to the perfume section, which makes me gag.

I have no problem with person-quantity perfume. I found the signs in California about a "scent-free workplace" a bit strange. Some shops just have enough perfume to knock out a horse.

(Many years ago, I had a job working in a chocolate factory for the summer. I couldn't eat chocolate for the whole summer, after the 8 hour exposure every day, but it wasn't unpleasant. I bet there are food industry jobs where the smell really is unpleasant.)

If you’re into or follow alternative health people at all, you’ll probable hear one of them mention that “scents are going to be the next second hand smoke”. I have no evidence or opinion on whether that’s right or not, but I do suspect that scents are going to become another one of those culture war issues in work places soon.

Yup, I try to avoid going through perfume sections, if necessary I hold my breath and hurry. Scented candle sections are even worse, I stay far away from them.

> I'm glad I'm not the only one. I hold my breath walking past Lush shops

I routinely get sore eyes when I visit my sister-in-law, who loves scented candles. It's that or her cats, although I've never noticed a reaction to animals elsewhere.

I have had an allergy to animal dander since I was born. The strength of the reaction depends entirely on the type of animal. It has also changed as I have aged.

At this point, birds and cats are about the only animals that I cannot have in my house.

Scent allergies are also common to develop as you age. My mother used to love scented things, but hasn't been able to have them for going on 20 years.

I wouldn't rule either out, to be honest.

Cats can now be vaccinated to eliminate the antigen most people are allergic to.

It is very interesting why it works. The source of the antigen is a bacterial infection they lick onto their fur. Eliminate the infection -- really, replace it with a different one -- and no more dander problem.

> I hold my breath walking past Lush shops.

For my part, I have a positive reaction to Lush shops. Almost too positive a reaction: I want to eat all that I smell, and I have to remind myself that those are soaps, they are not edible.

I’ve had serious hay fever (allergic reaction) to a shop selling perfumes. I’ve also had the same reaction to a single person wearing too much perfume (covering up bulimia) which also ruined my day (I had to go home from work).

There must be people that get full blown anaphylactic shock.

But people get really offended when you mention anything negative about the invasiveness of their perfume or makeup!

I think I got a headache from it as well. It was really not a great experience. Can't imagine being someone that worked there.

I worked on a project with a major company that made scent related products. One of the big issues is users going “nose deaf” and no longer being able to smell the scents that they purchased and growing dissatisfied.

The official science term is smell blind.

Keep in mind that the majority of the time period in question was over the summer, so I doubt that people were particularly cooped up in their houses even if they were working from home. It would be easy to go enjoy the outdoors or even just open the windows.

In many places in the US, summer is the only time of year when going outdoors or opening windows is not tenable.

They do have chemicals that are supposed to be the equivalent of nose palate cleansers at the store.

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