What's That Smell?

Since I have been able to form a question this has been one of my favourites, "What's that Smell?". My parents' standard answer has become a standing joke in our family, "It's just the area Dear!"

I have a very sensitive nose. Perhaps size has something to do with it.

I can smell and keep smelling scents and odours that oftentimes Craig can't even detect. Sometimes it serves me well. Other times it is a burden not a gift.

My nostril talent has matured over the years, grown with me you might say. I can remember and identify all kinds of things by their smell. However, since Glandular Fever and CFS I have developed intolerances or allergies - whatever they may be - to a number of chemicals and with this has come an incredibly intolerant sense of smell and a few disappointments - that great summer smell that comes just before the rain that I used to love..... It's just mould sporing and getting ready to spread itself further to make life more difficult for humanity.

And some nice smells, take expensive perfumes, are no longer exquisite - they make me want to run for a bucket. For example at this very moment one of our neighbours is using some kind of perpetual device to emit a quite serious scent that they evidently think is delightful but, quite frankly, is toxic and I have to shut the windows to avoid a headache.

Once we began to try to help ourselves fight Chronic Fatigue Syndrome we went on the hunt for toxic products in our home. We had heard a talk by a woman called Eve Hillary - author of 'Children of a Toxic Harvest - An Environmental Autobiography', about her fight with chronic fatigue and a friend had given us a little card. Which I'll scan and put in this post. We went from room to room, Laundry, kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms reading labels and tossing out anything with ingredients that are known to be toxic or potentially harmful. There was nothing left! Almost all of our cleaning products and personal care products from toothpaste to carpet cleaner had to be binned.

Then we basically went as natural as we could and that included joining - to our great trepidation - a Network Marketing company or MLM as they're so cryptically called which promised and, to our relief, delivered high quality, concentrated formulas that were not toxic and didn't include any potentially harmful ingredients. At the time they had just gone online for ordering so for 5 or 6 years now we have called them "our little one-stop shop for safe stuff".

They have saved us crate loads of time and energy and we think money (because you buy highly concentrated and use little amounts of everything). Because of the way these companies work I don't think I can tell you which one in a public blog. But I'm happy to tell you more by e-mail if you contact me - I think you can do it from my profile.

Suffice it to say that once we'd weeded out all the toxic offenders in our home. My chemical sensitivities both calmed down (at home) and my nose became more and more of a toxic detective.

A newly lathered and blow dried head at the shops or church is potent. I have to take a step back to enjoy the conversation. But at home I no longer sneeze constantly, no longer have itchy & dry skin & scalp and I 'enjoy' cleaning. I enjoy the lack of "clean smell" which was so toxic. I don't have to hold my breath to clean the shower. Plus my bath/shower/sinks never have a dirty ring around them any more because the products are tallow free so things are very easy to clean.

A friend, who has done the same as us, couldn't be in the house for 4 hours after her husband had cleaned because she had such strong sensitivities but now they've gone non-toxic she cleans with him. (One could say, "What's so great about that?" But she is happy, now that her eyes don't blow up like a frog's.)