The Devil’s Fragrance

There has been a time when people used to add lemon juice to bathing water, to avoid body odor and sweat stains. Lately, it seems like a century old custom. These days, production and use of perfumes and scented cosmetics and toiletries skyrocketed. People cannot think of stepping out their houses without a dab of perfume or scent in their body. Whoever doesn’t use is looked down and kept an inch away. Body odor surely is  intolerable  but have you ever thought of the ones who cannot tolerate the suffocating fragrance that permeates the air through your body?

Perfumes are mainly made of petroleum products. The chemicals which evaporate into the air, called Volatile Organic Compounds are main contribution to air pollution these days.

I used to wonder why I felt breathless when someone who literally bathes in perfume comes near me. Now I realize that it is because I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). But I am not a perfume lover. Then how did this happen? The same way a non-smoker gets affected with tobacco smoke. The secondary inhalation of the harmful chemicals permeated from the body of other scented bodies, is as harmful as secondary smoking.

If we adults are affected with these toxic chemicals, what would be the effect on our children? Being a mother, I cannot skip the concern about how pollution affects children. A child who is pampered and carried by a mother who drenches in perfume is more affected than the mother herself is. The toxic chemicals in perfumes can easily penetrate the ‘blood-brain barrier’, and cause serious brain disorders.

One of the main harmful chemicals found in perfumes is Toluene (Methyl Benzene). Continous exposure to this chemical can cause skin, nose and throat irritation to head ache, brain damage and even death. This will also reduce blood count, and damage liver and kidney.

Another chemical is Cyclohexanol, which might have a tranquilizing effect on your brain.
This is not it. Other toxic ingredients include Acetaldehyde, Acetonirtrile, limonene, benzyl alcohol, a-terpinene,acetone, dimethyl sulphate, methylene chloride etc.

Many know the damage that the perfumes cause to the ozone layer but do we care?

Do you dare say good bye to these devils in disguise? Not just for you and your children but also for the generations to come?