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Here’s a challenge for everyone reading this blog. Make an attempt to free your life of fragrances for thirty days. You have a couple of days to prepare and could start on September 1st and continue throughout the month.
The chemicals in the modern fragrance are harmful to many people:
* People with MCS
* People with migraines
* People with Asthma
* Developing Children - Before and After Birth
* People with COPD or other breathing disorders
* People with Emphysema
* People with Autoimmune Disorders (MS, Lupus, and others)
* People with Allergies and Sinus Headaches
* People with frequent colds or respiratory infections
* People with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ADHD
* Formerly Healthy People who’ve been exposed to too many chemicals
You could be doing a friend or neighbor a favor.
Or, you could find out that health issues, even allergies are related to the fragrances in your world. For instance, I’ve read many places that what most people call a sinus headache is really a migraine. I have a personal theory that more headaches and migraines are triggered by fragrance chemicals than anyone really knows.
Over time, your own body may have become acclimated to the fragrances it is exposed to. The actual term for this is masking. So that, having been away from fragrances for a while, you may find that your own body isn’t tolerating them as well as you thought.
Why take the Fragrance Free Thirty Day Challenge? Why Not? Why not see if you find that you feel better without the fragrance chemicals in your life? You could be helping yourself or your family. You’ll definitely be helping the environment and our water supply.
Good Question. And you’ll find it isn’t as easy as you might think.
Here’s some tips:
(See this post for some recommended products: Fragrance Free Personal Care
Fragrance Free Shampoo and Conditioner: If you can, that is. I have to go to a health food type store to get mine.
Fragrance Free Soap: I love Kiss My Face’s Olive Oil Soap. It’s ingredient list is only four items: Saponified Olive Oil, Water, Sodium Chloride, Citric Acid. Because it lacks any coloring agents, the bars from different batches come in slightly different shades of green. But, so what?
Hair Care - Mousse and Hair Spray: You’ll probably have to make a choice here. To go totally fragrance free, you may have to not use these products. Kiss My Face has an Upper Management Styling Gel. It has grapefruit oil in it, which gives it a scent - but it’s natural.
Remember - Many “brand name” products have something called a “masking fragrance” in them. They are just as bad (maybe worse) as those with an actual scent in them. It’s not really the scent but the chemicals that are the issue. Again, we get to the question of what it is they are trying to “mask” - likely even worse chemicals.
I have one warning for you on this: you will likely continue to have fragrances emitting from washed items. I’m told that it can take 20-30 washings to get the fragrances out of clothing. I don’t have much personal experience with that as I’ve used unscented laundry detergents forever. And I’ve never used “fabric softeners” or scented dryer sheets. I do know that my dad gave my husband some socks. We washed them several times and the fragrance remained. (I’ve always been baffled that men endure clothing that smells like that anyway.)
Who knows, you could be helping a neighbor without realizing it. A lot of fragrance chemical wind up in the air whenever you dry clothes that have been laundered with scented detergents or if you use scented fabric softener or dryer sheets.
For specifics on laundry, see My Laundry Recipe.
One Word: Fuhgeddaboudid.
Unless you know of a green dry cleaner (they are hard to find), then you’ll either have to not wear anything dry-cleaned, or continue to have chemicals on your body.
See these 2 posts:
Fragrance Free Household Cleaners
More Tips on Fragrance Free Household Cleaners
If you’re going to try it, please leave a comment.
If you have questions, leave a comment for those too. I’ll try to answer them.
Already Fragrance Free? Leave a note for those taking the challenge.
Pass this on to your friends or post in your own blog with this link: http://breathefreeordie.com/2007/08/28/fragrance-free-thirty-day-challenge/
Well, I haven’t sent this yet, but I plan to:
Dear Oprah,
The strangest thing happened to me at the dentist’s office last week. In the waiting room I found the September Issue of your magazine 0 - The Oprah Magazine. Seriously, the September 2007 issue, in a dentist office on August 13, 2007. Thought there was a law requiring magazines in office waiting rooms to be at least 2 years out of date.
On the front cover there was a headline that caught my eye “Do What You Love!” I flipped through to find the article. I realized I wanted to read it, but it was time for my appointment. So, on the way home I stopped to buy a copy.
It was a strange feeling wandering through the women’s mag. section of the bookstore. I used to visit it quite a bit, but rarely get there any more. Couldn’t recall why.
I found and bought your magazine. As soon as I got it home I remembered why I don’t get to that section of the bookstore anymore. It literally reeked of perfume. There were 2 ads for perfume in there. I don’t recall which ones and I wouldn’t put them up on my blog if I did. The samples were semi-sort of sealed, but not really. I really thought they had passed a law requiring them to be sealed, but I guess not.
Because of MCS, I live in a fragrance free world - at least at home. The smallest amount of fragrance will trigger a headache, at best, and at worst a killer migraine that lasts for hours or days.
So, I put the mag. in the sun for a couple of hours. Then I just let it sit for a few days. On Thursday, I flipped through while riding my stationary bike. It still reeked. No change from Monday. So, I tore out the pages I was interested in and put the rest of the mag. in the recycle bin - outside. And today, nearly a week later, those few pages still reek.
I did have to laugh at one point while looking at the magazine. There was actually a small plug for TheDailyGreen.com. It talked about green laundry techniques. I noticed it was carefully worded though. It mentioned solvents and pollutants but it stopped short of talking about any of the fragrances (aka solvents and pollutants) in your average laundry detergent. Probably has something to do with your agreement with the perfume industry, you think?
I love your television show, when I can watch it. I love what you do for people. I especially love your book club, for the simple fact that it has gotten more people to read. I even liked your magazine. But I won’t be buying it again.
Maybe one day the world will realize that we are poisoning ourselves with those chemicals. Now that would be a better world!
And I still don’t know if it was worth the cost of the magazine since I still can’t be near it long enough to read the article. Maybe I’ll ask my hubby to scan it and I can read that…
We were all taught growing up that, if we ate a balanced, healthy diet then we would not really need vitamins and other nutritional supplements. The reality of it is that this is not true at all. In fact, in the US it hasn’t been true at least as far back as 1936. The reasons - chiefly soil depletion caused by not rotating crops and dead soil caused by weed killers. The problem is made worse because most of us don’t eat a balanced, healthy diet. Processed foods are lacking in magnesium, fluoride added to water binds with magnesium making it unavailable, inefficient digestion and absorption which results from America’s addiction to antacids, plus blocked absorption caused by some foods and drugs all help to deplete magnesium. From Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D., in her book The Magnesium Miracle
the typical American diet, which is rich in fat, sugar, salt, synthetic vitamin D, phosphates, protein, and supplemented calcium, not only is deficient in magnesium but actually increases the need for magnesium in the body.
Magnesium is involved in hundreds of activities in the human body, especially in these areas: enzyme catalysis, energy production and transport, protein synthesis, nerve signal transmission and muscle relaxation. Hence, magnesium deficiency has a huge impact on how your body functions. In her book, Dr. Dean has a long list of conditions that are likely to result in magnesium deficiency. Magnesium deficiency has been implicated as contributing to symptoms for MCS, Fibromyalgia, CFS, Migraines, to name a few. I’ve also read that it functions as an anti-oxidant and can be important in detoxification.
I first learned about the importance of Magnesium from this book: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause
That was about 10 years ago, and I’ve taken Magnesium daily ever since. My experience has also made my husband a believer in the magic of magnesium. I can’t say just how much the magnesium has helped with my migraines and chemical sensitivity. But, I do know that I am healthier and feel better because of the magnesium supplements.
If you have symptoms of MCS, you may want to investigate supplemental magnesium. We’re all deficient without supplements and it can’t hurt you if you take recommended dosages.
Many times, I’ve found that someone found this blog because they were searching on “Fragrance Free Sign” or “Perfume Free Sign”. I’m happy to announce that now you can find those here! I’ve created a button, magnet or poster through CafePress. Click on on of the images below to go to my shop.
A button - I’m Fragrance Free. Please help keep my that way!
A magnet - I’m Fragrance Free. Please help keep my that way!
Or a Poster
Here’s the Text of the Poster:
Fragrance Free Zone
In consideration of those who are sensitive to the chemicals in fragrances, this area has been declared a Fragrance Free Zone.
Please refrain from wearing perfumes and colognes in this area. Also, no air fresheners.
The chemicals in these products can affect anyone at anytime causing incapacitating and even disabling illness. Who can be affected by these chemicals?
* People with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
* People with migraines
* People with Asthma
* Developing Children - Before and After Birth
* People with COPD or other breathing disorders
* People with Emphysema
* People with Autoimmune Disorders (MS, Lupus, and others)
* People with Allergies and Sinus Headaches
* People with frequent colds or respiratory infections
* People with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ADHD
* Formerly Healthy People who’ve been exposed to too many chemicals
* Even YOU!Want more information?
FragranceFreeWorld.com
My plan was to make several posters in different colors, but there’s a limit to what you can do with a basic shop.
If you like them, please let me know. I’ll be designing more products soon.
More than once, someone has found this blog by searching on Perfume Free Air Deodorizer, or similar. I’m happy to tell you that I have a report on a couple of items that fit this category.
First is something called Zeolite. I bought it from Refreshingly Free. It comes in a mesh bag and is designed to absorb odors. And it works. We keep one in the closet to which I banished all my husband’s dry cleaned clothes. It does a good job of containing those odors. We also put one bag in the same room with our kitty’s litter box. Works wonders! The bags can also be refreshed by setting them in the sun for a few hours.
The second item is something called the Wein AutoMate. I ordered mine through Amazon
No, I’m not talking about the price of your favorite perfume and cologne. I have absolutely no information on that subject.
What I’m talking about is the hidden costs that you may not have thought about.
Let’s look Susan McBride’s Lawsuit. One of the suggestions that senseless, ignorant, anonymous people on the web had for her was for her to quit her job. Suggesting she had no business in the workplace with her problems. So what happens to those who just quit working?
There are a couple of options. First, one that I’m even considering for myself, is to go on disability. As in through the SSA. Sure, sounds like an okay option, right? But guess what? The taxes that you and I pay are what funds this type of program.
Another option, out of desperation, would be Welfare. Another government program. And even though the government pays Welfare recipients; we, as taxpayers, provide the money that the government uses.
Other costs can include time off for illness. You help pay for that if the person out sick is a government employee. And likewise for their medical appointments, prescriptions, etc.
And even if the person is not a government employee, you’ll wind up paying in higher insurance premiums.
Another area where you help pay are those who get a military disability discharge because of their health problems caused by fragrances. Yep, the taxpayers pay that too.
So, when someone insists that they have a right to wear fragrances and use “air fresheners” and then complains about the taxes they pay; you may want to inform them that there’s a relation between these two.
