Someone on the bus sat in front of me smelt of fags and chip oil

[KnackeredBike]

Had to have the "you smell" conversation with plenty of people in my time. Best way I've found is to say "I'm really sorry but I've noticed that your clothes don't smell very good." which is less personal.

People inevitably get the message or if they don't its normally because their hygiene is so poor overall they lose their job anyway. Working in food and now healthcare I think you can't accept any excuses for poor hygiene. Luckily we have really nice showers here which is invaluable when cycling.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Had to have the "you smell" conversation with plenty of people in my time. Best way I've found is to say "I'm really sorry but I've noticed that your clothes don't smell very good." which is less personal.

I like that approach. It isn't an easy discussion but it could just take the edge off the pain on both sides.

 

[Andrew_P]

Well I think I am one of the few people in this world that find fragrances just as bad if not worse! I hate how perfumed our world is turning. Plus all those people who have fubared their HE washing machines by overdosing Detergents for too long and don't know they are walking around smelling of cross between a Fabreeze\Ariel advert (where they keep on increasing it to get the "smell") and mould...

And on the subject of Fabreeze I am convinced some people are using it as a Eau de Cologne.

https://healthimpactnews.com/2014/secondhand-fragrance-contamination-a-public-health-problem/

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Well I think I am one of the few people in this world that find fragrances just as bad if not worse! I hate how perfumed our world is turning. Plus all those people who have fubared their HE washing machines by overdosing Detergents for too long and don't know they are walking around smelling of cross between a Fabreeze\Ariel advert (where they keep on increasing it to get the "smell") and mould...

And on the subject of Fabreeze I am convinced some people are using it as a Eau de Cologne.

https://healthimpactnews.com/2014/secondhand-fragrance-contamination-a-public-health-problem/

And not to mention hotel rooms and hire cars that smell of air freshener whether it is the plug-in variety or those silly arty sticks in liquid. Strong perfume and cigarette smoke flavoured clothing on someone. Yugh.

 

[Andrew_P]

And not to mention hotel rooms and hire cars that smell of air freshener whether it is the plug-in variety or those silly arty sticks in liquid. Strong perfume and cigarette smoke flavoured clothing on someone. Yugh.

Yeah and that, stayed in two Premier Inn hotels recently and all the public areas were awful. Looked around and they all had PHS auto air freshener every 10ft. Stayed in another and it didn't have any and it was luxury. Then it got me thinking what were the other two trying to mask! Walked in to a toilets in Sainsbury just as I walked in Squirt, Squirt yet another PHS timed machine. No ones poo smells of roses, and to be honest I think plain old poo is better than poo and air freshener. Air Fresheners in my experience do very little to freshen the air at all, open a window FFS

 

[Profpointy]

And not to mention hotel rooms and hire cars that smell of air freshener whether it is the plug-in variety or those silly arty sticks in liquid. Strong perfume and cigarette smoke flavoured clothing on someone. Yugh.

This with bells on ! There's quite a good restaurant locally which I can no longer go to because of their scented candles which make my eyes run and burns my nose. Ditto horrible hotel rooms searching for a plug in air freshner to chuck away and having to open the window and go out for an hour - to be honest someone's stale fag smoke and farts are less unpleasant. Bah !

 

[Andrew_P]

There is a good reason with the scented candles..... Formaldehyde. Limonene when in contact with Ozone converts partly to Formaldehyde. A known allergen, apart from not being that greater chemical to surround yourself with.

I remember this program the house with candles was scary! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35281338

 

[Profpointy]

There is a good reason with the scented candles..... Formaldehyde. Limonene when in contact with Ozone converts partly to Formaldehyde. A known allergen, apart from not being that greater chemical to surround yourself with.

I remember this program the house with candles was scary! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35281338

Not saying you're wrong, but why would there be ozone ? I think I'd recognise formaldehyde smell, but could of course have been masked by the horribke scent

 

[Andrew_P]

Not saying you're wrong, but why would there be ozone ? I think I'd recognise formaldehyde smell, but could of course have been masked by the horribke scent

Back in the laboratory, Prof Lewis analysed its reactivity, and discovered that on exposure to ozone - which is present in the air all around us - every two molecules of limonene could produce one molecule of another chemical, formaldehyde

 

[Globalti]

Ridiculous! This is the kind of bollocks that gets spread around when TV and magazines get hold of scientific stuff. All molecules get degraded by oxygen and sunlight into other molecules and there are always things floating around in the atmosphere but the amount coming from a tiny amount of limonene in an environmental product is miniscule compared with the formaldehyde you produce when you exhale of when you peel an orange and the citrus oil sprays into the atmosphere. This old chestnut does come up from time to time and all perfumes are strictly regulated by IFRA, which is ultra-cautious as you would expect. It's thanks to consumer and media paranoia and IFRA/RIFM/REACH that we are losing interesting and harmless raw materials every day and perfumes are being dumbed down. Smell any old product like Pears soap and you'll find it a shadow of its former self.

 

[Profpointy]

Back in the laboratory, Prof Lewis analysed its reactivity, and discovered that on exposure to ozone - which is present in the air all around us - every two molecules of limonene could produce one molecule of another chemical, formaldehyde

A bit of wikipediaing suggests that formaldehyde is a lot less toxic than the ozone, suggesting that the reaction you mention would improve the air by replacing very toxic ozone with less toxic formaldehyde. In any case both would be extremely low ppm

Edit: I should perhaps admit my a level Chemistry was 40 years ago so I may be totally wrong

 

[snorri]

Talking of smells, as they were on Page One.
I was disposing of some used glass the other day at the local recycling bin, as I peeped in to see if it was nearly full I got the most wonderful aroma of whisky. Must confess I hung around for another deeper intake of breath before leaving for home.

 

[classic33]

Talking of smells, as they were on Page One.
I was disposing of some used glass the other day at the local recycling bin, as I peeped in to see if it was nearly full I got the most wonderful aroma of whisky. Must confess I hung around for another deeper intake of breath before leaving for home.

Window glass?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Talking of smells, as they were on Page One.
I was disposing of some used glass the other day at the local recycling bin, as I peeped in to see if it was nearly full I got the most wonderful aroma of whisky. Must confess I hung around for another deeper intake of breath before leaving for home.

I have an appointment at that very same establishment on Saturday, albeit the local branch. I'll investigate said odour and report back. For research purposes only.