this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2025
28 points (100.0% liked)

WomensStuff

508 readers
143 users here now

Women only trans inclusive This is an inclusive community for all things women. Whether you're here for make up tips, feminism or just friendly chit chat, we've got you covered.

Rules…

  1. Women only… trans women are women, and transphobic or gender critical talk isn’t allowed. Anyone under the trans umbrella (e.g. non-binary, bigender, agender) is free to decide whether a women's community is a good fit for them.
  2. Don’t be a dick. No personal attacks, no aggression, play nice.
  3. Don’t hate on groups, hatefilled talk about groups is not allowed. Ever.
  4. No governmental politics, so no talk of Trump actions etc. We recommend Feminism@beehaw.org for that, but here is an escape from it.
  5. New accounts or users with few comments may have their posts removed to prevent spam and bad-faith participation.

founded 4 months ago
MODERATORS
top 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

I' ve never been inclined to buy perfume even though I enjoy a good scent from time to time, I want my get ready routine with the least steps possible.

[–] DawnOfTime@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yup, i am very scent perceptive and I find it to be essential to an identity so I like having a peculiar perfume that people will remember me buy (although i could not buy one until recently)

My current one is a fairly androgynous scent, with amber and salty notes.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 days ago

Absolutely not. I like my air as clean as possible, with as few volatiles and particulates in it as possible.

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 2 days ago (5 children)

I'm allergic to the petroleum products found in perfumes. Whenever someone is in my vicinity wearing heavy perfurme, I start sneezing and I get headaches.

Also, it's like tobacco: if you're into perfumes, what gives you the right to pollute the air I breathe?

Inflicting your choice of artificial scents on others is super-rude. Fuck people who wear perfumes.

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

My work building is 100% scent free thanks to someone like you. Prime example of how a place making accessibility adjustments helps everyone, IMO. I'm not actually allergic, I just don't want to smell that shit.

[–] klemptor@startrek.website 8 points 2 days ago

That's a little harsh. Smoking projects the exhaled smoke from the body and into the air around them. But perfume is sprayed on the wearer, not into a public environment. There are definitely people who wear too much perfume, which I agree is really rude, but if you're wearing perfume properly the scent shouldn't project past your personal space.

Soo wish I could tell people that it's meant to be discovered, not announced. Like, Sir/madam, that stuff is so loud that it's smell-able from across the room. My nose doesn't need to know you exist unless we've been married for 2 years

This is the main reason why I don't wear scents anymore. You never know when you'll run into someone who has an allergy. I used to work with someone who would get migraines from any strong cologne, and she couldn't just leave the bar if a customer came in drenched in the stuff. Seems crazy to just expect you guys to deal with that because some people NEED to smell like something fake. Honestly kinda surprised at all the comments in this thread in support of perfuming.

[–] ZDL@lazysoci.al 1 points 1 day ago

That parallel to tobacco is one of the reasons I gave up on most scented products. (The final reason is that most scented products cause huge skin dryness and itching issues for me it turns out.)

That parallel to tobacco is also why I hate advertising. Which is ironic considering I work in marketing.

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

No. I've gotten rashes from even stuff that's unscented, so that's right out.

[–] iii@mander.xyz 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Samesies. I even avoid regular soap, and use the washing products they sell for babies.

[–] ZDL@lazysoci.al 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

A lot of "regular soap" still has additives.

As a final experiment try something like traditional Aleppo soap whose ingredients are typically:

  1. olive oil;
  2. laurel oil;
  3. water;
  4. lye (typically extracted from plant ashes); and
  5. nothing else.

This is then aged for years (I use 3-year aged, but you can find stuff that's aged 10 years or more) which makes it even more mellow. The final result is a soap that is as gentle as it is possible to have an actual soap.

If that still gives you rashes, then yes, give up on soap forever because you can't get anything less reactive. If not, however, I find that it's one of the finest personal cleaning products I've ever used. (I use it for washing my hair, even, because the gentlest and most expensive of shampoos still cause that itchy, tiny-flake dandruff problem for me. Something about lauryl sulfates just don't get along with my skin.)

[–] oftheair@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Not usually, we like smelling as neutral as possible and find most perfumes and body sprays etc not very nice to our olfactory, we do use deodrant but that about it. Though we do have some rub on perfume which we put a little of on sometimes, but not often.

Plus we like body odor smell on others, heh, so we always wonder if others might like it on us too.

[–] Pipster@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 days ago

I don't really go in on proper perfume much but I do enjoy a quick body mist spritz, I normally have a small bottle in my bag if I want to refresh it. I do find some body mists can be a bit aggressively fruity like walking into Claire's Accessories circa 2004, I mostly like stuff thats a bit vanilla mixed with some floral notes. At the moment I'm using Impulse's Purple Petals + Smoky Sky, which is a fairly heavy floral one which they claim is "jasmine and white gardenia blended with a hint of fresh nectarine", I found it in Sainsburys. Thankfully they are super affordable compared to perfume so whilst there might not be a tester it doesn't hurt the bank if you don't like it.

I used to wear it every day, but I found it didn't last long and I just didn't see the point. People weren't close enough to smell me! I have body spray at work incase I get sweaty but that's it

[–] razorcandy@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 days ago

I have a few perfumes that I occasionally wear, two sprays before I leave the house. I’m a fan of sweet and fruity scents that are not too artificial or overpowering.

[–] ZDL@lazysoci.al 5 points 2 days ago

I avoid scented products mostly. (Sometimes I'll take naturally floral-scented soap, but not often.)

So I mostly use Aleppo soap or a Xinjiang goat milk soap. As a deodorant I use alum powder dissolved into water in a spray bottle.

[–] Rose_Thorne@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago

Yes, but I'm pretty picky. I generally go with Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs perfume oils, when I can. They're usually on the lighter side, the scents shift as they age, and also in reaction to your own natural oils which can bring notes out stronger, or even change some completely.

Also helps that a bottle lasts me literal years as you can use a very light amount for a full day.

[–] apotheotic@beehaw.org 5 points 2 days ago

I use all natural deodorants from a company I'll leave in a spoiler tag so it doesn't come across like shilling

companySalt of the Earth

Its much less harsh on the nose than a lot of perfumes, which I find give me coughing/sneezing fits and headaches, but it still smells very pretty and its a nice treat for anyone I allow close enough to smell it

Occasionally I'll use a tiny amount of a "normal" perfume if I'm going on a date or something, but again its only enough to be really smelt by someone in my personal space

I like smelling as pretty as I look!

I used to in the past but I feel like lately it’s not as much. I use lotion a lot more since my skin tends to get dry a lot.

[–] HowlsSophie@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I have a few fragrance oils but rarely use them, usually because I forget. I love spicy and sweet scents, currently have chai spice and a honey floral.

[–] klemptor@startrek.website 3 points 2 days ago

Yup! I love fragrance and I switch it up every day. I don't just wear the same scent over and over because I'm afraid of going nose-blind to it and becoming one of those people who uses way too much without realizing it. And also because I like variety! I look forward to choosing the day's fragrance based on my mood and plans.

I lean toward fruity, gourmand, and spicy scents with a little sweetness, but not too sweet - I don't want to smell like dessert - and I prefer complex fragrances over more straightforward ones.

I will say, I'm mostly not nuts about body sprays. Some are fine but a lot of them smell kind of sharp/acrid to me, probably due to a higher alcohol content in the formula. I like a more mellow fragrance.

For anyone who's interested, there's a new community for fragrances at https://sh.itjust.works/c/perfumes

[–] YarrMatey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago

I like hair mists, they aren't as powerful and can be smelled in close spaces. I do like perfumes but usually can't stand a perfume store, it gives me headaches. I'm not a fan of BO but I sweat a lot, so I have been using a combo of alum crystal + aluminum chloride for underarms (no fragrances) and anti-chafing deodorant lotion for underboobs. I don't think I smell anymore unless I'm exercising.

[–] knightly@pawb.social 2 points 2 days ago

I'm a highly scent-oriented person and my short answer is "it depends"~. I do often enjoy people's natural odors, including my own, but I might wear a perfume if I want to make a specific impression.

I have like 6 kinds of deoderant/antiperspirant on hand but my go-to if I'm not going out is an unscented probiotic deoderant from a local apothecary that actually works rather well. I'm not sure what sort of benign microbiota it uses but they do a good job of crowding out the bad B.O. bacteria for a couple of days at a time and the organic oils employed as a carrier have an entirely neutral scent.

My go-to scents for casual wear are sandalwood and a floral, usually rose, with some hints of burbon and vanilla from my shaving cream.

One of my remote partners often wears dragonsblood and gifted me a vial that I sometimes wear when I'm feeling especially fond of them.

I don't often go out, but when I do it's usually in the company of other furries, and there's a furry perfumery that makes some scents tailored for our particular tastes. My favorite one is an outdoorsy enby blend, combining masculine and feminine musks with rustic woods, dirt, and wildflowers.