How can you increase fragrance sensitivity awareness?
People generally fear change. They are unlikely to break their habits of wearing fragranced products until they understand why it is a problem to many people - an easily-preventable medical problem. We hope reasonable people would react with compassion and voluntarily reduce their use of fragranced products. Research (Steinemann & Goodman, 2019) has found that people with and without asthma support fragrance-free environments.
Emotional connections, clear communication and education may take time, but will lead to a culture change with persistence and if done by enough people.
Become one of those people! Resist the pressure to be quiet, conform to the status quo and suffer needlessly from others' intrusive choices.
Here are some ways to encourage people to reduce their fragrance use:
Fragrance sensitivity could follow the same trajectory as second-hand smoke. With persistent and continuous effort by many voices backed by solid medical research, smoking habits and laws changed over the years, despite the efforts of the tobacco industry.
Start today! Let us know about your success stories.
Updated February, 2016.
People generally fear change. They are unlikely to break their habits of wearing fragranced products until they understand why it is a problem to many people - an easily-preventable medical problem. We hope reasonable people would react with compassion and voluntarily reduce their use of fragranced products. Research (Steinemann & Goodman, 2019) has found that people with and without asthma support fragrance-free environments.
Emotional connections, clear communication and education may take time, but will lead to a culture change with persistence and if done by enough people.
Become one of those people! Resist the pressure to be quiet, conform to the status quo and suffer needlessly from others' intrusive choices.
Here are some ways to encourage people to reduce their fragrance use:
- Be courageous. Speak to people who wear offending amounts of fragrance. Perhaps some thing simple like "Your fragrance is triggering my asthma/allergies/migraines," or, for people you see regularly, try "I wonder if you could reduce your use of scented products. It triggers my asthma/allergies/migraines." Other people often thank you for being brave enough to say what they are just thinking! If an overscented person balks, they will at least be aware of the problem and may have a more reasonable reaction over time. (You may want to talk to your HR office at work to see if you can be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, with a letter from your physician. Purposeful overuse of fragrances by co-workers could be considered workplace bullying, which has consequences.) You may want to use the handout and poster on main page.
- Educate yourself. Become an informed voice in promoting fragrance reduction at work, school, home and in social gatherings. For instance, a high school student, missing classes because of migraines triggered by other students' fragrances, was asked by her principal to educate the school about her fragrance sensitivity. She created posters and a research project about it. Once other students understood the problem, they reduced their fragrances.
- Request a fragrance sensitivity notice for press releases, posters, notices and emails: "Please be aware that fragranced products can trigger allergies, asthma and migraines in others attending the program." Request that groups and workplaces add this phrasing to publicity for gatherings. Going fragrance-free should be part of the etiquette of shared spaces, but a reminder helps. You might also want to ask your workplace about establishing fragrance-free zones in offices and classrooms. While tricky to enforce, notices should raise awareness of fragrance issues and can start conversations.
- Request that your workplace or school post or show the slideshow Fragrance Sensitivity Awareness. This will help people understand the medical effects of fragrances on other people. They may use less as a result.
- Suggest unscented alternatives. People may not know about easy and money-saving fragrance-free options. See the "Fragrance-free Alternatives" tab above.
Fragrance sensitivity could follow the same trajectory as second-hand smoke. With persistent and continuous effort by many voices backed by solid medical research, smoking habits and laws changed over the years, despite the efforts of the tobacco industry.
Start today! Let us know about your success stories.
Updated February, 2016.