Why is everything scented?

[pinkytoe]

Rant....Finally bought a bottle of hand sanitizer as I figured it would be necessary on our road trip. I thought it would smell mostly like alcohol so tried it out while on errands this morning. OM goodness - it smells like 1960s men's hair stuff (Brylcream?) and I can't get the smell off my hands. The whole car reeked of it. No way that was going on our trip. Saw a bottle of unscented at Sprouts but it was double the price so went with one at Trader Joe's which is lemon-scented. Haven't tried it yet but hoping it too is not reeky. It just seems like everything now has a scent added and one must either hunt for or pay more for non-reeky.

[Tradd]

Guess it depends on the product. I see plenty of non-scented options for stuff.

[herbgeek]

I can find unscented personal care products, but its difficult to find cleaning products without an added scent: dishwasher detergent, all purpose cleaner, hand washing soap, all have a scent. Its hard to even find unscented garbage bags.

[sweetana3]

My Costco hand sanitizer has zero scent. Dawn dishwashing liquid blue does not have a scent. All kinds of laundry detergents are finally scent free. But they will be one in a sea of scented product so it is harder to see them. None of the garbage bags I use are scented but I have seen Glade scented ones.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I have both unscented and strong can't get it off my hands scented hand sanitizer now. The unscented I got from a restaurant while they were selling goods to the public and it only smells of alcohol.

But if one is trying to avoid chemicals, I'm not sure I'd put much more faith in "non-scented" products. Because I've read that companies at this point are adding scents to mask scents in unscented products. I don't have a ton of information on this. But if so, so much for avoiding unwanted chemicals! Suffice to say groups that rate products for safety/toxicity don't always rate unscented versions better, sometimes the unscented gets a worse rating. But that's kind of a separate issue than if scents are annoying.

[Teacher Terry]

Scented items give me a headache and asthma attack. It can be a chore to find unscented.

[Chicken lady]

I bought a bottle of 70% rubbing alcohol and screwed a spray nozzle onto it. Voila! Hand sanitizer and surface sanitizer.

i make my own plain, unscented goat milk soap.

for laundry: https://www.tru.earth/

i use it, I like it, it gets nasty barn clothes clean, and I get no discounts, kickbacks, advertising considerations or other benefits from the product or company (well, I get clean laundry, but I pay regular price for that.) also, I am not Canadian.

[frugal-one]

I can find unscented personal care products, but its difficult to find cleaning products without an added scent: dishwasher detergent, all purpose cleaner, hand washing soap, all have a scent. Its hard to even find unscented garbage bags.

For hand washing soap I take a foam pump dispenser and fill 1/4 with Dr Bronner's unscented Pure Castile Soap and the rest with water. It foams nicely and lasts for a long time. Have been doing this for years. All of the dispensers in my house are filled with this.

[iris lilies]

My Costco hand sanitizer has zero scent. Dawn dishwashing liquid blue does not have a scent. All kinds of laundry detergents are finally scent free. But they will be one in a sea of scented product so it is harder to see them. None of the garbage bags I use are scented but I have seen Glade scented ones.

Isn’t it ridiculous that garbage bags are scented? What a first world product that is!

[rosarugosa]

I get white kitchen trash bags from Costco that are unscented. They are strong and very well priced. I only need to buy a box once every year or two.
I got hand sanitizer from Trader Joe's that was supposed to be a lemon-grapefruit scent. I like both of those smells, so I thought I would like the sanitizer, but I think it is awful.
We started buying unscented laundry detergent just by chance, must have been on sale or something, because we never minded the scented stuff. After using the unscented for awhile there is no going back and now we can't stand the scented stuff.