SmellSick: Navigating Fragrance Allergies

Hello and welcome! If you suffer from a fragrance allergy, sensitivity, or are simply looking for alternatives to products loaded with the stuff, you’ve come to the right place.

Allergies are a downer, but life doesn’t have to be. I want to share my experiences being diagnosed with one of the most difficult allergies to maintain while providing you with alternatives to common everyday home and beauty products.

I hope to bring some light into your life with some funny stories, rants, blunders, and even product reviews that may help you or if nothing else, make you feel less alone. If I have to break out in a red, scaly, itchy, burning rash so you don’t have to, then so be it!

Throughout my quest for products that don’t trigger my allergic contact dermatitis, I found it nearly impossible to completely trust items listed as “Fragrance Free” or “Unscented”.

Searching for makeup, haircare, and cleaning products online and in stores has not been easy. If you have a fragrance allergy or sensitivity, then you know a negative reaction doesn’t always occur immediately. It can often take days or weeks for symptoms to occur, making it really hard to pinpoint the cause of your misery.

If you’re unfamiliar with fragrance allergies, you may think they only involve perfumes, body spray, or even air fresheners. Unfortunately, those items are just the tip of the iceberg.

Fragrance is in almost EVERYTHING. It’s a sneaky little devil that hides in a lot of common everyday products and items that you may not even realize, i.e. dental products, FOOD, kitty litter, lipstick, tampons and pantyliners (Yup, let’s put chemicals where the sun don’t shine), and even some pharmaceuticals!

And lucky for me, fragrance allergies never, ever go away (or so I’ve heard). They often get worse over time, so the key to a bearable life is avoidance and treatment (you’ll need a doctor for that).

Let’s share stories and help each other!