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Scented products cause indoor air pollution on par with car exhaust

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371 points clumsysmurf | 4 comments | 19 Feb 25 23:53 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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seabass-labrax ◴[20 Feb 25 01:13 UTC] No.43109936[source]▶
I fully support research like this, because it's always good to get proper data about phenomena. However, I can't help feeling that the results are unsurprising: how could you smell the scented candles if they weren't producing nanoparticles? Surely the existence or abundance of these nanoparticles was never in question?
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protocolture ◴[20 Feb 25 01:37 UTC] No.43110090[source]▶
This was my initial thought too. Like if I grow a bunch of nice smelling flowers, and crack open a window during the spring. Am I worse or better off than purchasing a scented candle.

Should we as a species stop nice smelling things entirely.

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terribleperson ◴[20 Feb 25 07:18 UTC] No.43111983[source]▶
No, but I wouldn't complain if we stopped scenting every damn cleaning and hygiene product. Please, no scented hand soap, or laundry detergent, or especially dish detergent. I'm not gonna complain if people want scented conditioner, but you probably don't need scented shampoo if you're going to condition anyways.

Intuitively I'd guess the scented candle is worse than the flowers. I doubt soot and vaporized wax are good for you.

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1. Lanolderen ◴[20 Feb 25 08:27 UTC] No.43112370[source]▶
Both exist tbh. My more medicinal shampoos smell of nothing or bad (assuming because of the active contents and not to smell more medicinal). Sensitive shampoo/detergents seem to be very lightly scented. Kinda just enough to where you can check if your kid washed their hands by smelling them but it doesn't release a citrus bomb around the sink.
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2. HPsquared ◴[20 Feb 25 08:36 UTC] No.43112447[source]▶
The scent thing can be useful for a forgetful person wondering "did I wash my hands recently?"
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3. Lanolderen ◴[20 Feb 25 08:56 UTC] No.43112558[source]▶
When we were little my dad used to check our hands before eating by smelling them, that's why I mentioned it. In retrospective it seems like a great feature since he didn't have to watch us do it and could with time start doing only occasional checks to see if we'll start slipping until we got the habit.
4. alabastervlog ◴[20 Feb 25 14:11 UTC] No.43114834[source]▶
Lots of products smell bad if they're truly unscented. "Unscented" is an effect that is often achieved with... scent. So, still putting stuff in the air for you to smell, but to counter other odors so it smells neutral to you.