Remember personal care startup Mother Dirt, who briefly flirted with live “ammonia-oxidizing bacteria” as an alternative to soap?
https://www.fastcompany.com/90348480/how-this-bacteria-crawl...
Only half-joking: I really do think people habituate quickly to fragrances and scent norms.
I’m hygenic but I (and the people around me) really do avoid scented personal care products. I really notice when I’m in regions or settings where kids schlump around in clouds of Axe Body Spray or Summer Strawberry Juicy Whatever Mist.
Or when an older person has become so habituated to their own perfume that they’ll tell you with a straight face they’re barely wearing any. Ma’am, I literally followed your scent trail to find you.
I certainly recognize that others’ sensitivities can go the other way, and I apologize for sounding dismissive toward the distress that can cause.
And perhaps we can share a sigh over people we’ve met who like to combine a pungent personal odor along with a pungent concentration of perfume or cologne…