A lot of diners are perfume-phobic, including Chowhounds, as you can see on this discussion and this one. Michael Bauer, the San Francisco Chronicle’s restaurant critic, has actually gone so far as to suggest banning perfume in restaurants.

Smell, of course, is intimately connected to taste. Randi Leehan, wine buyer and general manager at LA wine bar BottleRock, says that even soaps and detergents can compromise the ability to appreciate a wine. “I need to cleanse my nose like you cleanse your palate—just walk outside and take a breath of fresh air before I can taste the wine. … Musk is the worst because it stays with you the longest and it’s so strong.”

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What is a ‘Fragrance Free’ Zone ?

Fragrance Free zones and buildings are areas where people are prohibited from wearing or using any product that contains a scent. The list of banned items includes cologne, aftershave, air fresheners, incense, and anything else designed to produce an odor, even if the odor the product produces is marketed as a ‘good’ one. Also banned are a wide range of products whose primary purpose is not to produce a scent but that are sold in scented versions. Examples of such items include: hair-spray, laundry and hand soap, hand lotions, fabric softener, shampoo and conditioners, make-up, cleaning products, and many, many more.

It is not enough to merely avoid applying or using these products inside the fragrance free area you enter. If you are going to be entering a fragrance free area anytime during the day, then you must not use any scented products anytime that day. Using a scented conditioner after a morning shower and then going to a fragrance free doctor’s office in the afternoon is a ‘No-No’.

Is This ‘Fragrance Free’ Stuff a Bit ‘Over The Top’ ?

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