Patchouly @ MindSay 
I don't mind perfume. However, when you've got allergies like I do, certain perfumes really cause me pain. There are several kinds of perfumes I cannot be around because they have an immediate adverse effect on my sinuses and on my skin. One of those perfumes is Patchouly -- a very heavy, woody scent made from a East Indian shrubbery plant that seems to be the favorite scent of hippies the world over! Just a drop of the stuff can overpower dank cigarette or cannbis smoke and, when mixed with the smell of dirty laundry, really puts out Ode de Hippy. I don't mind hippies, some of them are great people, but people, please, lay off the Patchouly!!! As soon as I get around that smell, not only do my eyes start to water and my sinuses burn, I get a migraine. So, dear ones, I am fighting off the effects of this perfume as I type this. I had to get out of the computer lab I was originally in, had all I needed to do uploaded and was about to write pleasant things in my blog today, until a hippie with flip flops and dread locks strolled in literally reeking of Patchouly. Even after logging off to get to another computer station in a room down the hall isn't enough to escape his stench. I can still smell the whiffs of his overly Patchouly-ness in here. He was wearing so much of it that it hurt my ears. Now I'm congested and feel a sneeze coming on. Thanks, buddy, now go take a bath!
I was so perturbed that, as I left the lab, I loudly proclaimed, in between sniffles and wiping my watery eyes, "Someone in here needs to lay off the Patchouly. Next time don't bathe in it, just put a few drops on your wrists, not everyone should be forced to smell you everywhere you go!" He paid me no mind. Everyone else ignored my rant. But, dammitt, don't I have the right to complain? And, hell, yes, I have every right to a fresh air zone, don't I?
So later I'm here in this lab and now the smell is fading, thank the Gods, and I'm thinking about other perfumes that upset my body. Another one is Lily. Lilies have a bad effect on my sinuses as well as my skin. If the pollen from that flower touches my skin, I immediately swell up and break out into what looks like a heat rash. It's the same with Hibiscus, Tiger Lily, Foxglove and Clove. I can't handle those plants and it's not like I don't like their scent, my body just can't take it.
Notice I included Clove? I remember when clove cigarettes were suddenly popular in the mid-'90s and I had the misfortune of trying one. Not only did I break out in terrible rashes from the smoke, since I was also breathing it in, my throat swelled up and I couldn't breathe. My poor friends had to rush me to the emergency room. Never again could I get around clove anything. At least I didn't die, but I paid the price for trying to be fashionable.
The point of this rant is that some people really need to be a bit more courteous, or at least more aware that their favorite perfume could be hazardous to others. I know that a lot of speeches have been made about the use of second-hand tobacco smoke, but what about the air pollution allergy sufferers have to face when out in public? Sometimes it's a real pain in the ass to have to be stuck behind some lady at the DMV who reeks of some ghastly perfume. Body odor is one thing, but some of the perfumes people choose to wear are hard to endure. I think even some of these people are fully aware that they reek, but don't care about what anyone else thinks. Some people wear perfume loudly like that, as if to announce their presence or to leave a bit of themself behind -- the signature scent of a man-about-town or a lady-on-the-prowl. Frankly, I don't care what someone's scent has to say about them if it's making me ill. It's just down right rude to get me to expect to bask in your stinkyness!
I love perfume, but only put a dab of it on. If it bothers anyone else, they should speak up and tell me so I can do something about it. I also love incense, but can't often take too much smoke. I understand that, with everything, there needs to be a balance, a scent-in-moderation if you will, so that we all can enjoy each other without being repelled by odor.
