We require participants in all of our onsite classes, circles, onsite readings, and other events to attend free of synthetic fragrances and chemical fragrance-maskers.

What We Mean by "Synthetic Fragrances and Chemical Fragrance-Maskers"

• Any product which contains the word "fragrance" on the label has synthetic fragrance in it. Check the fine print (the ingredients list).
  
  • Synthetic fragrances can contain many, many toxic chemicals.  The fragrance industry does not have to reveal the exact chemicals involved, because this is considered a trade secret.
  • Search for products that do not contain the word "fragrance" in their ingredients list -- rather than those that claim to be "unscented."  "Unscented" products can still contain chemicals used as "fragrance-maskers."
  • Labels that claim a product is "natural" or "biodegradable" do not mean that it is necessarily free of synthetic fragrances or other chemicals.
  • Most products which list  "essential oils" or "botanical essential oils" are acceptable.
  • For information on products, please see page 3 of this article - Come to Your Scents-es!
• It's not just your cologne/perfume.  Be sure to check for the word "fragrance" in the labels of your:
  
  • Laundry Products (detergent, softener, and dryer sheets)  -- Laundry products are often more problematic than perfume, as they are designed to linger in your clothing for weeks or months after use. Some clothing may be permanently contaminated.
  • Shampoo, conditioner, gels, and other hair care products
  • Soaps, deodorants
  • Lotions, moisturizers, medicinal creams
  • Cosmetics
  • So-called "air fresheners" -- If you use synthetic fragrances in your home (such as Febreze or Glade plug-ins), your hair, body, and clothing will usually be saturated with the chemicals included in the fragrance.
  • Cleaning products, paints, etc. that may linger on your hands or clothing.
• Washing/rinsing before attending may not be enough.
  • Many fragranced products are actually designed to be difficult to get out of your hair, or off of your body and clothing.  Please see the guide on page 2 of this article:  How to Prepare for Attending an Event Fragrance Free.
• Remember -- You probably can't smell a fragrance that you use regularly.
  • "Nose fatigue" or "Olfactory fatigue" is a very real phenomenon.  When we smell a fragrance for even a few minutes, our bodies quickly become desensitized and the nose stops sending signals to the brain, in order to prevent an overload of our nervous system.  This is why many people douse themselves in fragrance -- they literally cannot smell it anymore.  So, in checking yourself for fragrances, your nose is not necessarily a reliable witness.

What Will Happen If You Arrive at an Event Wearing Fragrance

We will tell you that we really, really want you at this Circle/Class/Onsite Reading, and that we feel very sad that we are asking you to leave -- but we will ask you to leave -- even if you have driven a long way to attend a reading or event.

We have been working with this issue for many years now, and have tried many different approaches:  Frequent email reminders, education through discussion and writing, repeated polite requests to please come fragrance-free, etc., and we have arrived at the place that we are simply choosing to experience the momentary feelings of awkwardness that may arise when we are clearly stating our boundaries clearly and being firm about keeping those boundaries.

If we do ask you to leave, please know that it is not personal -- it's your chemicals, not you, that we do not want in our home -- and know that you are welcome to attend at any time in the future -- as long as you arrive fragrance-free. Please check page 2 of this article "How to Prepare for Attending an Event Fragrance Free".

Why We Have This Policy:

#1 Reason (Actually, the Only Reason) -- Because We Want to Create an Environment that Supports Life:

These chemicals affect everyone who breathes them, whether or not we're aware of them. Many people with chronic headaches, ongoing fatigue, breathing difficulties, and digestive problems (that their physician often cannot find a cause for) find that their symptoms clear up or improve when they get synthetic fragrances off their bodies and out of their homes.Children, companion animals, wild animals, and our entire environment - all are impacted by these substances.

When one person comes to a gathering wearing these chemicals, the entire group breathes them in for the duration of the gathering. We want to create and maintain a home and gathering space free from these chemicals.

Some of our attendees experience Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.  If you don't know what this means, here are some educational resources about MCS:

• Wikipedia Entry on MCS
• http://www.multiplechemicalsensitivity.org/
• Read Carol's Blog Post about how MCS has affected her life and her loved ones

For people dealing with MCS, being in the presence of chemicals such as those commonly found in synthetically fragranced laundry or body-care products, perfumes, and colognes don't just make them uncomfortable -- it can trigger reactions that can leave them fatigued or even extremely ill for days or weeks after exposure.

Toxic chemicals in our fragranced laundry products go down the drain and into our water supply, are blown into the atmosphere from our dryer vents, and end up in the earth from which we get our food when we send our trash to the landfill.

In other words, these chemicals don't just end up on the outside of our bodies, making us smell "nice" -- they also get into our water, air, and food.

If you think that that's "no big deal", please read this article about Fabric Softeners:Dangerous Comfort?, or read the about the University of Washington study that shows that plugging in that apple/cinnamon air "freshener" may be making you (and your family, pets, etc.) sick.

You may think:  "Well, it's just me -- it's just one little capful of Downy/Bounce" -- but it's not -- it's thousands of gallons of these products, being blown into our air, poured into our water, and onto our soil.

How to Prepare for Attending an Event or Reading Fragrance-Free

Step #1 -- CHECK YOUR LABELS -- if a product you use on your body or in your laundry contains the word "fragrance", it contains synthetics, and is not suitable to wear to an event or reading.

Step #2 -- Be Aware of Your Environment -- If you are living or staying with someone who uses fragranced products (even if you don't use fragranced prodcuts), be aware that their house may be so saturated with fragrance that your clothes may pick up the chemicals.  Once, when on a teaching trip, I stayed with a person who had given up Downy several months earlier, but the house was so saturated with the chemicals involved that when I got home, my clothing smelled of Downy -- even though I kept them inside my closed suitcase during the visit! (Please see suggestions below about how to remove fragrance from clothing.)

Removing Fragrance from You and Your Body:

• If you have been using fragranced body-care products, be sure to shower or bathe with fragrance-free products before you attend the event/reading (preferably, use no fragranced products for at least 24 hours before attending, and wash any fragranced products out of your hair and off of your body using a non-fragranced product -- rinsing is not enough -- fragrance is designed to linger).

Removing Fragrance from Your clothing:

• If you have been using fragranced laundry products (detergent, softener, or dryer sheets), this is a bigger problem, as these products are designed to linger in your clothing, and often contain waxes which line your washer and dryer with the scent. If you obtain pre-worn clothing (for example, at secondhand stores), be aware that it may be permeated with fragrance.
• If you choose to eliminate these chemicals from your laundry care altogether (which we highly recommend):
  • Try wiping out your washer and dryer with vinegar and water or a mild TSP solution to remove the wax residue which can cause the fragrance to linger there.
  • Wash clothing that has been saturated with fragrance in vinegar and water only -- hang in the sun to dry (the sun helps cleanse). You may have to do this several times to remove all the fragrance.  Some fabrics release fragrances more easily than others, and some may never be rid of the fragrance altogether.
• If you want to attend an event and all of your clothing currently has lingering fragrance on it, consider purchasing a set of clothes that you will not wash in your regular washloads, and that you will wear to attend events/readings.
  • Hand wash these items in vinegar and water or non-fragranced laundry products only, and line dry them -- do not dry them in a dryer in which you (or anyone else) have/has used fragranced dryer sheets or fabric softener.
  • Keep these items completely separate from your other clothing, perhaps in a plastic zip-lock bag.  If you put these clothes with other pieces of clothing that have been cleansed/washed/dried in fragranced products (or on a piece of furniture furniture that has been sprayed with "Febreze", etc.), they will absorb the chemicals/fragrance.
    

Come to Your Scents-es!

This page is for those of you who are ready to get chemical fragrances out of your home, off your clothes and out of your bodies!

First of all -- congratulations!  And welcome to life -- fragrance-free.  I think that you'll find that living fragrance free can be easy and economical, and if you are one of the people who have been having reactions to chemical fragrance without knowing it, you will probably experience an uptick in your general health and well-being!

Step 1 -- Look at your labels:

• Get out all of your body-care, laundry, and cleaning products, and check the labels.  If you see the word "fragrance," this is a product that you will want to get rid of.  These are the kind of things you want to see on your labels:
  • • "Contains No Fragrance"
    • "Scented Only with Pure Essential Oils"
  • Beware of labels claiming that the product is "Unscented", or stating that it is "natural" or "biodegradable" -- these products may still contain petrochemicals, and suites of other toxic chemicals.  Generally, a product that is only scented with botanical essential oils will proudly claim this.

Step 2 -- Find Healthy Alternatives

Many excellent products, free of chemical fragrance, are available. You can usually find these at your local coop, natural foods store, and often in the natural foods and bodycare sections of your regular grocery store. (Be sure to check the labels! Some of the so-called "natural" products contain fragrance. For example, "Country Save" liquid laundry detergent contains fragrance.) Countless websites offer a wide array of these products.

You can choose from a wide range of products. Perhaps you want to pamper yourself with luxurious hand-crafted potions made with entirely organic ingredients. Or maybe you want to get simple and do it yourself... you can even wash your hair with baking soda! Here's a "how to" article:  http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/break_the_shampoo_habit

• Laundry Products
  • Seventh Generation Free and Clear Products (just one of many brands making "clean" products)
  • Vinegar added to rinse cycle softens clothes and reduces static
  • "Laundry Balls" (tumbler balls for your dryer reduce drying time and static -- you can also use a couple of tennis balls)
  • Seventh Generation also now makes a fragrance-free dryer sheet which we have found to be very effective in reducing static.
• Household Cleaning
  • Baking Soda and Vinegar are your CHEAP, incredible FRIENDS!  Wash the windows, unclog drains, scrub pots, and much, much, more (wash your hair).  There are very few thing that can't be cleaned with these two simple ingredients.
  • Citra-Solv -- this will clean just about anything that Baking Soda and Vinegar can't handle -- be sure to dilute.
  • Many, many other products are available. "Clean" cleaning technology has made great strides!