I’m angry.

Read this for background, and pay attention to the statistics.

The problem of people being allergic to what’s in perfume is on the rise, and I have it. I keep my home as scent-free as possible. We use organic and/or unscented soaps, dish soaps, and laundry detergents. Everything else, we clean with vinegar.

I’ve been known to get a migraine standing 50 feet downwind from someone wearing too much perfume. I’ve gotten hives from shaking hands. I don’t like to hug people I don’t know, because if I get whatever cologne or aftershave or cream is on someone else’s face on my own face, it doesn’t just itch, it BURNS.

I get through conventions by keeping both prescription and over-the-counter painkillers and antihistamines handy.

So this morning as I got ready to take a shower, I opened a new 4-pack of disposable razors, and THEY WERE STRONGLY SCENTED.

SERIOUSLY?

What possible purpose does this serve? The fragrance impregnated the plastic handles. I had to throw them out – my husband and sons, Manly Men all, won’t use them, all pink and perfumed. Total waste of money.

Fragrance, it seems, is creeping into everything. Kitchen can bags, I can sort of understand. Trash does smell, but I still have to buy the unscented bags. I’ve opened packages of ordinary cotton panties and found them to be scented, but throwing a cup of ammonia in the wash with them takes care of that problem. The American delusion that the smell of a clean body needs to be covered with chemical stinks makes my life interesting, to say the least. But razors? Seriously? I can’t even touch these stupid, smelly things.

Shout out to the big American razor blade companies: I would rather stick my nose in a sweaty man’s armpit than use one of your scented disposable razors.

Seriously.