Should you ban people from wearing perfume in your home?

Why we have different responses to scent, Synthetic fragrances are a complex mixture of chemicals, Fragrances may interfere with the body’s protective ‘cloud’, Scents, or the absence of them, affect our emotions, Scented candles could be even more problematic, Use a little, but perhaps not often

The pleasing petrichor scent of clean air and wet earth after a rainstorm, the heady aroma of a smoky bonfire, the evocative whiff of sunscreen on a hot day… According to a 2014 study by Rockefeller University, the human nose is able to distinguish more than a trillion smells. But it is supermodel Miranda Kerr’s preference that you do not bring the majority of these into her home, should you visit.

Forget the faux pas of wearing outdoor shoes into a no-shoes household: Kerr has taken home etiquette one step further. In a recent interview on the popular health podcast The Dr Hyman Show, the Australian model explained that she has “a no-fragrance policy for anyone coming into my house because I don’t do that [wear fragrance] around my children”. She continued: “It’s really disturbing, to be honest, how unaware people are.”

Why we have different responses to scent, Synthetic fragrances are a complex mixture of chemicals, Fragrances may interfere with the body’s protective ‘cloud’, Scents, or the absence of them, affect our emotions, Scented candles could be even more problematic, Use a little, but perhaps not often

Model Miranda Kerr has a no-perfume policy in her home, believing man-made scents cause ‘disruptions’ in the body - Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic

The mother of four (Kerr shares her eldest son, Flynn, with her first husband, British actor Orlando Bloom) explained that she stopped wearing synthetic fragrances due to her belief that man-made scents can cause “disruptions” in the body. This view was echoed by the podcast’s host, functional medicine specialist Dr Mark Hyman, who drew links between synthetic fragrances and cancer and hormone disruption, among other things. “As a doctor, I’m very aware of these things – links to cancer, reproductive health,” he said. “[Fragrances are] often endocrine disruptors. They can mess with women’s hormones. They can be very toxic. And you’re not just doing it once – you’re exposed every day for decades. That’s what concerns me.”

In an interview last year, Kerr, who runs the organic skincare brand Kora Organics, explained that her approach to health and wellness has been influenced in part by her mother’s diagnosis of a rare spleen cancer when Kerr was 16. “I started to take a closer look at what I was putting in and on my body,” she said. “This sparked my lifelong passion for organic ingredients and holistic health.”

So what is the truth about synthetic fragrances?

Why we have different responses to scent

The way we respond to different scents is determined by the 400 different types of olfactory receptors in the nose, which detect the chemical compounds that make up different smells. These receptors interpret each odour and send the information to the brain, where it is judged as pleasant, repulsive or simply neutral. Our reactions to, and preferences for, certain smells often come down to previous associations with them.

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Synthetic fragrances are a complex mixture of chemicals

Dr Dave Megson is a reader in chemistry and environmental forensics at Manchester Metropolitan University. He says there is no strong evidence directly linking fragrances to cancer, endocrine issues or heart disease, but that there is a clear issue around fragrance sensitisation.

“I’m talking about airway irritation and coughs, asthma, headaches and inflammation,” he says. “I know that, even from a personal perspective… walking through the duty-free area of an airport is a nightmare – it starts me coughing and spluttering. Synthetic fragrances are complex mixes of chemicals, not just one or two but many, all combined, and some of them are respiratory irritants. Many people choose to avoid them for that reason alone.”

Fragrances may interfere with the body’s protective ‘cloud’

Earlier this year, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and the Max Planck Institute discovered that wearing perfume or using fragranced body lotion could interfere with the skin’s “oxidation field” – an invisible protective cloud that surrounds the body and was only discovered in 2022. Formed when ozone in the air reacts with natural oils on the surface of the skin, this “cloud” clings to our bodies and is thought to clean and filter the air we breathe. Studies show, however, that ingredients contained in perfume can potentially diminish the filtering benefits this cloud provides.

Emmanuel Macron, take note. Extracts from the tell-all book The Tragedy of the Elysée, by Le Parisien journalist Olivier Beaumont, published this summer, claim that Mr Macron sprays “industrial amounts” of Dior Eau Sauvage “at all hours of the day”. One former aide is quoted describing the president’s industrial-scale spritzing as “not subtle”, but rather a way of asserting power and “marking his territory”.

Why we have different responses to scent, Synthetic fragrances are a complex mixture of chemicals, Fragrances may interfere with the body’s protective ‘cloud’, Scents, or the absence of them, affect our emotions, Scented candles could be even more problematic, Use a little, but perhaps not often

French president Emmanuel Macron is said to spray ‘industrial amounts’ of Dior Eau Sauvage at all hours - Florian Gaertner/Photothek/Getty

Scents, or the absence of them, affect our emotions

Of course, fragrances also have the capacity to uplift, inspire and alter mood. Sensing and identifying smells is a complex yet under-appreciated process that can be transformative, almost to the extent of time travel (who among us hasn’t encountered a long-forgotten fragrance and been momentarily taken back in time?). Conversely, losing one’s sense of smell – anosmia – can have profound effects, with research showing links to depression, anxiety, isolation and relationship difficulties. Our sense of smell is even linked to our ability to detect illness and to our sense of direction.

“People don’t understand how important the sense of smell is until they lose it,” says neuroscientist Dr Rachel Herz, author of The Scent of Desire, whom I spoke to at the height of the Covid pandemic in 2021. “The part of the brain where smell is processed is directly linked to the part where emotions are formed. When people lose their sense of smell, they start losing their sense of self…”

Scented candles could be even more problematic

So if the jury is out on a spritz of perfume, what about that other Christmas present stalwart, the scented candle (like fragrance, also not a product carried by Kerr’s wellness brand)?

On candles, things are a bit more cut and dried. Burning candles indoors – fragranced or not – is known to contribute to poor air quality and small studies have linked scented candle burning to bladder cancer. Dr Megson says scented candles can contain even more of a chemical mixture than a liquid fragrance and notes that burning fragrance changes the chemicals potentially contained within, often for the worse. “The incomplete combustion residue of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) found in the smoke from scented candles is potentially carcinogenic,” he says.

Use a little, but perhaps not often

While a squirt of fragrance or a few hours in a well-ventilated room with a lit scented candle is unlikely to cause significant harm, Dr Megson says dose, or exposure level, is important when assessing risk. “The more you’re exposed to, the greater your risk,” he says.

So perhaps this Christmas, it is better to err on the side of Kerr than Macron.

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