London - One warm day last summer, Alexandra Sheffield decided to sit in her garden. She was pregnant and hoping to relax in the sun, but within minutes she began to feel the start of a searing headache, accompanied by intense nausea.
She soon felt so terrible she had to go back in the house and lie down.
The cause needed no investigation. She knew what it was because its smell had been overpowering to her: the washing on the line in next-door’s garden. Or, more specifically, the detergent.
Like increasing numbers of people, Alexandra, a 42-year-old graphic designer, is allergic to perfume.
And not just in scents: anything from air freshener and scented candles to perfumed body lotions, make-up, deodorant and washing powder can suddenly make her violently ill.
We are surrounded by scent. Fragrance is added to toilet rolls, bin liners, even socks, yet reports suggest that perfumed products are causing allergic reactions including eczema and dermatitis, asthma and migraines in a rapidly growing group of us.
This year, the perfume industry will have to reformulate several classic fragrances due to a European Commission ruling banning the use of oakmoss.
Derived from lichen, it is a key ingredient of such scents as Chanel No 19, CK One and Miss Dior, giving them deep, woody tones. Now, two of its molecules have been found to be common allergens. An EC advisory committee said that fragrances and scented cosmetic products can provoke dermatitis and found that among eczema patients in Europe, about 16 percent are sensitised to ingredients.
The perfume industry lists 26 potentially allergenic ingredients on boxes, but the EC intends to extend that list to 83.
Research even suggests that scented cosmetics containing a group of petroleum-based chemicals called phthalates (used in perfume to keep all the liquid’s different elements evenly distributed) could be disrupting our hormones, leading to such potential risks as reduced sperm counts and problems conceiving.
About one in 20 are thought to be affected by fragrance allergy, though experts believe even this number may be conservative.
Dr Peter Howarth, professor of allergy and respiratory medicine at Southampton University, says: ‘There is a great deal of scent in so many products and we’re seeing it cause several types of reaction. People with asthma can find it an irritant to their airways, narrowing them and triggering asthma attacks.
‘It can cause dermatitis where a product is applied or a flare-up of existing eczema. The chemicals in perfume can cause blood vessels to dilate, which causes headaches.’
Alexandra, who lives in Nottingham with her partner Mark and three-month-old daughter Phoebe, became aware of her fragrance allergy as a teenager, but its effects have grown increasingly severe.
‘I’d use Impulse body spray, like all my friends at school, but it would make my skin itch and give me a headache,’ she says.
‘Initially, I didn’t know what was causing it, but gradually I realised it was the spray, so I stopped using it.
‘The smell of perfume has always seemed incredibly strong to me, so I never wore it again, but I found the same reaction to fragrance when other people wore it.
‘I remember going on a hovercraft and one of the women working on board was wearing so much perfume I was sick.’
When she has been in a car or a lift with someone wearing a strong scent, Alexandra can end up vomiting.
She says: ‘On trains, they often pump in air freshener with the air conditioning and it makes me feel so ill that I can’t wait to get off. I’ve had terrible reactions to washing powder, air freshener, even scented candles.
‘Someone gave me a lovely scented deodorant, but it turned the skin under my arms green. Now, every product I buy is unfragranced - deodorant, body lotion, make-up, washing powder. I have to be careful.’
So strong is Alexandra’s reaction to fragrance that many of her friends and family cannot comprehend it.
‘People often think I’m a bit mad because, to them, the smell is so much less strong.
‘Mark thinks I’m just being a bit of a princess, so I get no sympathy. I’ve offended him by asking him to wash off a scent. Once, early in our relationship, he put on some Ralph Lauren aftershave and it smelled absolutely revolting to me.
‘My mom has also been upset when I’ve had to ask her to wash off perfume. She thought I was making a fuss about nothing, but it is a powerful reaction I can’t control.’
Alexandra’s symptoms heightened in her pregnancy, a time when many women, even those who have not previously had allergies, become hypersensitive to smells, tastes and chemicals in products.
‘It was horrendous, worse than the birth,’ she says. ‘I had terrible morning sickness, brought on by anything that smelled synthetic or sweet. I bought a pram from eBay and when it arrived I knew instantly it had been sprayed with Febreze.
‘I tried washing it, but I could still smell it. It’s still in the garage.
‘I was so desperate for something to help alleviate the symptoms that I tried homoeopathy, but it didn’t help. Since I gave birth, I’ve felt slightly better, but I’d love to have another child and I can’t go through that again.’
Dr Howarth says pregnancy can trigger or worsen allergies: ‘Hormones mean that women can develop a sensitivity to something or find an existing sensitivity becomes stronger.
‘We don’t know why this happens, but it is caused by the immune system becoming hostile to a chemical, perhaps as a way to protect the baby.’
Laura Santer, 37, a marketing executive who lives in Brighton with her solicitor husband Will and sons Henry, three, and Teddy, 15 months, found that the perfume she had used every day began causing a rash when she was pregnant with Henry.
‘One day, I sprayed myself and over the course of the day my neck and chest felt really itchy,’ she says.
‘I didn’t realise it was the perfume, so by the end of the week I’d developed hives all over my chest.
‘The skin was angry and sore and it started to peel off. I was going to a wedding that weekend and I had to wrap a pashmina around myself.’
Even people who are not pregnant can develop an allergy to fragrance.
Dr Adam Friedmann, consultant dermatologist at the Harley Street Dermatology Clinic, says: ‘It is easy to develop a sensitivity to a chemical or compound if you expose yourself to it enough.
‘When allergies come later in life, you have them for good. Conditions such as eczema are increasing in the Western world and they are a product of our environment, which contains a lot of scent, with a cocktail of chemicals.’
Laura’s doctor told her to stop using perfume for the rest of her pregnancy.
‘I had to ditch all the products I loved; bubble bath, face cream, washing powder and suncream. I had to throw away make-up because it would make my face red and sore.’
Laura hoped she would go back to normal after giving birth, but the effects lasted.
‘I tried putting on perfume as a test, but I broke out in an angry, red rash straight away. Since I had Teddy, I’ve tried again and the same thing happened. I probably won’t be able to wear it again.’
Eileen Hughes, 66, from Stevenage, has been avoiding perfumed products for 30 years, after developing migraines.
Eileen, a retired nursery nurse who is divorced and has a grown-up son, cannot go into department stores because the air is so thick with scent she instantly feels unwell.
‘I get a terrible headache after only a few minutes and have to leave. I was fine when I was younger.
‘Like all my friends, I used to wear Tweed, quite a heavy fragrance, and Brut, which was supposed to be for men, but it was the fashion for girls to wear it, too.
‘But in my 30s I started to get headaches and gradually I realised they were caused by perfume. I stopped wearing it, but if I was in the same room when my former husband sprayed his aftershave, I would feel dreadful.’
People who suspect they are allergic to perfume can visit a dermatologist and request a patch test, which will identify whether it really is scent causing the reaction.
However, most tests will usually narrow it down only to a group of chemicals, rather than a specific one.
‘We can do an initial test for an allergy to what we call “fragrance mix”, which is a mix of eight of the most common allergy-causing fragrances,’ says Dr Friedmann.
‘If you want to know the exact component that is causing the problem, you can have more tests. Once you know which is the specific component, you can get perfumes made that don’t contain it, but that is a laborious process.’
Most people, like Eileen, simply learn to live as fragrance-free a life as possible.
‘I’ve avoided perfume wherever I can, and accept that occasionally, I’ll get a terrible headache,’ she says.
‘There have been plenty of occasions when I’ve had to leave parties and go home, or I’ve been out shopping and suddenly felt ill, but there is nothing to be done about it.’
The market for celebrity perfumes in Britain is worth £255 million a year
Daily Mail