An enterprising boy in Ohio has created a fragrant product with the masculine in mind. Hart Main, a 13-year-old, told Columbus station WCMH-TV last week that he got his idea while teasing his sister about the “girly” candles she was selling for school. Suddenly, he was struck with a realization: “there weren’t any man-scented candles.”
Since his story went national, Hart’s candle business—featuring fragrances such as bacon, leather, pizza, and sawdust—has been swamped with orders. And it’s easy to see why— he’s managed to create a scented product that sniffs out a largely untapped demographic.
As Hart observed, most odiferous products are designed to appeal to women. The only other male-specific fragrant product I can recall is the frequently advertised Axe body spray. While this cologne is quite popular, I have heard nothing but complaints associated with the scent. Lured by the promise of instant female attention in the misleading commercials, many boys reportedly saturate themselves with the chemical concoction, to the dismay and disgust of the mothers and teachers forced to endure close contact.
While determining what smells good often lies in the nose of the beholder, the fault of many scented products isn’t merely that they’re foul— they may actually be harmful to our health.
I wouldn’t classify myself as chemically sensitive, but I have noticed headaches and minor respiratory issues associated with synthetic scents. The worst of these exposure experiences occur in closed spaces: a small public restroom heavily scented with sickeningly-sweet floral aerosol, or a crowded bus next to a well-dressed woman bathed in a noxious cloud of perfume. The bottle or spray can from whence these scents emerge may feature an illustration of lilacs or cinnamon sticks, but their chemical composition is anything but natural.
In her article Why Scented Products (Fakegrances) Are Not Safe, Virginia Hopkins explains that chemical fragrance formulas found in everyday products—such as perfumes, scented laundry soaps, fabric softeners, air fresheners (she refers to them as “air poisoners”), and many cleaning products—are not only responsible for asthma attacks, but they are also considered to be among the top five known allergens.
“Unless they’re pure essential oils, they’re made from a nasty brew of dozens if not hundreds of chemicals which are, of course, a secret,” writes Hopkins. “For example, the benzene family of chemicals tends to have a sweetish aroma that is very popular among perfumers. The benzenes are petroleum-based, so they’re cheap, easy to come by, and by the way, a known cause of leukemia.”
The ancient Roman poet Lucretius once posited that our ability to smell comes from the shape of particles found in a particular odor matching similarly shaped pores in our nose. Curiously enough, many researchers now observe that man-made chemicals found in a variety of everyday products can, when ingested, inhaled, or applied topically, fit into our cells’ hormonal receptor sites and upset normal endocrine functions.
In her book Hormone Deception, Lindsey Berkson writes that these endocrine-disrupting chemicals can affect the body in a number of unexpected ways. She cites several studies of chemical compounds that have been shown to lead to reproduction system abnormalities, infertility, immune system deficiencies, cancer, and more.
The picture of this chemically influenced hormonal disruption is only recently coming into focus, but the increasingly complex cause has been growing for years. Berkson notes that since World War II over 87,000 chemicals have entered the marketplace. She says that while only between 1.5 and 3 percent of chemicals have been tested to see if they cause cancer, “almost none have been tested to see what they do to the endocrine system.”
According to Berkson, this chemically driven hormonal upset is also contributing to a marked feminization in males. She points to several cases of “gender-bending” in various species due to chemical exposure. “In some exposed wildlife, creatures whose genes should instruct them to be male have been looking and acting like females, and females have been behaving like males,” she writes, adding, “The endocrine disruption that is observed in wildlife and in laboratory studies has direct implications for humans.”
So, guys, if you must have a scented product, make sure the fragrance is from a natural source. It could very well be one of the more manly decisions you ever make.
[email protected]
Since his story went national, Hart’s candle business—featuring fragrances such as bacon, leather, pizza, and sawdust—has been swamped with orders. And it’s easy to see why— he’s managed to create a scented product that sniffs out a largely untapped demographic.
As Hart observed, most odiferous products are designed to appeal to women. The only other male-specific fragrant product I can recall is the frequently advertised Axe body spray. While this cologne is quite popular, I have heard nothing but complaints associated with the scent. Lured by the promise of instant female attention in the misleading commercials, many boys reportedly saturate themselves with the chemical concoction, to the dismay and disgust of the mothers and teachers forced to endure close contact.
While determining what smells good often lies in the nose of the beholder, the fault of many scented products isn’t merely that they’re foul— they may actually be harmful to our health.
I wouldn’t classify myself as chemically sensitive, but I have noticed headaches and minor respiratory issues associated with synthetic scents. The worst of these exposure experiences occur in closed spaces: a small public restroom heavily scented with sickeningly-sweet floral aerosol, or a crowded bus next to a well-dressed woman bathed in a noxious cloud of perfume. The bottle or spray can from whence these scents emerge may feature an illustration of lilacs or cinnamon sticks, but their chemical composition is anything but natural.
In her article Why Scented Products (Fakegrances) Are Not Safe, Virginia Hopkins explains that chemical fragrance formulas found in everyday products—such as perfumes, scented laundry soaps, fabric softeners, air fresheners (she refers to them as “air poisoners”), and many cleaning products—are not only responsible for asthma attacks, but they are also considered to be among the top five known allergens.
“Unless they’re pure essential oils, they’re made from a nasty brew of dozens if not hundreds of chemicals which are, of course, a secret,” writes Hopkins. “For example, the benzene family of chemicals tends to have a sweetish aroma that is very popular among perfumers. The benzenes are petroleum-based, so they’re cheap, easy to come by, and by the way, a known cause of leukemia.”
The ancient Roman poet Lucretius once posited that our ability to smell comes from the shape of particles found in a particular odor matching similarly shaped pores in our nose. Curiously enough, many researchers now observe that man-made chemicals found in a variety of everyday products can, when ingested, inhaled, or applied topically, fit into our cells’ hormonal receptor sites and upset normal endocrine functions.
In her book Hormone Deception, Lindsey Berkson writes that these endocrine-disrupting chemicals can affect the body in a number of unexpected ways. She cites several studies of chemical compounds that have been shown to lead to reproduction system abnormalities, infertility, immune system deficiencies, cancer, and more.
The picture of this chemically influenced hormonal disruption is only recently coming into focus, but the increasingly complex cause has been growing for years. Berkson notes that since World War II over 87,000 chemicals have entered the marketplace. She says that while only between 1.5 and 3 percent of chemicals have been tested to see if they cause cancer, “almost none have been tested to see what they do to the endocrine system.”
According to Berkson, this chemically driven hormonal upset is also contributing to a marked feminization in males. She points to several cases of “gender-bending” in various species due to chemical exposure. “In some exposed wildlife, creatures whose genes should instruct them to be male have been looking and acting like females, and females have been behaving like males,” she writes, adding, “The endocrine disruption that is observed in wildlife and in laboratory studies has direct implications for humans.”
So, guys, if you must have a scented product, make sure the fragrance is from a natural source. It could very well be one of the more manly decisions you ever make.
[email protected]
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