Imagine, you’ve spritzed your favorite perfume just before you leave the house, and by noon, you are left with hardly a whiff of the fragrance. So you apply more to no avail, yet you’re next getting comments from others around you about your ‘overpowering’ perfume, which you can’t even smell. Or say when you’re out shopping for your next fragrance and after smelling a rack of different fragrances, you find the scents are no longer as differentiable and the notes are melding together. It is a frustrating and often confusing experience for many, however, don’t worry, there's nothing wrong with your nose. What you might be experiencing is a natural phenomenon called olfactory fatigue.
What is Olfactory Fatigue?
Olfactory fatigue, also known as olfactory adaptation or nose blindness, is a temporary, naturally occurring phenomenon where the sensitivity to a particular smell diminishes after prolonged exposure. This adaptation mechanism allows the human brain to filter out continuous, non-harmful odors, enabling individuals to detect new and potentially dangerous smells.
However, in the case of perfumes, it becomes an annoyance at best when we can no longer smell our favorite perfumes on us or when we’re testing perfumes and find that all of them start to smell the same.
Why does Olfactory Fatigue Happen?
An odor is made up of many small odor molecules floating in the air. Our noses perceive that odor when these small molecules enter our nose and attach to just a handful of the few million olfactory receptors in our nose, activating them and sending a signal into our brain, allowing us to recognize a scent. Moreover, each olfactory sensory neuron is specialized to capture a specific set of odor molecules meaning there is a further limited number of olfactory sensory neurons that can be activated at any point in time. Hence olfactory fatigue occurs when all of these olfactory receptors are occupied, preventing you from receiving any new fragrance molecules, and thus your brain is unable to perceive the scent.
Causes of Olfactory Fatigue
Olfactory fatigue and the speed of its onset can be caused by a few factors.
- Prolonged Exposure
Constant exposure to the same scent over a period of time can cause olfactory fatigue due to the olfactory receptors in the nose being constantly assaulted with fragrance molecules, giving them no chance to rest and receive new fragrance molecules. - High Concentration
Intense or strong fragrances can lead to a quicker onset of olfactory fatigue as the stronger fragrances have a higher concentration of fragrance molecules. A higher concentration of fragrance molecules saturates these receptors, preventing other fragrance molecules from binding and thus the fragrance is not perceived.
- Environmental Factors
Poor ventilation or closed spaces can exacerbate the effect of olfactory fatigue by saturating the air with fragrance molecules. Thus as mentioned above, this causes you to continue inhaling fragrance molecules that are already in the air, saturating your olfactory receptors and preventing you from perceiving new scents.
How to Prevent Olfactory Fatigue
Olfactory fatigue can be annoying and frustrating when trying out new perfumes. Here are some of our tips and tricks to prevent olfactory fatigue and keep our noses sharp!
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Use unperfumed surfaces
When sampling fragrances, it is best to test them on scent strips or other unscented surfaces depending on whether you have already sprayed perfume on your wrists or arms. This helps to minimize olfactory interference and allows you to smell each scent individually. It is also a good idea to avoid letting the strips rest on surfaces or against each other to prevent contamination of the scent with other fragrances or dirt.
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Smell your skin
As we are constantly exposed to our bodily scent, our olfactory sensitivity to our skin is heavily decreased, allowing it to act as the perfect neutral baseline (assuming you don’t have any perfume on). A preferred spot to use is the inside of your elbow.
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Take breaks!
Allow for sufficient time between sniffing different fragrances to allow the olfactory system to reset naturally. You can also go outdoors or in well-ventilated areas to better expose the nose to different odors and prevent sensory overload.
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Alternate fragrances
When testing multiple perfumes, alternate between different fragrance families (e.g., floral, woody, citrus) to reset your sense of smell as these different fragrant families typically occupy different olfactory receptors in the nose, allowing you to perceive them better back to back as opposed to two fragrances from the same family.
When wearing fragrances, it is good to follow this rule as well and wear different fragrances to prevent olfactory fatigue in the long term.
Addressing the Beans
Contrary to popular belief, coffee beans do not aid with olfactory fatigue and may in fact exacerbate it by occupying the already limited olfactory receptors in your nose. For a more in-depth explanation, read more about it here in our article, To Bean or Not To Bean. Thus the next time you see those coffee beans at the perfume counter, the best thing you can do is skip the beans and keep on sniffing!
Conclusion
Understanding olfactory fatigue is essential for both perfume enthusiasts and industry professionals. By recognizing the signs and implementing strategies to prevent it, individuals can enjoy a more accurate and pleasant fragrance experience for longer. Whether you're shopping for a new signature scent or developing the next best-seller, being mindful of olfactory fatigue can significantly enhance your perfume journey.
