I understand your frustration. My daughter and I are both allergic to fragrances. My daughter's reaction is so much worse than mine but church is hard. I sit in the mother's room with my air purifier running. My daughter if finally able to go to a single adult ward because they are nicer and more understanding about not wearing perfumes. Our home ward where she grew up, her YW leader refused to not wear perfume, then would laugh about it. So she couldn't ever participate in YW. When we switched wards due to boundary changes, the new YW leader asked me how she could help reactive my daughter. I told her my daughter wasn't inactive she just couldn't attend our last ward due to her leaders wearing perfumes. She said oh, I was told by the YW leader (the one who wore the perfume) that my daughter didn't want anything to do with the church. I was so upset. My daughter does so much to keep her faith even though she couldn't attend due to people's choices and refusal to avoid perfumes. But we have been asked not to announce or ask our new ward to avoid perfumes because it upset the members of our last ward. We weren't mean or forceful. We simply said our family had extreme allergies to fragrances and asked if the members would please avoid applying perfumes or colognes before attending church. We even sat in the relief society room for sacrament and listened over the intercom with the doors open to the outside rain, snow or shine. We had to turn off the heating and Air because it would circulate the fragrances from the other rooms in the building into the room, so we froze in winter and sweated all summer. But apparently us asking was offensive or intrusive to other in the congregation. It's hard not to feel offended or hurt that we can't ask someone to avoid choosing to do something they do for simple pleasure or habit that physically hurts us medically. But here we are and I know we are not the only ones. Our building is so bad, I have to hold my breath to even walk through the halls to the mother's room. Honestly, if you can be smelt from across the room, you are invading other peoples space and are wearing way too much perfume. Please respect others and keep your scents to a 3 foot radius. This goes for essential oils too. While those are definitely better for your health, they can cause just a many allergic reactions in others as artificial fragrances. There is too much of a good thing too! Stick to the 3 ft rule and maybe we can all get along!! Thank you!!
