MetaChat - Why do I keep smelling hair dye everywhere?

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28 May 2008

Why do I keep smelling hair dye everywhere? Is this some sort of common sign of brain tumor or other worrisome problem? Was it just a hair-dying sort of weekend? Is there something else that smells like hair dye that might be more commonly used/consumed/carried?

post by: occhiblu at: 11:00 | 17 comments

Last weekend I smelled baby powder seemingly everywhere. I went to a few different stores and the post office and I kept being near people that were very generous with the baby powder application. And then I went to a bar and sat next to a guy was also heavy on the baby powder. I wasn't sure if I forgot about a new holiday (in case it is: happy belated Baby Powder Day everyone!) or suddenly developed super smell senses, but only for baby powder.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 28 May | 11:16

occhiblu:

Is there something else that smells like hair dye

I'm pretty sure that unrestrained curiosity also smells a bit like hair dye.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 28 May | 11:18

occhiblu, did you dye your hair this weekend? That could explain it.

posted by rainbaby 28 May | 11:23

occhiblu, did you dye your hair this weekend? That could explain it.

Hee. Indeed it would. But then I'd be posting in the "Laugh at my stupidity" thread.

So, working from the baby-powder anecdote, maybe there's some sort of Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon for smells?

Failing that, I'm liking the curiosity hypothesis. Except that I've been noticing it in exceedingly boring classes and on city public transportation, which may be two of the dullest places in the world.

posted by occhiblu 28 May | 11:57

Does hair dye smell like ammonia? Have you been working out a lot lately? I was having this issue a few weeks ago.

posted by eamondaly 28 May | 11:57

A few weeks ago I could smell green apple everywhere. In my apartment, at the store, at work, in my car. My boyfriend assured me that my person didn't smell like green apple, and that I was crazy.

posted by rhapsodie 28 May | 12:00

eamondaly, I was just looking at that article! I have been working out a lot lately, but I don't think it's an ammonia smell I'm smelling -- it's more like the "all natural" hair dyes, I think? Or else I'm misremembering what ammonia smells like.

But what I'm smelling is almost more like apple peels. Or hair product that is supposed to smell like apple peels. Maybe everyone's using the same conditioner?

posted by occhiblu 28 May | 12:05

Paranoiafilter: it's the government testing PsyOps methodologies.

posted by Miko 28 May | 12:12

And now there's a huge rope being dangled outside my window.

The ammoniac apple peels are coming to drag me away!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

posted by occhiblu 28 May | 13:29

Not too long ago I had a couple days of smelling cinnamon. It was pleasant, but weird as hell.

It's not a tumor!

posted by deborah 28 May | 13:42

I have noticed that, with faint odors, the brain latches onto the first explanation that is suggested, and then it gets locked in, unless proven otherwise. It could be various other VOC's you smell that your brain is interpreting as hair dye.

posted by danf 28 May | 13:59

I often smell suntan lotion. In one of our old apartments I was positive that the cleaners were washing the lobby floor with suntan lotion. Yesterday, midwalk down a street with no one else around - suntan lotion, really strong. I'm haunted by sunbathing ghosts.

posted by taz 28 May | 14:00

I'm haunted by sunbathing ghosts.

Well, you know, pale skin to protect, and all that.

posted by occhiblu 28 May | 14:01

I know that "people" say you smell burning toast just before having a stroke.

My rational explanation would be that someone has stated selling a perfume with the same notes as the fragrance they put in hair dye to hide the chemicals. Maybe you're smelling that fragrance and thinking you're smelling hair dye?

Or it's fashion ninjas, doing root-jobs on the fly.

posted by crush-onastick 28 May | 15:20

Or hair product that is supposed to smell like apple peels. Maybe everyone's using the same conditioner?

Is your local mass retailer having a sale on Fructis? Oh, wait, it was Rhapsodie who smelled apple peels. Well, is your local mass retailer having a sale on some other conditioner? I often notice that my fellow students smell a lot alike, and I figure either someone's new conditioner/ perfume/ aftershave is circulating in the dorms, or there's a sale and the students are buying whatever's cheapest.

posted by Elsa 28 May | 17:59

Cat pee.

posted by SassHat 29 May | 00:18

Also, I might add that last week for the first time maybe ever I kept "mis-smelling" things. Coincidence? Confirmation bias?

posted by SassHat 29 May | 00:20

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