Your nose, your poor, precious nose. It’s assailed with all sorts of scents anymore. “Fresh” (cough, cough, bullshit) citrus! “Real” pine! Yay!

More like chemical concoction of something that should smell like crap to you but doesn’t … because your poor nose has been hijacked.

You know how tastebuds change over time? From hating something as a kid to loving it as an adult? To loving healthier foods now and not enjoying the things you used to “die for?” That’s what is needed for your sense of smell, too. Not just so you appreciate real scents vs. chemical scents but to save your health.

Here’s why:

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), many perfumes, colognes and body sprays typically contain a dozen or more potentially hazardous synthetic chemicals, some of which are derived from petroleum. To protect trade secrets, makers are allowed to withhold fragrance ingredients, so consumers can’t rely on labels to know what hazards may lurk inside that new bottle of perfume.

The same holds true for other scented products. A study of top-selling laundry products and air fresheners found the products emitted dozens of different chemicals. All six products tested gave off at least one chemical regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws, but none of those chemicals was listed on the product labels.

Here’s how:

If the above concerns you enough — and, really, I think it should — use up or toss those items and don’t buy more. Switch to natural cleaning and personal beauty products and lose your addiction to overly-scented stuff. I can’t see risking my health so I — or my clothes or my house — smell “sunshine fresh.” (Which isn’t how it smells to me anymore anyway; see “Here’s me.”)

If you really think you can’t make it without those smells, start gradually. Mix in a bit of some natural laundry detergent with your favorite scented one, for example. Use a little less perfume or whatever. Take out one of those plug in air fresheners or use less spray. Knock it down somehow. Give your senses a chance to adjust and regroup.

Like tastebuds, your natural nose will come back, and you won’t crave, in effect, the chemical scents.

Keep reminding yourself why you’re doing this: Suffering from some illness down the road because of this constant exposure to chemicals won’t make your highly-scented life feel worth it.

Here’s me:

I can NOT stand the smell of chemical scents any longer. No, I don’t have any particular allergies to them or anything. They just simply smell like pure ick to me. They do not smell good. Honest. Give me some natural product that’s lightly scented with natural oils or something, and I’m in heaven. See the photo of fresh lavender above? Now, that’s my kind of scent! But all the other stuff? NoThankYou.

So, if you think you really can’t live without that fresh (chemical) whatever smell in the air or on your clothes or whatever, well, you can. Because the more likely truth is that you won’t be able to live well with them.