Fragrance-free workplace – how to still wear scent

Why are workplaces going fragrance-free?

The concern is for colleagues and visitors who react to fragrance compounds – with headaches, congestion or asthma symptoms. In healthcare it's often a strict rule; elsewhere it's more of a polite request.

The problem is rarely that someone wears perfume, but that scent travels far in enclosed spaces and lingers long after the person has left.

Three tricks for a more discreet scent

Spray less, and lower: one spray under the collar spreads far less than three on the neck.

Choose softer fragrance families: musk and light floral notes fill a room less than heavy oriental scents.

Move the scent away from body heat: the warmer the skin, the faster the fragrance spreads outward.

Scent in the jewellery instead of in the room

Fragrance jewellery carries the perfume in a small ceramic disc instead of on the skin. The scent stays close to you – noticeable when someone stands near, but without lingering as a cloud around your desk.

You can also take the disc out during working hours and click it back in afterwards. The scent waits in the disc until you want it.

Remember the reasoning behind the rule

If your workplace is entirely fragrance-free for medical reasons, that rule applies to discreet scent too. In that case, the point of the disc is that you can remove it at work and have your scent ready again once you head home.