(no subject)

The scent-focus of all the detailed BPAL reviews makes me feel like it's ok to post about smells on livejournal. (I'm really impressed by the attention to detail, especially attention to shifting scent, where there are so few customs for talking about them outside food/wine. As electronic analytical techniques became available, sensory methods stopped being taught, stopped being respected.) Nowadays, my lab group uses sensory techniques which can be more sensitive than the best available electronic analyses, so long as we're talking about my nose, J's mouth, and M's color perception, rather than another way around. Of course, we're generally thought to be a bit peculiar.

Anyhow, I've been wondering if rayon has an intrinsic scent. Most new rayon clothing in stores has a characteristic smell, but it's hard for me to know if that's really part of the fiber, or if I'm smelling some kind of starch or cleaning product I can wash out after I take it home. There may have been a time when it wasn't so strong, or when it didn't bother me so much, but I've been increasingly uncomfortable with the smell of rayon the last few years. It doesn't bother me at a distance, or being near it for a few minutes, but it's horrible after a few hours of wearing it. I remember going to a laundromat in the middle of the day (when I couldn't get home) to wash the sweater I had on, because I couldn't stand what it smelled like. Then I put it back on, slightly damp and still smelling like that. It seems to me that a lot of people can't smell the rayon smell, but my perception may be skewed by the fact that I love several people with impaired senses of smell.