Tampons with "Fresh Scent"

September 20, 2006 7:21 AM

Ladies with fragrance allergies! If you are allergic to most heavily perfumed products (lotions, cremes, laundry detergent) what are the odds of fragranced tampons causing some wildness?

I accidently bought the "fresh scent" tampons and I am wary of trying them out...lest madness ensue.

posted by mrs.pants to health (13 comments total)

I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot tampon.
posted by Amizu at 7:29 AM on September 20, 2006

Fragranced tampons? Gross. I'm not sensitive to scent, but I would never ever ever use a "scented" tampon. I would leave these in your bathroom as emergency supply for houseguests.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:31 AM on September 20, 2006 [1 favorite]

If lotions bug your relatively tough outer skin, what do you think it's going to do to your mucus membranes? I'm with TPS.
posted by cobaltnine at 7:39 AM on September 20, 2006

I wouldn't wish them upon a houseguest.
posted by needs more cowbell at 7:39 AM on September 20, 2006

sounds like a bad idea if you know you have allergies already.
Donate them to a shelter for battered women?
posted by j at 7:52 AM on September 20, 2006

The other month, I accidently bought a pack of scented tampons. I have sensitive skin, but I had no problems. I would never buy them again because I think there is something very unnatural about scented tampons, however, using them didn't irritate me in any way.
posted by necessitas at 7:53 AM on September 20, 2006

I wouldn't use them. I'm very sensitive to chemicals and ANYTHING makes me itch.
posted by k8t at 8:41 AM on September 20, 2006

I'll second what necessitas said - I'm very sensitive and the scented tampons gave me no problems.
posted by Coffeemate at 8:51 AM on September 20, 2006

I'd avoid them, to be on the safe side. (I may be biased because I find the whole idea of scented tampons gross and uneccessary, however. It seems like a serving of "your lady parts are gross and must be controlled!" along with the menstrual version of "spray noxious flowery chemicals in the air to cover your poo funk so that the two scents combine to form an unstoppable, sickening-sweet superfunk" as a side dish. Yuck. Why?)
posted by hilatron at 9:38 AM on September 20, 2006

Why would you ever want to use scented tampons? Stay away if you're sensitive to fragrances, simple as that.
posted by agregoli at 10:11 AM on September 20, 2006

They still sell scented tampons? I remember reading somewhere that they're bad in much the same way douching is: this site seems to back that up.

It's generally bad when there's any kind of chemicals in your vagina because they can throw off your body chemistry. Especially if you're already sensitive to scents.
posted by SoftRain at 10:17 AM on September 20, 2006

DO NOT use them. I'm a girl with some fragrance issues -- I can't even stand walking down the detergent aisle at the grocery store anymore.

When I was in my early teens, I wound up on a trans-Pacific flight with only scented tampons. I did, in fact, react to them. Horrible swelling and itching in that *particular* area is very much not something to mess with.

Or: Yes, you CAN react there, it DOES happen, SO NOT WORTH THE RISK.
posted by Andrhia at 10:54 AM on September 20, 2006

I haven't tried scented tampons at all but am allergic to many fragranced items (laudry powder, perfume, other cleaning products, etc).

I also react to scented toilet paper, even the kind where the scent is put on the roll instead of the paper, and it's not fun. Not an immediate thing, but after a few days use things get definitely uncomfortable. And it just gets wrose over time (even fora few days after I switch to the good stuff). So we buy the super expensive, triple ply, hypoallergenic paper that only comes in small packets. After dealing with the uncomfortableness that a quick wipe can cause there's no way I'd use something scented that's going to be, um, touching things for any length of time.

So put me in the 'don't try it' category. It might be fine, it might not. You'll only know if it's bad when the burning starts.
posted by shelleycat at 9:13 PM on September 20, 2006