"...When you have multiple chemical/fragrance sensitivities, or MCS, the toxins in the air around you can have a direct effect on your well-being.
Chemical/fragrance sensitivities and reactions to them vary from person to person — not just in severity, but also in what triggers reactions. Some people can experience minimal exposure relatively unscathed, while others literally cannot leave their houses.
It’s a real condition and it has real accessibility consequences for people who have it. - "Get Mad When Folks Ask You To Be Scent-free?" Adrian Ballou, Everyday Feminism
************The inclusive and sensitive mission described below is a model we would love to replicate, and spread to the communities we live in. As you read the answers to the questions below consider taking personal steps to become Fragrance Free.
The following document comes directly from the Fragrance Free page at EBMC East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California. The Questions and Answers to "Why be Frangrance Free?" and " How to Be Fragrance Free?" are posted in its entirety.
Link to the EBMC "Fragrance Free at EBMC" page for more resources for being Fragrance Free.
Thank you to all who contributed to the creation of this very valuable resource. *
WHY BE FRAGRANCE FREE?
Part of EBMC's mission is that we are rooted in diversity and committed to building inclusive community. This is an ongoing invitation to a practice of openness, compassion and constant learning.
An increasing number of people in our community are harmed by a variety of common chemicals and fragrances -- due to allergies, asthma or other chemical sensitivity, they may have difficulty breathing, migraine headaches, flu-like symptoms and more. When we come to EBMC having used products on our bodies or clothing that include fragrances or chemicals, those who are allergic or sensitive are faced with the choice to stay and get sick or leave and be excluded.
Please practice with this awareness at EBMC, and help us make EBMC accessible to all by coming to EBMC fragrance free. May we all be healthy and free from harm.
HOW TO BE FRAGRANCE FREE?
Important things to do:
- Wear clothes laundered in fragrance-free laundry detergent
- Avoid laundry softeners such as “Bounce.”
- Use fragrance-free soap, shampoo and hair products
- Use fragrance-free lotion
- Avoid cologne, aftershave lotion, and perfume
- Read the ingredient labels on all products used on your body or clothing
- Test each product with your nose or ask a friend with a good sense of smell. Many products are mistakenly marked “unscented” or “fragrance-free” (but actually contain masking scents that can be very harmful).
- Don’t be afraid to trust your naturally occurring pheromones rather than using added-on scents!
For more information about being fragrance free, please read the articles and resources linked in the right-side column of this page. GO TO THE EBMC WEBSITE FOR THESE PRODUCTS.
* Much of this knowledge was gathered from resources created and compiled by others, including Dana Lion, Peggy Munson, Alice Kosten, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Special thanks to them! This is a living document and contributions are always welcome.
More resources and examples of communities living Fragrance Free and advocating solidarity for EVERYBODY access to space.http://eastbaymeditation.org/accessibility/scentfree.html
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" Did you know there is a growing number of people who can become ill from simply running an errand in a store, going to work or attending a gathering? Simple tasks that most of us take for granted can cause this group to have mild to severe medical reactions. Even their own homes and work environments can lash out at them.
Why is this happening? “Approximately 12.6% of the population suffers from multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), a condition in which they experience reactions from exposure to low concentrations of common chemicals…”(1) - Invisible Disabilities Organization
The Safety Pin Café, this virtual gathering place, where magic, metaphor and a truly safe space can be enjoyed, began as a solution to the fact that I am one of the "Invisibly Disabled." This page is designed to be a "place holder", remember that phrase when you were first learning subtraction? The zero (0) held the space while you continued to take the value of numbers away. Confused? Well, let me just run on for a little bit and suffice it to say that the analogy lives in being invisible. Most everyone of us have experienced the feeling of being unseen, discounted or disregarded.
The Safety Pin Café began as a story (powerful medicine!) to ease the discomfort of physical symptoms brought on by seasonal mold and dampness and aggravated by not being able to enjoy "a well-developed informal public life ..." - "The Problem of Place in America" The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg. Oldenburg's landmark survey that celebrates all the places where people hang out, written in 1989, described an America that lacks the common places different from home or work. In the nearly thirty years since publication generations of coffee shops, cafes and spaces for human association have come, and gone. The issues identified have inspired change. I watch first-hand the morphing challenges for groups motivated to create the 'great good place.' As I age, and root in the South Whidbey Island community I become less invisible, I can come and go in a well-stocked and relatively fragrance free grocery and market to shop for the food and products that make eating well a daily reality. No small blessing! I count it every day.
But, there is so much more that could be done to acknowledge and assist in the creation of common spaces that encourage association, and include practices for creating Fragrance Free Zones. That's what this page is all about. If you are here, reading, you may be among the truly supportive friends of The Safety Pin Café willing and ready to do what it takes to create fragrance free zones (like smoke-free zones). Read here for more information about what you can do to create a Safety Pin Café year-round.
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