What is it about the olfactory preferences of pre-teen to teenage girls that draws them to the fake, too-sweet pungency of French Vanilla? The scent, which I reluctantly admit, was enticing to me too at one time, now just turns my stomach. And it seems to be infused into just about everything. It is the ubiquitous fragrance of the girls' bathrooms at every school where I teach, often masking a less pleasant-- underlying, yet still present-- odor. Female students slather themselves with this stench using either lotions, body sprays, or perfumes, and the smell lingers in the hallways. They even stick pot pourri satchels in their lockers so their books and belongings will smell like a bakery!
Worst of all, the go-to gift among girls of this age seems to be ANYTHING French Vanilla. My students have brought me gifts of lotions, car fresheners, soy candles, and the like; different objects, same smell. While I'm grateful for the gesture, and appreciate the fact that they thought to include me in their holiday gift giving, I have a hard time not retching. I have even tried to use some of the gifts I have been given, but to no avail.
The candles wind up in the next garage sale, and the toiletries are saved for desperate times only. I carry the small bottle of lotion with me to lessons during the winter, and only use it when my dry hands are about to crack. Even if I put it on in a well-ventilated area, the smell seeps into my pores and clings to my skin and overpowers the practice rooms where I teach-- I now know what it must be like to be trapped in a gingerbread house. And as for the shower gel... I was expecting to smell clean, but instead smelled like a cookie-- a hot, runny sugar cookie-- I had to take another shower just to get the stink off!
Clearly, a woman's sense of smell changes as she ages, but I don't know what it is about this particular scent that now repulses me so much. I like the taste (and even the smell) of real vanilla-- whether in pure extract form or from the vanilla bean itself-- but the fake, imitation varieties turn my stomach. The sense of smell can be very powerful, and a certain scent can evoke vivid memories... maybe I have some bad or repressed memory that I associate with that smell? Who knows. But if you're looking to get me something smelly, please know that I'd prefer a light, clean scent-- or better yet, something with no stink at all!
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