Where fragrance shows up in the air people breathe every day, place by place. Every point is a graded research finding with its source.
Evidence key Strong Moderate Weak How we grade
At home The kitchen The bathroom The laundry Childcare and the nursery The classroom The office The car Shops and public places Public restrooms Planes and hotels
At home
Scent chemicals are a signature of home air.
In week-long air measurements across 11 European cities, the scent chemicals limonene and alpha-pinene were the compounds most concentrated in homes compared with workplaces (about 4x), attributed to perfumes, cleaning and fragranced products. Strong evidence. Geiss 2011
For fragrance-allergic people, dermatologists recommend removing diffusers, scented candles, room deodorizers, incense and wax melts, switching household cleaners, wipes and laundry products to fragrance-free, and bringing your own shampoo to the salon and your own oil to massages. Moderate evidence. Rodriguez 2024
In 658 Danish/Swedish patients with hand eczema, 67 (10.2%) reacted to fragrance chemicals commonly found in household products, and the standard fragrance-mix patch test alone would have missed more than half of these reactions. Strong evidence. Kumar 2020 (Heydorn 2003)
The kitchen
Dish soaps and spray cleaners can contain fragrance chemicals too.
A lab analysis of 59 soaps, surface cleaners, laundry and dish-washing products from four European countries found the citrus-scent chemical limonene in 78% of them, linalool in 61% and citronellol in 47%; all three are fragrance chemicals linked to skin allergy. Moderate evidence. Rastogi 2001 Industry-funded
In a test of 59 best-selling Korean household products, the citrus-scent chemical limonene was the chemical most often given off: it came from 44% of products, including bleach, dish soap, laundry detergent, disinfectant and even a liquid pesticide. Moderate evidence. Kwon 2007
Pick fragrance-free dish soap and cleaners. Check them with the label decoder or EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning.
The bathroom
Shampoos and shower gels can give off scent chemicals too.
All 31 UK shampoos, shower gels, conditioners, moisturizers and foundations with reported emission rates gave off fragrance terpenes (measured together as limonene); shampoos and shower gels released the most. Moderate evidence. Yeoman 2020
Using less shower product and running the bathroom fan both lower the fragrance-terpene peak: emissions scaled with product amount, and halving ventilation raised the modeled limonene peak from about 375 to 495 ppb. Weak evidence. Yeoman 2020
Look up what’s in your shower caddy in the ingredient guide or EWG Skin Deep.
The laundry
Most fragrance doesn’t end up in perfume bottles.
By the industry's own figures, about 60% of fragrance goes into soaps, fabric softeners, cleaners and detergents, yet its 2003 method for estimating people's exposure counted only 10 personal-care products applied to skin, and breathing fragrance in was not part of the calculation. Strong evidence. Bickers 2003 (RIFM Expert Panel) Industry-funded
Perfume, air fresheners and dryer sheets carried the highest levels of fragrance chemicals and the phthalate DEP; the pooled perfume sample was 1.4% DEP by weight. Moderate evidence. Dodson 2012
Check detergents and softeners with the label decoder or look them up in EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning.
Childcare and the nursery
Children breathe what adults clean with.
In 34 California childcare centers, the chemicals at the highest levels in the air children breathed came from cleaning and personal-care products: a silicone ingredient called D5 (median 51 µg/m³) and the citrus-scent chemical limonene (median 33 µg/m³). Strong evidence. Hoang 2016
Limonene was detected in every childcare room studied and was more than 1,000 times higher indoors than outdoors, so it came from products used inside. Strong evidence. Hoang 2016
About half of children's cosmetics in a Danish registry (634 of 1,179, 53.8%) listed perfume or a named fragrance allergen, and a US survey of 533 baby/child personal care products found a closely similar share (255/533, 47.8%; Bonchak 2018); in Danish baby-care products the commonest named allergens were linalool, limonene and benzyl alcohol (the US primary does not report limonene or linalool by name). Strong evidence. Sukakul 2024 Industry-funded
Childcare air had about three times more limonene than new California homes (33 vs 11 µg/m³), which the authors link to frequent cleaning. Moderate evidence. Hoang 2016
More than 70% of the chemicals measured in childcare air had no health-based safety limit; several fragrance compounds were among 12 the authors flagged for further study. Moderate evidence. Hoang 2016
Childcare rooms with more fresh-air exchange had lower levels of several of the chemicals measured. Weak evidence. Hoang 2016
Check baby products with the label decoder or EWG Skin Deep, and see Fragrance, pregnancy and kids.
The classroom
Limonene was 13x higher indoors than outdoors in European offices and classrooms, one of the two highest indoor/outdoor ratios of 23 chemicals measured. Strong evidence. Geiss 2011
In a real working primary school, mopping a classroom with a limonene-containing detergent produced bursts of tens of thousands of tiny new particles per cubic centimeter within minutes, but only when ozone was present in the air; a plain water-only mop produced no such burst. Moderate evidence. Morawska 2009
In Hunt v. St. Peter School (1997), a scent-free classroom was treated as a reasonable accommodation, but a school-wide fragrance ban was ruled an undue hardship. Moderate evidence. De Vader & Barker 2009
Asking a school for a change? Start with our school and childcare letter.
The office
In an office-sized test room with some ozone in the air, a single ordinary spray of perfume, body spray or hair spray, or a dab of hand lotion, set off a burst of new ultrafine particles within minutes, reaching 34,000–200,000 particles per cubic centimeter, more than in many city streets. Moderate evidence. Wu 2024
94% of workers with fragrance-related work asthma in California were women, mostly in offices, health care and schools, and most cases came from perfume worn by others. Moderate evidence. Weinberg 2017
See how to ask for a fragrance-free workspace.
The car
A car is a small room with the windows up.
Keeping a gel air freshener in a car raised the fragrance chemical limonene in the air the driver breathed 3.6-4.7 times, to about 19-28 ug/m3, during real commutes (10 cars tested). Moderate evidence. Jo 2008
Taking the air freshener out of the car removes its main added chemical: without one, in-car limonene was about 5-6 ug/m3. Moderate evidence. Jo 2008
A new Little Tree car air freshener releases most of its limonene in the first few days: in a closed car the limonene signal halved roughly every day and was nearly gone within 4-5 days. Moderate evidence. Pino-Delgado 2021 (J Student Res)
Fragrance can cause skin allergy without touching your own products: from a partner's toiletries (consort dermatitis), from soap residue carried on the hands to the eyelids, and through the air, as in a small case series of a ride-share driver and four passengers whose airborne facial/eyelid dermatitis (all patch-test positive for fragrance mix I and/or balsam of Peru) was linked to car fragrance diffusers, with the driver's rash clearing when his diffuser was removed. Moderate evidence. Rodriguez 2024
Riding with someone else? It’s fair to ask them to take the air freshener down for the trip.
Shops and public places
For people who react to fragrance, a scented store or venue can mean staying home.
In a nationally representative German survey, half of the people who get sick from fragranced products (51.1%) had been kept from going somewhere because of fragrance, and 43.8% had avoided public toilets with air fresheners or scented products. Moderate evidence. Klaschka 2020
Among US adults reporting diagnosed multiple chemical sensitivity, 59% said they could not use a public restroom with an air freshener and 70% had been kept from going somewhere by fragranced products. Moderate evidence. Steinemann 2018 (JOEM)
About 1 in 7 Danish adults (14%) reported fragrance-triggered symptoms at least weekly, and 5% had changed where they shop, how they travel or how they work because of them. Moderate evidence. Elberling 2005
Many products sold as "fragrance free" in natural-product stores are free only of synthetic fragrance and still contain essential oils, which make up 80 of the 162 fragrance ingredients documented to cause skin allergy. Moderate evidence. Rodriguez 2024
Shopping for yourself? Start with the fragrance-free shopping guide.
Public restrooms
41% of US adults with asthma reported health problems from air fresheners, and 36.7% said they can't use a public restroom that has one. Moderate evidence. Steinemann 2018
Air fresheners were the most common secondhand trigger: 15.5% of UK adults reported health problems from them, and 12.1% avoid or are reluctant to use public restrooms that have them. Moderate evidence. Steinemann 2018
About 1 in 5 Australians with asthma (21.4%) said they can't or won't use public toilets that have air fresheners. Moderate evidence. Steinemann 2018
Planes and hotels
Given the choice, most people would rather fly and stay fragrance-free.
Most people would rather have fragrance-free spaces: 65% prefer fragrance-free airplanes, 61% hotels, 51% health care and 48% workplaces, against 16-22% who prefer them fragranced. Moderate evidence. Steinemann 2019
Swedes overwhelmingly prefer scent-free spaces: 80.2% vs 6.0% for airplanes, 77.7% vs 9.8% for hotels, and 64.1% vs 14.0% for health care. Moderate evidence. Steinemann 2018 (Sweden)
About twice as many Australians would prefer fragrance-free workplaces (42.8%) as fragranced ones (22.2%), and over three times as many prefer unscented flights (57.7% vs 16.3%). Moderate evidence. Steinemann 2017
Booking a room? Ask for one that hasn’t been treated with air freshener, and see your rights for what else you can ask for.
Many of these measurements come from specific studies, rooms or countries, so treat them as examples, not averages. See all the indoor air facts and the claims we won’t make. Information, not medical advice.