When the weather’s colder outside, and houses are closed-up more during the day and at night, home odour can be an issue.
So much so that, according to research conducted for Air Wick, nearly 3 in 5 Aussies are concerned about how their home smells to others. And this may not be without cause because three-quarters of us have visited someone else’s home and thought it smelled bad.
Damp and cold evenings, and hearty dinners can make the accumulation of odours worse according a leading smell scientists, psychologist and experienced ‘sniffer’, Dr Avery Gilbert.
Dr Gilbert has partnered with Air Wick to put the spotlight on home odour in Australia and showcase the first home odour (HO) Index.
He has developed a new HO Wheel which shows that strong HO is caused by a combination of common household smells, such as cooking of certain foods, pets and smelly sports gear.
“Just like the embarrassing issue of BO, when a person becomes too familiar with a smell, their nose no longer detects it,” says Dr Gilbert. “This is called odour fatigue and lends itself to being a cause of HO.”
Dr Gilbert has provided his expertise and advice to conduct research into the strength and unpleasantness of 51 common household smells, leading to the development of a unique mathematical algorithm for the HO Index. The unique index calculates the strength of typical household smells and then rates the risk of having HO into 4 levels - mild, moderate, high and extreme.
“Home odour can be a common yet often undetected problem affecting many people and their homes. If left untreated, it can be embarrassing and unpleasant, but for many home owners they are often unable to detect the intensity of their HO due to odour fatigue.
“Every home has a unique smell – some are just more unpleasant then others. Usually only after returning from a break from home – such as a vacation – can people get a whiff of how their house may really smell to others. I’m pleased to offer a new way to assess the likeliness of bad smells in the home, so people can do something about it should they need to,” he continued.
Australian fragrance expert Erica Moore, from Fragrances of the World, says it’s important to purify the air first, to ensure you are getting the best fragrance experience possible.
“Our homes have a lot of scent-noise to deal with, both fragrant and malodourous. Trying to overcome this type of odour overcrowding is not easy – airflow and fans will only do part of the job.”
Avery’s nose-down on common household smells
Body odour (BO)
Female sweat has higher amounts of MSH-producing lipids which means women (or rather the bacteria that love them) give off significantly more of the sulphur volatiles that smell like tropical fruit and onions. Men, on the other hand, have more of the HMHA-producing lipids and thus male BO tends to smell cheesy and rancid.
Stinky feet
Fresh foot sweat has little odour! Heavy exercise however makes for sweaty feet and can leave socks and sneakers damp. The type of bacteria that live on our feet feed on the lipids found in this sweat. In doing so, they release a molecule called isovaleric acid which is the main culprit in stinky foot odour. It has a sharp, fetid, somewhat cheesy character.
Greasy, fried and cooked foods
We love our prawns but once they’ve sat in the fridge a bit too long, they develop a disgusting rancid smell due to trimethylamine. This molecule forms on any leftover bits of fish in your kitchen bins and will quickly deter your guests!
Avery’s top tips for combatting home odour
1. Reset your nose by leaving the house for a while. Odour fatigue means that you get used to certain smells, so it’s important to clear your senses. Going for a long walk in fresh air really helps.
2. Come home and sniff around for any problem areas, such as the laundry or your kids’ rooms. There’s 51 smells that can contribute to bad home odour, so visit HomeOdour.com.au to ensure you haven’t missed any!
3. Identify what’s causing the bad smells - is it the pet bed in the lounge room, or the shoes under the couch? Have you cooked fish recently or forgotten to change the dishcloth?
4. Remove any bad smells you find. Clean out the kitchen sink, change the kitty litter, or open the window in your teen’s bedroom!
5. All homes have a unique smell, and there’ll always be a bad smell or two. After all, you can’t throw out your pets or your kids! Ensure your home smells as fresh as can be by cleaning the air before you fragrance it.
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