You’ve probably walked into someone else’s home and noticed the lingering scents of last night’s salmon dinner, pet odor, musty bedrooms or slightly mildewy bathrooms. But why is it so hard to tell if your own home smells bad? That’s because, after a while, you stop noticing it.
There’s even a name for it: nose blindness, or olfactory adaptation. But don’t beat yourself up over it. Blame your brain.
Nose blindness is a natural sensory phenomenon where the brain adjusts to — and essentially “tunes out” — consistent or familiar smells over time, Dr. Nick Rowan, an otolaryngologist specializing in rhinology and skull base surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. Dr. Tran Locke, assistant professor of otolaryngology at Baylor College of Medicine, explains that “our brains are wired to detect new smells, which can signal a change in our environment, like the presence of smoke or food. When we’re exposed to a constant smell, like the scent of our house, our brain starts to filter out that smell. This lets us focus on new smells that may occur in the environment rather than get overwhelmed by background smells.”
Moisture is a top culprit when it comes to household odors. “When surfaces and items are exposed to prolonged moisture, they can start to grow bacteria that can lead to mildew and mold growth, and that creates a musty smell,” Carolina Kazimierski, president of Sophia’s Cleaning Service, tells Yahoo Life. “You can find this smell anywhere from your towels to your closets to your drains — wherever moisture is present. Ventilation and regular cleaning are thus the best ways to combat this musty smell.”
In general, the most common sources of odor in homes are the trash can, refrigerator and garbage disposal, as well as carpets, upholstered furniture and pet items, Natalie D’Apolito, communications and outreach coordinator for the American Cleaning Institute, tells Yahoo Life.
So, how can you tell if your home’s aroma is more stinky than fresh, and what can you do to make it smell good? Here’s what experts suggest.
How to tell what your home actually smells like
Nose blindness is hard to prevent since, as Rowan explains, it’s a natural adaptation of the brain. However, there are things you can do to get a fresh perspective on whether unpleasant scents are lingering in your home.
“Leaving for a period, like a vacation, resets the smell area in the brain such that when you come back, you’ll be able to pick up on what your home smells like,” says Locke. Rowan agrees, saying that “returning home after a trip can give you a fresh perspective on the odors in your home.”
Rowan adds: “Some people also find that leaving the house for even a few hours, spending time outdoors and then reentering can provide a similar, albeit less intense, olfactory reset.”
However, he says that one of the best ways to better understand what your home smells like is to ask a trusted friend or family member for their honest impression, “as they’ll notice smells that you may have adapted to or maybe not even recognize because they are uniquely ‘you.’”
Not going on vacation anytime soon or dread asking someone to get a good whiff of your home? Rowan suggests having a variety of scents in your surroundings, which can help keep your nose and smell nerves attuned. “Using different scents or fragrances in the home and keeping the windows open or using fans to circulate air can both prevent the scent of your home from being stagnant and decrease the risk of nose blindness,” he says.
7 tips to make your home smell good
While taking out the trash, using a dehumidifier to deal with moisture and opening up some windows can certainly help, here are some other ways to freshen up your space, according to experts:
Use a natural air purifier. Want to neutralize odors in your home rather than just mask them? Pick up some bamboo charcoal air purifying bags, which naturally absorb unpleasant scents anywhere in your home, including near garbage cans and litter boxes. You can also place them in your sneakers and boots.
Leave out a bowl of vinegar. Fish for dinner last night? Logan Taylor, president and founder of the Dazzle Cleaning Co., recommends pouring distilled white vinegar into a bowl and leaving it in your kitchen for a few hours or overnight to remove strong odors. “This will make the room smell like vinegar, but the smell dissipates quickly,” Taylor told Apartment Therapy.
Use a diffuser with essential oils. “I feel that how your house smells has as much to do with how it looks” as the furniture and fixtures, interior decorator Eileen Lane Kennedy tells Yahoo Life. “A calming scent immediately makes the space feel zen.” Kennedy is a fan of using water diffusers with natural oils, such as the Vitruvi Stone Diffuser with essential oils from Whole Foods (her go-to is Aura Cacia’s lemon eucalyptus). “They are safe to leave on and give your house a subtle scent,” she says. “You can change the scent based on your mood or time of year.”
And clean with them too. This is one of Kazimierski’s favorite ways to make a home smell good. “I will often add some drops of lemongrass or orange-scented essential oils to my cleaning solutions to both mask the strong chemical smells that cleaning solutions can have and add a longer-lasting refreshing scent associated with cleanliness,” she says. “I will also often add some drops of different essential oils to my fabric sprays and then spray that onto my couches, curtains and blankets to make those items not just smell clean, but smell good!”
Try wall plug-ins. While not everyone is a fan of them, if you’re looking for a consistent scent output, Kazimierski says you can’t beat wall plug-in air fresheners. “They work 24/7, and they aren’t a fire hazard like candles,” she says. “Keeping your house clean will be the best way to prevent bad odors in the first place, but using something like wall plug-ins will introduce good smells that you can change according to the season or your own personal preferences.”
Make a simmer pot. In a pinch, boil water in a pot, throw in a few orange slices, some cranberries and a smattering of cinnamon sticks — or sub in other citrus like lemons and limes or swap cinnamon for sprigs of rosemary or lavender or pine cuttings — and simmer on the stove until your home is filled with that cozy fragrance. Just be sure to keep an eye on the water level and turn off the heat after a couple of hours, though you can leave the pot on the stove to keep enjoying the scent.
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