Fragrance Overkill

Like a perfume counter in a department store, too many scents in one place can overwhelm a person’s sense of smell. Thus, using too strong a fragrance or differing fragrances in a restroom may result in fragrance overkill. Competing products, like having an enzyme deodorant in the mop water, a different fragrance on the wall and a third fragrance in the urinal can create a ‘fruit cocktail’ of fragrances that becomes overwhelming. In these cases, the combination of scents actually become worse than the odor that a facility is trying to eliminate. When choosing fragrances, it is important that air dispensers, urinal cakes and cleaning products all emit the same scents to present uniformity in the restroom. For example, differing fragrance scents like pine and cherry can compete against each other in close quarters and the resulting smell can be offensive to restroom patrons. Thus, placement and installation of dispensers is critical and facility managers should pay particular attention to the air flow throughout their facility in order to maximize a product’s effectiveness.