Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but when I went for the Chanel Fragrance Journey a while ago, that was the first time I found out about something called a “Hair Mist”. Apparently, although it sounds like a decadent beauty item to own, it’s one of their most popular fragrance products. Go figure eh?
But that wasn’t my take-away from it. What I learned is that the Hair Mist can not only refresh hair and leave it smelling softly of your favourite scent, if your favourite scent is No. 5, but it can also be used to neutralise food smells. Now, that was a bit of trivia I filed away in my memory palace. I knew it was going to come in handy one day.
And it did! I don’t own the Hair Mist, but I decided to try something of my own using travel/sample perfume spay vials 😀
I don’t know how it is in other parts of the world, but if you ever have to eat in a food court, a hawker centre or locally, a mamak stall or shop, or even if you have some smokey or strong smelling foods for lunch, you may find that the food smells linger on your clothes and hair when you return to the office after lunch.
Often, this can be quite unpleasant after a while, and as Murphy’s Law will have it, it will be the strongest and most unpleasant smells that last the longest on you. Don’t you hate that feeling of sitting at your desk, in that post-lunch stupor, smelling of the Mamak shop that you were just at? Suddenly that curry fish head you had for lunch doesn’t seem to smell so good anymore.
It happened to me one day. I’d come back from a quick lunch to find the smells of Indian spices stuck to my hair and clothing. I love my spicy Indian foods, but I don’t quite fancy smelling like I just fell into a vat of curry. It was at this point that my Memory Palace threw up the bit of trivia about using a hair mist.
I don’t have a Chanel Hair Mist, but I do carry a travel size vial of perfume with me. It’s not intentional, if I’m to be honest. I just never got round to removing it and since it was in one of my favourite scents – Dior J’Adore – I left it in my makeup pouch. I just spritzed a couple of sprays of the perfume a few inches away from my hair and on my clothes and much to my surprise, it not only shrouded me in my favourite scent, but helped to neutralize the food smells! I’m sure everyone else around me breathed a huge sigh of relief as well 😀
This Dior J’Adore purse spray is what I carry with me. But a miniature spray or sample spray vial works as well
I was so excited, I had to tell my chat buddy about it, and she warned me very practically, to not be too lavish because perfumes can dry out the hair due to the alcohol content. That is one of the things that the Chanel Hair Mist promises not to do. It says that it will not dry out the hair, maybe because it has a lower alcohol content. I don’t know, but now I’m interested to find out! 😀
So, here’s my tip of the day. Don’t toss the sample spray vials of perfume that you may get in a gift with purchase, or sample freebie. Keep a couple in your bag for emergencies, when you need to neutralize food smells, because I know that here in Malaysia, we’re foodies and we are quite happy to huddle together in hot coffeeshops to partake of popular fare especially at lunch time. Having a perfume spray on hand ensures that while you may return to the office, satiated, you don’t have to take the food smells home with you! 😀
Have you used a Hair Mist before? Have you tried this trick to neutralize food smells from hair and clothes?
As I said, a Hair Mist was something new to me and I’m quite interested to pick up a bottle now. But even if you think it’s just too gimmicky for you, refreshing your hair and clothes after a meal with a few spritzes of perfume is quite a neat trick! Now, I’m quite happy to collect sample vials of perfume sprays. I might discover a new scent to like and even if I don’t, at least I won’t smell of food after lunch! 😀
Paris B
i know tht feeling! gosh i have a habit of sniffing my hair after a meal, i should really cut y hair short for that reason. i keep a bottle of body mist in office, just to combat the post lunch smell! i prefer mist to perfume in that matter because sometimes you get the weirdest scent if you mix perfume + oil ><
LOL!! I don’t think you ever will cut your hair so just stick to the body mist haha Actually, just mist anything and that takes the edge off the smell of food. I hate smelling like I just walked out of an oily kitchen >.<
I came across hair perfume spray as I could not take it the smell lingering on my hair especially after meals. My hunt began with Google Ing and off I went to Sasa. But at that moment, they only carry 1 brand and with only 2 types of smell choices which is too floral for me. Do you know how much the Chanel hair mist retails? I get to know this through makeuporganizer’s instargam.
I’ve no idea about the price for Chanel’s hair mist Sharon, sorry! I’m sure it’s not as expensive as their perfumes so I’d put it in the RM150 range? They do have a few different scents not just No. 5.
I don’t get perfume samples very often so I usually transfer some my perfume into a travel size perfume atomizer (basically a glass bottle with a spray cap, can be bought from Daiso). It’s comes in handy for such instances and also for traveling! 🙂
Smart girl! I’ve been wanting to get a perfume atomizer but I’m deathly afraid of tranfering perfumes because I have a vision of them spilling everywhere and that would be a disaster! >.< But otherwise, it's the next best thing to perfume samples!
What a coincidence topic with what I just experienced today! I can’t stand strong coffee smell, either make me sleepier or dizzy. I always have some perfume bottles or samples in my office so I spray in general direction of my work desk whenever I could no longer survive with coffee strong fragrance and yay, no more annoying coffee smell 😀 Though I think some of my colleagues kept sniffing when they came closer to my place LOL
Hehe Yes, I remember that you can’t handle coffee smells Fathin which is so unusual! Most of the time, coffee smells make most of us perk up just a little and I’m sure that first thing in the morning, your office will be filled with the smell of coffee right? Smart of you to keep perfume on hand for moments like this.
Haha I do the same too! I carry sample vials with me to get rid of BBQ smells. I’ve never used a hair mist before but what I’d do is spray the air with my sample vial at eye level and then walk in the “area”. This way, I don’t get that much perfume on my hair. A bit off topic but sample vials are very useful when you’ve done a number 2 in public loos as well. 😛
OH YES BBQ smells are the pits! That’s why it’s so hard to go and eat Korean food. The smell sticks to you after you leave >.< Ooh and thanks for the toilet tip too. I wonder what people would think if they entered and suddenly smelled a burst of fragrance HAHA 😀
I recently tried Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire Hair Mist, and I used it for the same purpose (after a barbeque)! I went through the ingredient list. It has some castor oil, and I think that’s where the “no drying” claim is based on. With the little amount you’d actually use, I kinda doubt even real perfume would be severely drying. I think hair mists are nice-to-haves but definitely not must-haves!
Eeps! I didn’t know Guerlain did one too! I like the smell of La Petite Robe Noire 🙂 But I think you’re right Sunny. Unless you bathe our hair in it, or use it every hour, we probably won’t suffer from dry hair from trying to neutralize smells. For me, I’d rather just neutralize the smell and work on the hair later LOL 😉
If only perfumes can last as long as the msian food smell that lingers on us after lunch!!! Lol. Great tip , P.
Hahahhaa indeed! They should do a study. I think it’s all that oil 😛
Hate the smell of my hair and clothes after a meal in air-cond places. And my sensitive nose Hate strong perfumes. You know those when you can smell the perfume even standing few metres away or the person already out of sight but the perfume she wore stays put? So suffocating!!! So, to me, perfume + odour = ???!!! 0.o
Hair mist to ‘neutralise’ food smell, hmm…gotta test it out and see.
Oh boy tell me about strong perfumes that last longer than the presence of their owner! I hate that too! But you don’t need a strong perfume, just your regular perfume. At least you’ll smell good and not of oily food!
This is honestly the first time I’ve seen Chanel and tosai in the same graphic. You, trailblazer, you! Gotta love you, Paris.
Oh, and food smells…that’s why I never like to eat out for lunch. It feels so gross heading back to work smelling like a fry-up.
Local food is so pungent, I would have to drown myself in scent.
LOL! I didn’t notice till you mentioned it SG! Yeah, that’s me. Call me Daniel Boone 😉 I think food smells are worse in an air-conditioned restaurant. Eeps! Food tastes so good and then the smell follows you home *faint*
My favourite ones in the 90s were the Shiseido ones. But they don’t do them anymore. They were so nice and lasting I thought i could have worn them forever but then they were discontinued for good. Bad moves, Shiseido.
Shiseido did hair mists too! Ok, I’m definitely way behind time here haha 😀
What a fun post to read! Oh yes, coming from Singapore, I can totally relate to stubborn food smells from hawker centres. The food is scrumptious but not so on your clothes and hair. I would wash my hair after visiting such places but I guess that’s impossible in an office scenario. Great idea! And the Chanel hair mist sounds soooo lovely 🙂
LOL I think most of us from this region can, because food is such an integral part of our lifestyle! But I also find that when I go to a Japanese restaurant and if they have a grill, there goes my clothes too! Yes, I agree about the hair mist. Not a must have yet like everything Chanel, so nice to at least think about having LOL
Hello. I live in the United States. I use perfumes samples all the time because I can’t afford pricy bottles of perfume. A good idea if you can’t afford the Chanel hair mist is to take a spray bottle and add water to your favorite perfume and that way it’s still fragrances but diluted and you still get the same effect! Works great to get rid of the oily or broiled food fragrances that tend to stick to our clothes and hair 🙂