Same here...I can't stand the strong smells...but to answer your question...supposedly as we age we lose some of our sense of smell.

Our allergies can change over time. I definitely have more problems with my allergies to chemicals than I used to. I DO NOT walk down detergent aisles. I only buy non-scented products, and I cannot change things like my shampoo, or deoderant brands without risking either a skin reaction or a respiratory problem.

Was at the movies yesterday and someone near me must have not had time for a shower, and just doused themselves with perfume. I could hardly breathe--and that's with taking 2 different heavy-duty prescription allergy meds every day of my life!

I do believe that we're supposed to lose some of our sense of smell as we age, but I've known many who have found their allergies got much worse with age--so guess it just depends upon how those influences work out in your life.

I think my sense of smell has decreased, if anything.

I think our sense of taste and smell gets less sensitive as you age, but I have gotten more allergic to perfumes, scented lotions and chemicals. Tide put some downy in their product and I had trouble when I tried to sleep in my pj's after laundering them. The last trip I went on the tour company asked the guests not to wear perfume while on the bus.

I haven't noticed any change and I am 74. I know with my Mother some of her medicines made her lose her taste.

Sue

It can't be healthy using all those different air freshening products that are on the market. I can't believe how many there are!

Just what concoction did you come up for your own laundry detergent? I am very interested.

No cover up smells at my house. If I feel the house needs fresh air, I open the windows, even in the cold of the winter, or the heat of the summer, some fresh air does wonders.

Moni

Some people just way over do it with fragrances.
As a smoker, my sense of smell is terrible, but there is one woman I see a couple of times a week that way over-does the perfume. If she stands next to me for even a minute, my eyes are watering.

My sniffer is in overdrive. Smells drive me nuts. I've been known to tell my kids friends to leave the house, that they stink! I don't know which was worse cologne or perfume. Their friends all knew I had allergies and would apologize and wait in the garage or on the deck for my kids.
Now that we are "older", I notice that many of the "older" ladies seem to think that you don't need to bathe every day, just douse on more perfume! Grrrr!
Kathy G in MI

I don't think I am any more sensitive to smells, because I've never liked being where there were strong odors.

I do think there are just more perfumed things available now. Why? I don't know. I know I don't buy them.

I've often wondered why do people buy those things? A clean body and a clean house smell good! Why all the artificial scents every where? What are they trying to cover up?

Sue

I really don't like how everything is scented these days - including sprays to remove odors - they are actually scented also! Strange.

I smoked heavily for nearly 40 years so I did a lot of damage to my sense of smell. However, I'm nearly three years "clean" and a surprising amount has returned. Things don't actually smell at all they way they did when I smoked.

Like the change in my taste buds, my sense of smell is not necessarily better or worse, just differently than it once was perceived by me to be. But, it is a lot stronger.

I notice smells and sounds more than my husband. I don't know if that has changed over the years. I know my vision has gotten worse!

Perfumes, cigarette smoke, seem to be bothersome to me these days.

My perfume doesn't bother me.
I smoke 3 a day, outside, but OP's smoke gets to me.

Naahh! We don't get more sensitive, just more discrimatory. And yes, there are more smells being added to products these days. It has become hazardous for someone who is allergic to perfumes to walk the aisles of the grocery store.

There has been an effect in my life. Yesterday, I was taking a walk in the neighborhood and passed an area where I detected a scent. I thought to myself, someone is running a clothes dryer with Downey Frabric softener. On my return trip, I experineced that same small in exactly the same spot. I thought, how strange. The wind currents should have moved this odor around a bit. It was then that I realized that I was next to a honey locust in bloom. LOL. It smelled exactly like frabric softner.

I don't even wear perfume or cologne anymore. I do like lavender scented things and I like room scenter things

I finally found a room spray for the bathroom. If you don't use to much, you won't even notice it. It is called odor-cide, but now Walmart doesn't carry it anymore. I like my bacon really brown and crisp which smells up the house. I just light a candle and that takes care of the smell.

Hey Stargazzer, look for Just a Drop for the bathroom. Works amazingly!

Nothing wrong with the smell of bacon IMO! I could handle bacon cologne & perfume. Far better than that jug perfume in which old women insist on marinating themselves. Guess they're trying to cover up the "old people" smell.

I have avoided scented detergents for a long time and haven't used fabric softener for 10 years or more. I don't like my clothes to smell. When they smell, it tells me to wash them. And the detergent aisles make me cough. AFAIC they should have the detergent and sell the little bottles of stench you can add to it.

But if you've ever been around old people, there's a lot of them who can't have a sense of smell.

And IMO lilacs should be outlawed as a noxious weed. It's certainly an obnoxious weed. That is probably the worst stench there is.