The snow has recently turned to rain here in Stuttgart, which means streetcars are running on time, the ponds are thawing, and the shops are full of wet people who smell like laundry detergent.
I'm not saying that this is a German-only thing. I'm sure that to Europeans travelling to rainy Vancouver, Canadians reek of Downy. It's just that European laundry detergent smells different. Whether you pick ocean spray or fresh breeze, it's heavy, musty, earthy, and it permeates all fabrics. Lean in to speak to a waiter or inch too close to the person next to you in line, and you get a deep whiff of what smells like men's cologne of the cheapest variety.
Why does this smell good to a German? Let's answer this by looking at what Germans think another country smells like - New Zealand. Not just Febreze, but also Mr. Clean are now available in New Zealand-scented products. Actually, the description of this scent on the Febreze website reads like a wine review: white fruits, red fruits, green notes. This scent, according to the website, brings the rainforest to you. Herein lies the problem.
Stuttgart has a really good zoo, the Wilhelma, which was originally a pleasure garden for the prince of the region, stocked with animals from across the Württembergish empire - which means lots of chickens - and beyond, which means polar bears and parrots and everything in between. One of the most interesting parts is the greenhouses, which includes tropical crops like cacao, coffee, cinnamon, and jojoba. It's amazing to see these staples of my pantry in their raw state in something like their exotic home environment. It's not so amazing to be stuck in the suffocating damp heat of a rainforest for more than ten minutes. It's a scent experience I would describe as overwhelming rather than refreshing. Overwhelming is also the word I would use to describe the smell of German cleaning products.
Mystery solved. At least partially; I also think that the fact that many Germans use high-efficiency washing machines means that their detergent doesn't get rinsed out well enough, making the scent even stronger than intended by whoever's testing this stuff on monkeys somewhere. My tiny washing machine uses such little water that it takes over two hours to wash an armful of clothing, and you can be sure that if I dumped the recommended amount of detergent in with my clothes, I would smell like a rainforest as well. In fact, if I had been using the recommended amount for the last year, I would probably be used to it by now. I might even like it.
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