Not in Thailand

I have mentioned before the sensitive noses of Thais, and their preference for heavily perfumed products. This has, until now, merely been an annoyance. But Jim's sensitivity to smells has recently ratcheted up to a zero tolerance level. This is a problem. Jim needs to breathe, but I need to bathe and the house needs to be cleaned as well.

I can't use Jim's shower gel, because *I* react to that. So I went looking for the one thing that I know from experience will not bother Jim: pure, unscented soap. Kirk's Castile soap comes in both a liquid and bar form in the US, as does Dr. Bronner's. They are not available in Thailand. I smelled every bar of soap on the soap aisle, both sides. I brought home 6 different kinds, from inexpensive Thai brands (6 bars for $2) to imported brands ($1.50 for 1 bar).

When we got home I had Jim test-sniff them. 4 of them, including the Ivory, got sent home with the cleaning lady. Ivory is unscented in the US, but it's scented here. I was left with the most expensive soap, the Pears, which is only slightly scented, and a Thai specialty soap that, although scented, didn't seem to bother Jim. If these don't work I'll be bathing with $10 bars of Clinique soap. They are unscented.