Great to hear that you've decided to attend your first contra dance! It's really easy to get started, they're a lot of fun, and it's a friendly and welcoming community. You just show up, the caller tells you what to do, and in a few minutes you're dancing. It's got the best learning curve out there!

There's one minor exception, however, which is that some dances are "fragrance free". For these you'll need a little prep: plan to start getting ready about three weeks before your first fragrance free event. I know this can be a bit more time than you were expecting to invest before learning whether this is an activity you'd enjoy, but trust me: it's worth it!

It can be a little hard to figure out whether a dance you're considering attending is fragrance free. While some dances list it on the homepage, you can't count on that. For example, it could be at the bottom of the code of conduct or listed on a dance etiquette page. The safest thing to do is to read the whole website, but of course that's a ton of work so you might want to write to the organizers.

Once you find the policy, it probably looks something like:

These Dances are Fragrance Free - please do not wear perfume, cologne, or other scented products, as some of our dancers are chemically sensitive, and experience discomfort when exposed to these materials.

Read it carefully! While many people initially interpret these policies to prohibit perfume, "scented products" includes soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, laundry detergent, etc. I recommend you start three weeks before the event, and spend a week noting the ingredients on each product you use. Read them over, looking for the words "fragrance" or "parfum". If you don't see those, there's still some chance that it's a scented product, unfortunately: sometimes individual fragrance ingredients are mentioned by name instead. I recommend taking a picture of the ingredients and uploading it to an LLM with a prompt like "are any of these ingredients fragrances"?

Note that some products will say "unscented", but still have fragrances. This is very confusing, but the basic idea is that an "unscented" product is intended not to smell like anything, and might include "masking fragrances" to cover the scents of the ingredients. Products that say "fragrance free" are a better bet, but the term is not heavily regulated and there are products out there like this eucalyptus lavender soap bar that say "free from any fragrances" but also have strongly scented essential oils:

Two weeks week before the event you should have your list of the products you need to find substitutes for. It's the same deal as before: analyze ingredient lists on potential replacements, and again LLMs may be useful. Here are some product lists that might be helpful in getting started: EastBayMeditation, FGC. If the cost is a burden, and a full set of personal care products can be a substantial investment, consider writing to the organizers to ask if they have a fragrance-free fund.

With medical products, like a medicated shampoo that happens to be scented, sometimes a fragrance free replacement is not an option. I'd recommend talking to the organizers: they may be willing to consider an exception. This is another reason to start early, since most of these events are organized by committees and can take a while to come to a decision.

About a week before the event you should have acquired all your replacement products: now it's time to start using them! The goal is that by the time you attend the event you no longer have any lingering fragrances on yourself or your clothes. For clothes in particular scents can last a long time, so the safest thing to do is clean your washing machine (wash the machine with baking soda, then again with vinegar) and then wash your clothes twice. If you use a laundromat there aren't any good options, since fragrance free laundromats are essentially not a thing, but if you ask around you may be able to find a friend who has their own machine and either already takes a fragrance free approach or is willing to help you out.

At this point, you're ready to attend the dance! Make sure you're wearing clothes that have been washed since you transitioned away from scented products. It's also a good idea to bring your own hand soap: it's sadly common for fragrance free dances to have scented products in their bathrooms. I hope you have a great time!