Autistic Sensory Overload

Autistic people have hyper senses. Happily, mine are only limited to smell and touch. I smell things other people cannot smell. I suppose that such senses can be trained and autistic people would be good at being The Nose in a fashion house. Meet Christine Nagel, The Nose of Hermés HERE. The Nose of a fashion house creates scents for the fashion house. A good Nose is worth billions in fashion industry turnover.

My nose is untrained. Yet, I still smell things that others cannot smell. I even know whether The Husband has had a bad day the moment he comes in the door, based on the smell that comes off his body. The Husband has a few distinctively different smells...
- bad day at work smell
- good day at work smell
- happy and relaxed at home smell

I have habituated myself to the smells in Chong Pang Market. I avoided Chong Pang for 5 years because Chong Pang has so many whirlpools of different smells that hit me in the face as I walk through. When there are too many smells to process, I experience a ball of anger rising from the pit of my stomach. Unless I leave the smelly place, I will blow up. Walking past people with body odour is especially hard. Each whiff of a stranger's body odour is like a punch in my face.

The flip side of this is that I am always smelling the people I love. Their smells are comforting. When I am sad or miserable, smelling The Husband is comforting. I suppose that is how dogs feel. Other people wear perfume to go out. I don't waste perfume for going out. For me, perfume is a night time routine. Nice smells are comforting and help me to sleep better.

I am less sensitive to touch but it still affects me. Clothes tags must be removed. Clothes must be made of stretchy and breathable material. I cannot tolerate fabrics around my legs, unless they are very soft and breathable. The only longs I tolerate are Ali Baba pants made of thin cotton and loose. Good thing that Singapore weather allows for short dresses and shorts. I almost never wear jeans nor tight long pants in Singapore. That is winter wear.

This makes shopping for clothes impossible. I walked in 3 malls yesterday and bought nothing. Clothes were either too thick, too tight, too hard, too scratchy. So many dresses are made of polyester. They are pretty but they don't breathe well.

I used to have higher tolerance for uncomfortable clothes but now...

It also does not help that I am misshapen. Off the shelf dresses that fit my bust are too loose at the waist and hips. Those that fit my waist and hips are too tight at the bust. Right now, I wear the same thing almost daily. T-shirts from Cotton On fit well. I bought 25 of them in black and wear the same thing every day. They are soft, breathable and stretchy.

Maybe I should make it a habit of wearing the same thing every day. After all, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs do that. However, they are men. It seems more acceptable for men to do that, than women, no?