As POPSUGAR editors, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. If you buy a product we have recommended, we may receive affiliate commission, which in turn supports our work.
No disrespect to esteemed boy band of the early aughts, 2gether, but I respectfully disagree with their argument that the hardest part of breaking up is getting back your stuff. No, the hardest part, in my experience, is getting rid of their scent.
In the month or so after my relationship ended, I tried every conventional approach to "getting over" my ex: the sage-burning, the ridding of pictures, the crying my eyes out over a plate of three-cheese enchiladas while my friends patiently listened to theories of what could have been — none of it worked. I was still hung up.
Then, after two weeks, I was finally ready to address the olfactory part of the experience: her scent. Dr. Belisa Vranich, psychologist and author of The Breathing Class, once told POPSUGAR that your partner's scent has a huge impact on your feelings. "[How you] smell consciously — or unconsciously — dictates how you feel about a partner . . . because the part of your brain that senses smell is located near your memory," she said.
While there was no singular fragrance she wore all the time, per se, she did have an affinity for essential oils and a particular black tube of natural deodorant. That earthy, herb-like aroma was all over my pillows, on her clothes I borrowed, on my clothes she borrowed. So I did what any relatively sane person would do. . .
I did a deep clean. Here's what worked for me — and it happens to smell a lot like freedom.