- Jess Ruhfus was inspired to start her post-flush perfume business when she was sharing a house with two men
- She created No.2, a chic loo fragrance that is Australian made, vegan, cruelty-free and all natural
- Unwanted bathroom smells are banished, keeping your reputation in tact
- Here, Jess Ruhfus, 32, from Balgowlah, NSW, shares her story – and how her boujee perfume drops can save your relationship or help you out on a first date
Walking past the bathroom, I caught a whiff of something that made me gag.
“Seriously guys,” I said crossly as I entered the lounge room. “Please can you use the air freshener I bought?”
It was during the 2020 COVID lockdown and I lived with my boyfriend, Matthew, and a male housemate in a small flat with only one bathroom.
With all of us working from home, this meant we became a little too intimate with each other’s toilet use!
So, to try and remedy the problem, I bought all sorts of air fresheners.
But the ones out there were synthetic and I didn’t love the idea of the spray getting on my skin, or even breathing it in.
None of them looked that pretty either.
“I wish there were products out there that you could proudly display in the bathroom,” I told Matthew.
It made me think that I could potentially create my own solution to our stinky toilet problem.
The science bit
I did an online essential oils chemistry course.
At home, I experimented to find the perfect mix of natural essential oils that nullified unwanted toilet smells and replaced them with a citrus scent within 30 seconds.
I learned that if I used a sugar cane alcohol base, then with a few drops of the oil into the loo after flushing, they would sink to the bottom. The fragrance would then rise, trapping any odours.
Next, I designed a sleek recyclable glass bottle for it.
Keeping it classy
My friends and family tested it and loved it, so I made 1000 bottles to sell. I posted about it on social media and gifted 20 to friends who also posted about it and word spread.
I called it No. 2 – a cheeky reference to Chanel No. 5 – with the tag line “Keeping your reputation intact”.
Within two weeks, I’d sold out completely.
“Wow,” I said to Matthew. “I’m onto something here.”
“You’d better make some more,” he said.
So, I found a manufacturer and I sold out again four times over.
One busy day, I sold $11,000 worth of products!
By December 2023, I sold my software business to focus on my post-flush perfume drops full time.
Now, I sell them on my website and social media pages to people all over Australia and New Zealand.
They’re used in boutique hotels and I do guerrilla campaigns where I sneak into the bathrooms of fancy restaurants and leave my bottles there.
The response from happy customers has been great.
“From a married man that shares a bathroom with his wife, this is a must-have,” said one reviewer. “Trust me, it’ll save your marriage.”
In fact, many people have called it a “marriage saver”!
These days, we have a travel-size edition you can take on planes or to dinner which has proven popular.
Now, we’re launching in the US and I have other products in the works.
I’m so proud of my loo fragrance. Who knows, one day it might even make me stinking rich!
No.2 is available in 100ml ($29.00) and in a mini travel size ($15.00). To shop, click here.
No.2 is a boujee loo fragrance that is Australian made and all natural, that rids the loo of unwanted smells & keeps your reputation intact.
Coming to the rescue in the workplace, on first dates, hosting guests, entertaining at home, maintaining happy marriages or travelling on long-haul flights, No.2 is an essential-oil based formula of drops, pipetted directly into the loo after flushing.
Within 30 seconds, notes of mandarin, geranium & bergamot nullify unwanted smells and replace them with a beautiful citrus scent.
Sitting pretty in a sleekly-designed glass bottle, No.2 looks chicer than synthetic aerosol options.
How to banish toilet odour?
