Q&A: Why do positively charged (cationic) conditioning agents smell fishy or earthy?

Have you ever caught a whiff of a positively charged conditioner like Incroquat BTMS-50 or Honeyquat and wondered why it smelled fishy? There’s nothing wrong with the product: You’re smelling the ammonium salt in the cationic quaternary compound! Some people can smell it, some can’t. It’s hard to know if you’ll be a smeller or…