This post originally appeared on NextStage‘s That Think You Do blog in April 2016. We’re resurrecting it here for some Facebook friends who asked “Do Women Like or Prefer Men, that Wear Scents or Cologne?“
Continuing with the thread introduced in You Smell Funny, we discovered some more research about how humans non-consciously use their olfactory sense (sense of smell) for mating purposes (like dating, finding the one you love, finding the one you’ll love once versus forever, finding the “me love you good Charlie, me make you happy long time”, all that kind of stuff) and thought to share it because we know you’re all out there just dying to know…
Guys and gals, are you in the courting/flirting/tension release stage of a relationship? You may tell yourself you’re looking for someone long time and if, in your heart of hearts, you know you’re only looking for someone short term, go to the ones who are heavily perfumed/masked/scented. They won’t disappoint.
It turns out that one aspect of our evolutionary heritage is to emit scents that let potential mates know our…fecundity (“The state of being fertile; capable of producing offspring”).
And here’s the interesting way this has gotten disabused culturally; We now lather and immerse ourselves in baths, oils, perfumes and such to mask the very scent that would tell the world, “Hey there hiya how you doin, I’m a’ waitin’ and a’ready for love!”
But wait, it gets better.
Those individuals who so obviously lather and immerse themselves? Consciously or not (we’re betting on not) are trying to signal potential mates’ olfactory senses that they would be a good long term catch.
When in truth, studies show they’re not good long term risks.
And don’t want to be.
But what about those folks who don’t put a lot of effort into masking their natural aromas?
It turns out that on average, the men and women who don’t lather and immerse themselves, who are subtle in their use of perfumes and colognes and such, are the ones who are consciously or not (again, we’re betting on not) signalling that they are genuinely good keepers, worth the effort and will be fruitful (in more ways than one) long term investments.
If any of you have read Canis Major in either its Kindle or Tales Told ‘Round Celestial Campfires form, you may remember that it was Sherry’s subtle use of perfume that drew Iggie to her.
And, in the end, he was quite the catch.
So, ladies and gents, are you looking for someone to be with you throughout the years regardless of what life brings you?
Sniff out someone who uses fabricated scents to hint and suggest.
Are you looking for someone for an hour to a week or month at most?
They won’t be subtle. They’ll have applied their favorite scent with a housepainter’s brush.