Just how important is how you smell on a date? Obviously when we say smell, we mean all notes of good fragrance as supposed to bad ones (for obvious reasons, if your date smells of ‘BO’ or unwashed socks, you’re not going to want to go out with them again.)
Do you go au natural or have your favourite fragrance? Have you ever not liked an ex’s natural smell?
How important is smell when it comes to attraction?
For many years, scientists have been analysing the natural aromas we emit, and research says that our own unique smell serves many purposes, including helping us to find a suitable sexual mate. In one famous Swiss study in 1995, women were asked to smell sweaty t-shirts worn by a few different men and were most turned on by the shirts worn by men with a dissimilar immune system to their own. This indicates we can ‘sniff out’ genetic compatibility so we produce healthy offspring.
One dating agency in the US will even analyse a person’s DNA for genes linked to the smell of sweat and then provide them with a list of potential suitors with different body odour to their own, while ‘pheromone parties’ have become popular in some places, where attendees bring a t-shirt they have worn to bed for the past three nights (without wearing any deodorant or perfume) to the party in a plastic bag. They then smell each other’s t-shirts and can introduce themselves to the people whose t-shirts they found most appealing.
It has also been shown that having a good sense of smell is key to a lasting relationship. In a study last year German researchers made the discovery after measuring the number and quality of relationships for people who couldn’t smell compared with people who could. They found people who couldn’t smell tended to be more insecure and that men without a sense of smell averaged two partners compared with 10 amongst those who had a normal sense of smell. The women all averaged four partners, but those who couldn’t smell felt less confident in their partners and were more insecure than those who could smell.
Hmm, did you know this? Do you love the way your partner smells? Tell us @lovestruck
