Dan Savage on Body Odor as Scent of Attraction

[fourperson]

I love it when a woman smells like a human being, not like a skunk's ass.

[kevkevinkev]

he sounds pretty biased. men who don't wear deodorant stink.

[YourFavoriteKilljoy]

My girlfriend likes axe and old spice. I like old spice better personally, but I like axe alright. But I don't fucking skip showers and bathe in the shit instead. But I'm a girl, so maybe it's different for us.

[sdarms111]

I love it... he's into man scent!

[ReadingDave]

I once had a girlfriend who couldn't wear any perfume (allergies). She was so tickled when I told her I really liked her perfume.

[DarknessOfFuturePast]

I had a girlfriend who was crazy about the scent of my armpits, so I know what he's talking about. I liked it, and it was perfect, too, because I really liked the smell of her feet.

[Yuna0316]

I love the smell of a man's sweaty crouch!

[ZeldaDD]

Heh, it's true about the scent stuff. I think I drive my girlfriend crazy at times, she sometimes catches me sniffing her hair and stuff like that.

[BassBOY0GIRL]

I actually do need deoderante, but that is because i perspire like a rain cloud.

[CarissaXo99]

I love perfumes and the right kinds of artificial scents but I still want to be able to smell the other person in his/hers natural state every once and a while.

[spartacandream]

I so agree! A man's natural scent smells so much better than the crap guys like to put on.

[majinspy]

Yah I love diet coke and hamburgers. I guess I'll stick with old spice. I've never been one for the Axe crap, as I saw through it as clearly as Dan Savage does. His advice, though, is really only for thin folks who eat that kind of diet. I'm overweight, (like 2/3 of Americans), I consume dairy, and partake of diet coke...i.e. I'm typical, and my fellow "typicals" should get some Old Spice :)

[TudatThought7Imagine]

@majinspy you are not typical. You are a fucking disease.

[kimberlily1983]

Ah, this is so cool. I've noticed this with my partner as well. :)

As for all the talk about the role of diet, that's a very important point, and I thought I would share my own experience, which is that giving up dairy (and probably meat?) is one of the best things you can do to make yourself smell nicer. I went vegan (used to be lacto-ovo vegetarian) about 8 months ago, and have noticed that I can now get by on about half as many showers as I used to if I want to. :)

[vidhead85]

My babe has a lovely scent...I looove looove looove his natural scent and it's just amazing! I love when he and I roll all over each other and I can smell him on my T shirts!

[Karanime]

Oh, dear god.

My sensitive nose drives me crazy sometimes. Sometimes, when my boy's been outside for a while, he comes back inside and I just kind of stop thinking and start crawling all over him.

Axe sucks nuts. Most colognes suck nuts.

Old Spice wins, though. The original. Good memories.

[spartacandream]

@Karanime Good to know that I'm not alone in loving that smell.

[KidOnTheNet]

... and my parents have done it.

don't put such a horrible thought in my mind

[EvilKris]

my girl is always 'sniffing' me and it pisses me off, lol.

[Lokifan13]

@kaphwan239 Even if eventually there's proof humans have pheremones, it is far from accepted science. Definitely not something taught in school! Treating me like I'm stupid just proves you've no idea where we actually are on the question - bloody hell, try searching 'pheremones' on wikipedia.

[MargaretHJ]

This is so true! I LOVE armpits!

[Pr4dat0r]

I'm sorry but this is really confusing. Does he mean wear nothing after showering?

[metrx330]

@Pr4dat0r Its a choice I suppose. I love the smell of fresh perspiration but after a few hours its a no-no. I use a light anti-perspirant and a tiny amount of EDT. In the summertime I shower twice a day too. Its all about balance and being sensitive to the needs of your other half.

[khanna06]

@Lokifan13 Really now? Menstrual cycle match up ring any bells?

[Lokifan13]

Humans do NOT HAVE pheromones. Body odour does appeal to people, yes. But we DO NOT HAVE pheromones.

[MrJrhather]

retard.

[kaphwan239]

@Lokifan13 Sorry... but you fail at life. Epically. Please go back to school and study the human body!

[circusgirlee]

He also said don't consume just hamburger and diet coke. If you treat your body well, it will be more attractive. Some people smell bad right after showering because they are unhealthy.

[dallimar77]

I think non or lightly scented deodorant is OK and I suspect Dan would agree as there's time when BO is a bad thing. If I go through a day w/o deodorant I stink so bad I can't stand me. @Crazyman1212 - I found often the problem with stinky kids in school wasn't the lack of deodorant but the lack of personal hygiene. He didn't say 'never take a shower'

[PurlyTube]

He's right!

[Crazyman1212]

lol...i have to disagree, deoderant is very important, don't you remeber the kid in highschool that no one wants to hang out with because he smells and yes he did shower everyday but with no deoderant it doesn't take long for that smell to come after an hour. might have worked in medieval ages when everybody stinked

[ncfwhitetigress]

people like that probably have a hormonal imbalance that causes excess sweating. for them i do advise deodorant. but not for normal people.

[GretchenDawntreader]

I've only had one entity shove its nose into my armpits in the morning and writhe with pleasure, and it was my cat. It was surreal, curious and vaguely disturbing all at the same time. It's like my armpits were catnip.

I prefer that analogy to an alternative image of a dog rolling around in garbage.

[rachelofzu]

I relate with white tigress. My ex's scent smelled so good it turned me on just smelling him.

[cgreypaw]

At my gaming group, we have a saying: "Not all people who wear Axe are rapists, but all rapists wear Axe."

[ncfwhitetigress]

What's Axe?

[Chronosagaaddict]

yeah, that soo true, my gf loves the way I smell, he's like ubsessed with my sweaty work shirts

[Pythia333]

But scents are just scents...sometimes people like external scents! They can even help us associate people to memory...but the key is to pick a GOOD scent, and one that may even induce a feeling or memory. THEN, use WAAAAAY less than is traditionally expected...

But again, it is all about preference, and a lot of times it REALLY IS the non-artificial scents that we prefer (where we work, the smell of our home, or like he said - our natural scent & more)

PHEREMONES are far more complex.

[Pythia333]

...and yet not : ) in a sense, anyway.

Pheremones are more BASIC and physical. They have properties which manipulate us through different stages in our life, and can possibly even have sub-concious, momentary-effects. Whether some of these effects are desired can be up for debate, but I'm sure they work to our advantage in some form. For the most part, however, the ACTUAL attraction-properties of pheremones is used during our development - not in the moment somebody senses them.

[shethingsd]

I absolutely love the smell of a man! Hate any artificial scents...don't like them on the man and I don't wear them either... but people have told me more than once I smell great...hehe. When i tell people I like the scent of a man, especially someone I love, they look at me like I'm strange...Thanks, Dan!

[ncfwhitetigress]

I like the scent of about 40% of the male population. According to my research, it's because they have immune genes that are different from mine and are therefore genetically compatible with mine. That scent alone is powerful enough to make me want to rape them. Seriously.

[Crazyman1212]

stinky arm pits turn you on!

[ncfwhitetigress]

They don't stink to me! The only guys that I've ever found to be "rancid" were either definitely closely related to me or quite possibly closely related to me.

[Mokurentate]

That's true! I think my older brother smells terrible even AFTER taking a shower. XD

[ncfwhitetigress]

AGREED. (only in my case it's a younger brother)