Questions about fragrance use

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I’d like to get an inkling of the use of added fragrance, by people nowadays—perfume, cologne, aftershave, etc. I’m not looking for industry data on sales, large-scale demographics, or whether there’s a concern over ambergris availability. What is the experience of you forum folks in fragrance usage, now and in the past? Did you use it in a dating/romance setting, or also in normal daily life? How much was it used in your peer group? Has usage for you, or your peer group, changed over time?

Also, what’s the fragrance usage of your characters? Do you delve into their motivations for using it? (Insecurity about attractiveness, or whether a specific scent is enjoyed by a specific other person.)

I ask, because this is one of my cultural blind spots. I’m a nerd-adjacent Midwestern male, now well past 70. I only used cologne in my late twenties, because it was enjoyed by the woman with whom I cohabited at the time. My peer group was made up of post-hippie creatives who generally saw no reason to add fragrance. It was therefore pretty rare for me to detect it. As a result, I tend not to have a character squeeze the atomizer, because the fragrance usage might not match up with what a reader would think is valid. Still, I hope that what I write can depict all sensory input, including enjoyable scents.

I’d be interested in any input on this, however anecdotal. Thanks.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

Both me and my SO use it almost every day. My characters often use it, but I do admit this is one area that I frequently forget to mention and probably need to.

 

[alohadave]

I rarely wear cologne for special nights out with my wife.

Most people don't wear strong fragrances at work because it can be really annoying to smell someone else's fragrance of choice when you can't get away from them (even if you like the smell).

 

[PennyThompson]

Personally I associate strong fragrances with people in their 50s or older, or with immature guys who use way too much body spray.

Most people I know in their 20s to 40s (mostly office professionals) don't use fragrances other than what's in their deodorant or hair products, and those are usually pretty mild. In close indoor settings, I think strong fragrances are considered kind of obnoxious.

I do sometimes describe scents associated with characters though, coffee and tea, soap and incense, natural body smells like hair and musk

 

[NuclearFairy]

My SO used to use this really nice smelling body spray. But that company stopped selling the scent and he hasn't found anything either of us like since. I can't stand perfume though, due to an incident when I was three where my seven year old aunt poured an entire bottle of perfume on me in an attempt to get me in trouble. Spoiler, it didn't work, but the smell lasted for weeks and now I can't stand any flowery scents.

 

[lovecraft68]

This made me think of Axe body spray and not just the young guys who douse themselves in it but the older guys who somehow think wearing it is anything but tacky...and smelly.

I reference it from time to time in a story, but generally at close contact, like a man nuzzling into a woman's neck or other way around. I never describe people moving through a cloud of it which is often the case.

I rarely wear anything other than deodorant even on nights out.

 

[Erozetta]

90% of perfumes and colognes I've smelled have given me migraines.

Tainted Love by Tokyo Milk, Not a Perfume by Juliette has a Gun, and Libre by YSL are the only ones I can tolerate in very small doses.

Cologne tends to make me nauseous. My husband doesn't wear it and I much prefer the smell of leather, wood, or oil on a guy than cologne.

 

[iwatchus]

Many of them trigger my asthma.

 

[NotWise]

I've never made a habit of using cologne or aftershave. Both used to be fairly common presents from older relatives, but the bottles all got trashed.

That said, everything these days seems to have fragrance. My body wash is scented. My shampoo is scented. My deodorant is scented. My shave cream is scented. I have unscented hand lotion, and some of the other products are available unscented. Some aren't, and the availability of those that are unscented is undependable, so I stopped even looking for them.

I don't think I've ever had a character use cologne. Perfume, yes. More often, if I comment on a scent, then the scent is either natural, or an amalgam of scented products, and it may be more evident in a room than it is on their person.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I think the use of perfume and cologne has declined as many workplaces, particularly offices and services businesses are now scent free.

I occasionally wear Demeter's natural Lavender when going out. My husband, who has a neatly trimmed beard, uses St Pierre's Beard Oil, primarily because, like many Black men, his beard hairs are rather coarse. It leaves a nice lingering scent of sandalwood.

 

[Shady_nz]

I use my favourite perfume every day.. no sense in letting it just sit there..
I only ever wear Calvin Klein 'Eternity'
I don't write stories, but perhaps I should do a poem around fragrance

 

[Erozetta]

I've never made a habit of using cologne or aftershave. Both used to be fairly common presents from older relatives, but the bottles all got trashed.

That said, everything these days seems to have fragrance. My body wash is scented. My shampoo is scented. My deodorant is scented. My shave cream is scented. I have unscented hand lotion, and some of the other products are available unscented. Some aren't, and the availability of those that are unscented is undependable, so I stopped even looking for them.

I don't think I've ever had a character use cologne. Perfume, yes. More often, if I comment on a scent, then the scent is either natural, or an amalgam of scented products, and it may be more evident in a room than it is on their person.

The lack of unscented options is how I got into making my own skincare products.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Mostly an old person thing from my experience. My friends might use something, sparingly and on rare occasions.
At work we got a couple of guys pushing 60 who use something. No clue if it's cologne or aftershave or what. That's about it though.

 

[tenyari]

I've got 'hayfever' allergies and floral allergies so 'fragrances' to me is a negative emotional association.

I've had to leave office rooms and lecture halls when I was a student because of someone's insistence on stinking up the place with something as toxic as lavender. When people have given me flowers in the past I've been unable to even carry them out of the 'encounter' without difficulty.

So it's never been a thing in my stories as I just do not have any positive associations for it.

That noted, I've also been hyper aware when people are using them as I start having reactions. So I'd say it's 'common' in my generation (gen-X), very common among older people, and only semi-common among the millennials. I've largely 'worked from home' since the younger folk entered the work force so I only notice it when out shopping now and I notice it less and less as time goes on.

The feeling of being around anything floral is sort of a mix of a migraine, light-headed like I'm about to faint, and feeling like someone has managed to punch and scratch me inside my nose.

 

[Voboy]

I've never in my life used anything but deodorant, and I've always tried for a mild version of that. I'm not looking to smell good; I'm looking to not smell at all. Between soap, shaving cream, and shampoo, I already have enough scent going on.

I remember this one time in the Army when I'd been out in the field for about a week and I suddenly picked up the smell of Head & Shoulders. Sure enough, it was a guy from back in the rear who'd showered that morning. You could smell him from half a mile away. So I know that if I can smell you in any kind of crowd, you must be DRENCHED.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I'm a man in my mid-forties. I don't use any kind of fragrence except what is in body-wash. For what its worth, I brought my wife some expensive perfume from duty-free last year and she only uses that on special occassions.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

You guys are missing out! Other than the folks who have weird reactions, there’s something very pleasant about people with nice smells beyond deodorant. My SO is constantly being told how good they smell when we’re out, and we’re not 50 yet, lol.

Everything in moderation.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You guys are missing out! Other than the folks who have weird reactions, there’s something very pleasant about people with nice smells beyond deodorant. My SO is constantly being told how good they smell when we’re out, and we’re not 50 yet, lol.

Everything in moderation.

Yep, this. A faint fragrance can be very sexy, even if it's just shampoo in her hair. I use scent quite a bit in my stories, because I find it alluring.

Sympathy for those folk who react to scent, though. That's a bummer.

Having said that, I've got a bottle of Xeryus in my bathroom cupboard that must be ten years old, so my scented days are long gone!

 

[NuclearFairy]

You guys are missing out! Other than the folks who have weird reactions, there’s something very pleasant about people with nice smells beyond deodorant. My SO is constantly being told how good they smell when we’re out, and we’re not 50 yet, lol.

Everything in moderation.

And I've had my SO come home from work when he'd forgotten his deodorant weirded out because of how many people had commented on how good he smelled.

 

[PennyThompson]

You guys are missing out! Other than the folks who have weird reactions, there’s something very pleasant about people with nice smells beyond deodorant. My SO is constantly being told how good they smell when we’re out, and we’re not 50 yet, lol.

Everything in moderation.

Stop trying to perfume-pill me, Sinclair

 

[Rob_Royale]

My wife and I aren't into it very much. I have a post-shave cream that my wife likes the smell of and she occasionally will dab a little rose water on her neck and that's it. I like the way my wife smells, and she seems to like my scent as well. Don't fix what ain't broke. I carry that same idea into my stories, not really worrying about it much.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Stop trying to perfume-pill me, Sinclair

Must be a schill for Big Perfume...

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Moderation. I was taught that it should only be detectable by someone close enough to kiss you. If you're in a swimming pool and someone is detectable in another lane, that's too much!

Traditionally you wear it where you'd like to be kissed, which is supposed to mean neck and cleavage. It definitely doesn't mean on your pussy, because perfumes taste minging. Had an unfortunate evening with a misguided lady...

I've never liked floral 'feminine' perfumes and hate rose in particular (smells of babywipe), but like woodsy scents - have worn a few. But there's no better scent than fresh sweat.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

Stop trying to perfume-pill me, Sinclair

DO EEEEEET

 

[MrPixel]

Closest I've come to using a fragrance was an after-shave while in my 20s, when I was still mostly blade-shaving. My wife doesn't use anything, either. Neither of us think about it. She does, however, have a distinct musk when she's been out in the sun. It's nice.

Now I use Old Spice deodorant in the original scent, and she used to comment favorably when she noticed. Sadly, her sniffer went mostly deaf after a bout of COVID. She's elated when we pass a skunk carcass on the side of the road, "I can smell that!" all while I'm holding my breath from the stench.