Recent studies have shown that our sense of smell is involved in the arduous choice of a partner. It happens unconsciously. However, in some circumstances, having a good smell could endanger your life altogether, as occurs in the famous film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
The factors that affect the choice of a partner are many and all different from each other. Some mainly look at the physical appearance, others go for the wallet, and some may focus on a person’s inner beauty. The importance of scent selection suggests that choosing an appropriate fragrance for a particular type of partner can help influence others’ behavior.
What Science says about it
Scientists wanted to investigate the role of body odors during the various phases of a sentimental relationship in two groups, the first with a perfectly healthy sense of smell and the second with people who had a condition such as anosmia (lack of the sense of smell) or hyposmia (a decreased ability to detect different scents).
They made several interesting discoveries about sweat, but what I’m interested in reporting is what some researchers have found by focusing on the female gender and the importance of scent.
By delving into the role of male testosterone in influencing women’s preference, they came to interesting conclusions. Although the scientific scene has yet to come to a definitive conclusion on testosterone, these studies indicate a clear tendency on the part of women to choose men they describe as having a body odor of a dominant man. So, it may be not the testosterone itself the cause of attraction, but the importance of scent projection and quality.
However, this preference change over time as it depends on the age of the woman and her marital status. Men have also shown a particular preference because they tend to get closer to women whose smell indicates that they are in the ovulatory phase (the so-called fertile period), compared to women who are in other phases of their menstrual cycle.
The partner’s state of health also emerges from his/her smell
The importance of the sense of smell was highlighted by another study, which showed that people tended to avoid alleged sick people. The information on a person’s health is evident from his sweat. Researchers injected a substance in some individuals that normally signals the presence of an infection, the endotoxin.
The subjects were perfectly healthy, but their smell suggested the presence of health problems. The experimental subjects perceived this as an inclination to avoid them. Therefore, the smell allowed these people to select a healthy partner. This is why the fragrance you use may have such a meaningful impact on those around you.
How fragrances help us
I wrote extensively about every detail of the Creed Aventus scent in this review. Without repeating the qualities that make this mix of aphrodisiac notes exceptional compared to other popular perfumes, such a fragrance acts on our decision-making ability. Women describe it as an expensive and refined perfume. Why? This is the importance of scent in action. To read about creed aventus perfumes, go here.
The sense of smell also seems to be linked to general sexual satisfaction. People suffering from anosmia or hyposmia have reported rather high depression rates compared to people with a normal sense of smell. They felt more uncomfortable and they experienced a lower sexual drive in comparison with healthy individuals.
It is no surprise that those who had a normal olfactory acuity and those who perceived a satisfying scent exhaling from the body of the chosen partner evaluated more positively the sexual intercourses with the new partner.