On Men and Cologne
Posted on 03 August 2008 by Lisa Pawlowski
I furtively watched the young woman out of the corner of my eye at the dentist’s office, all while pretending to be engrossed in my People magazine. She was looking through a high fashion periodical and had proceeded to crack open the fragrance strip of a perfume ad and rub it on her neck and wrists.
I’ve often encountered the aftermath of such an incident. Who hasn’t thumbed through a well-read magazine in a waiting room only to come across a dog-eared fragrance ad that smells faintly like its former self? However, this was the first time I’d seen someone do this in public.
Witnessing this brought something to mind. Recently, when my husband and I went shopping together, he went into one store (Radio Shack or Sears-a guy’s store) while I went into an Ulta, which sells make up, hair care products and about any kind of fragrance you can imagine for men and women. My husband later caught up to me as I had my eyes closed and basked in the aroma of Bulgari for men. I handed him the bottle. “Here, smell this,” I said.
I love it when men wear cologne. There are some fragrances out there that are designed to appeal to either a man or a woman, and I don’t care for those at all. I like the ones with a very definite masculine scent. There are certain brands out there that I like more than others, but some really have a positive effect on me. They make me perk up and feel friendlier.
Over the years of our marriage, I’ve tried to convince my husband to wear cologne for me. I mean, after all, who doesn’t want to feel perky and friendly when your honey is around? He’ll humor me and agree to do this. But this never lasts long. What will happen is he’ll only put it on when he’s feeling amorous and is trying to seduce me. Which I don’t mind, but I’d like for him to wear it at other times, too.
He says he doesn’t like to wear cologne because it makes him feel self-conscious at work. And I’ve heard of other men not wearing it for the same reason. In fact, right now, I personally do not know any man who wears any kind of fragrance. Then again, all the men I know are married. I guess they feel that now that they are off the market, they don’t have to put up with such nonsense.
That wasn’t the case when I was in college and all the men I knew were single and about every other guy I knew wore cologne. To this day, I can’t stand the smell of Drakkar or Polo because I associate it with alcohol and jerks at frat parties.
After I handed the bottle of Bulgari to my husband, he sniffed, nodded and said, “I’ll wear it for you, if you want me to.” I raised my eyebrow at him and put the container back on the shelf. “Yeah. We’ve been down this road before. I want you to wear it all the time, not just on certain occasions.” He just scrunched up his face, said, “Ugh,” and walked off. I guess I’ll have to satisfy my pheromone fix by visiting perfume counters or walking in the wake of metrosexuals.
Popularity: 8% [?]
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
For the record, I love to wear cologne. Pleasing scents are proven to improve mood, heighten alertness, stimulate libido, etc. Olfactory senses are among the most powerful known to man.
I don’t think a man enters into metrosexual land by wearing cologne on a regular basis. If a guy doesn’t like cologne, he will revert back to his preferences after netting the girl. If he always enjoyed smelling good, why would that change with marriage?
Then again I was never into the musky smells. I loved both Spring (Aqua di Gio, Jaguar, Good Life, CK One) and Winter fragrances (Fahrenheit, Hugo, Dolce).
Could wanting to cover up the not-so-delicious aroma de Daniel have something to do with it? Perhaps. Yet time and time again, I have found that the scent of cologne is like painting a pleasant backdrop on reality.
But don’t bring up their toxicity. Skin absorption is a sad, menacing topic for another day.
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Men wearing cologne is always touch and go with me. I like the smell of AXE and I pretty much have the same reaction as the girls in the commercials. However, a guy in my PR program wore the same scent as one of my ex-boyfriends and I couldn’t stand to be around the poor guy because the smell reminded me of past times.
I personally prefer men who do not wear any cologne. A man’s natural scent (not the gross stuff) is definitely pleasing to my nose and does not make me want to cover my nose or grab a tissue due to over-dousing.
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
The only pleasing scent of a man that I’m aware of comes from the natural oils in his hair and/or beard. Any fragrance originating from below the neck can’t be good.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Then that must be the case.
I always liked it when boyfriends would spend the night and in the morning, my sheets and pillows would smell like them, or when I would borrow a sweater, and it smelled like them. That’s the kind of reminder of a guy I like, not the sinus-breaking cologne sink.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
i actually love the way Axe smells too. But it works more as a cologne spray than a deodorant. Speaking from personal experience, I sprayed it like deodorant when it first came out and within two hours, that sweet smell turned to funk.
You’re all welcome for the insights into Daniel hygiene.
August 4th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Man, everyone has some strong opinions about this topic. I gotta say, I’m not familiar with Axe, but that funky, sweet smell of some colognes is much worse than no scent at all. To me, it says that a guy is just trying too hard to be noticed. It can be misconstrued as a sign of desperation.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I LOVE walking into the men’s cologne section in department stores. I’ll actually stop and take a deep breath…enjoying the smell of “boy.” Yep, that’s what I call it. I say, “It smells like boy.” There have been times that I’ll be somewhere (i.e. Target, etc.), and I’ll be walking down the aisle, and I’ll get a pungent whiff of yumminess. It was probably overpowering when the guy walked by 5-10 minutes earlier, but the aroma always puts a smile on my face
August 6th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
After my nightclubbing days ended I pretty much stopped wearing highly pungent colognes and started wearing light fragrance oils with no alcohol in them. I have a bottle of Axe someone gave me but I never really liked it at all so I rarely use it unless it’s just to cover up needing a shower the rest of the day. I DO have a cologne someone gave me, Very Sexy for him, which all women purport to love so I wear that when I go out on the town. In days past I’d wear something light and non-offensive and usually citrus based like CK for men or CK One and I’d consider using them again if I ever got around to getting a bottle.