Deodorants and Pheromones

[petrushka.googol]

How effectively do deodorants mimic pheromones?

 

Pheromones are integral to the propagation of a species but deodorants....?

 

Please express your ideas.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Ringer]

AFAIK pheromones haven't been shown to be a factor in human reproduction.

[sona_p]

A study in mouse shows that female mouse prefers male with better smell than one with bad smell.

Deodorants don't exactly replicate the effect of pheromones but they increase the likely-hood of interaction with person for physical involvement.

As humans have other 100s of criteria, so just deodorants will not be able to enough to attract your mate.

[Phi for All]

I didn't know the deodorant manufacturers were trying to imitate pheromones. I thought they were just trying to mask the scent of sweat, which we chose to classify as "bad". With this in mind, for reproductive uses, I think most people find a neutral olfactory situation preferable to anything else, since what smells good is not universal. Not smelling bad is the ideal, I guess, which is also not universally agreed upon, but stands a better chance of favorable impressions being made.

 

Does that make sense? I think the chances of attracting a mate are better overall if your smell is not an issue, rather than trying to have a smell that's pleasing to the opposite sex. I'm not sure if anyone's deodorant has ever offended me, but I've smelled some perfumes that immediately turned me OFF.

 

It's interesting to observe animals treating smells as data, and then watch human reactions to certain smells. It is possible to push past the revulsion we've been trained to treat certain smells with, and I think removing that emotional bias makes the information contained in the smell more accessible to us. I'm poorly trained in smell and don't have keen senses overall, but I have noticed that my perceptions greatly affect how I treat various smells.

[Bainer51]

I've learned that your smell attracts certain people. One of the functions of body odor is to attract a mate with an opposite immune system to give badass children. Idk about deodorant but maybe there's more to colognes, perfumes and deodorant sales targeting than I thought.

If people say you smell like shit, maybe it's time to date outside your race, someone will definitely dig your funk.

Lol happy Vday!

-College student