Happy Fathers Day! This Sunday we celebrate fatherhood and in many cases male mentorship. Though I wasn’t fortunate to have a close relationship with my biological father, I was blessed with a string of strong father figures. These men groomed me into the man I am today by teaching me various codes and values necessary to be a gentleman. One of the most consistent values that every father figure I’ve had is to always smell good. Your scent is as much of a calling card as your reputation. In an article by Clearlink.com it was discovered that “everyone has a unique odor identity similar to a fingerprint — no two people smell the same way except identical twins. This information combined with the work from researchers from Rockefeller University stating that the human nose can smell at least one trillion distinct scents shows how important it is for a person to have a pleasant scent.
Ironically your reputation could be solely based on your smell, we all know that person who’s smell could clear a room. Equally we know people who have a smell so captivating that when they walk past their smell lingers in your memory. That latter of my two statements could be achieved through nice hygiene products such as appropriate body washes and perfumes.
Notice in the last paragraph I said perfume not cologne, steer clear of colognes at all cost. The difference between a cologne and a perfume is a cologne contains oil concentrate of 2-5% making the rest alcohol. Meaning that won’t get into your pores and rather sits on top of your skin making the scent last for no more than 2-3 hours. Whereas a perfume has an oil concentrate of 20-30% that gradually gets into your skin and has the ability to give off a scent for closer to 7+ hours. Admittedly perfumes cost significantly more than the inferior cologne but your scent, like fine oil to a car, is something you don’t want to spare expense on.
A key to smelling your best also rests on your ability to find what smell works for YOUR skin. For anyone who comes near me I pride myself on having a “Signature Scent” that I rotate through the seasons; my smell in April is different from how I smell in December. This is tradecraft, I know the smell that I want to give off is one that is inviting to women yet not too feminine (this is important because statistically women have a smell palette more refined than men). Like the five different tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami), some scientists believe there are seven different main smells – musky, putrid, pungent, camphoraceous (similar to mothballs), ethereal, floral and minty. If you are unsure what smell works for you, ask a professional. At the beginning of crafting my signature smell I spent 2 hours inside of Saks Fifth Avenue in the perfume department picking the brains of all the various salesmen/women. In addition, do not be afraid to take online tests and sample smells over time. Online subscription services like Scentbird and Hawthorne.co are great places to start.
I prefer unisex floral smells. Some may work better with a more “oaky” smell. Whatever the case maybe the key is to make sure you have a good smell at all times.
“Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it." ~Vladimir Nabokov
God Bless.
P.S. Here are the links to some of my favorite smells that make up my collection (in case you want to give a gift)
God Bless.