By UDDY MIN
Introduction by NIDA ALI
August 18, 2017
“One of the biggest things to keep in mind in terms of fragrances is that they are NOT for underarms.”
Fragrance is a staple in everyone’s life, everyone strives to smell nice, or at least, almost everyone. Considering it’s such an important part of our life, it has become a banal ritual to apply fragrance and not understand how to apply it to receive the most from the expensive product you’re placing on your skin.
First off, let’s get the basics right.
The purpose of deodorants is to mask our body odor. Perfume’s purpose is to project its fragrance. Therefore, deodorants shouldn’t project fragrance and perfume shouldn’t (and won’t!) mask body odor.
Have you ever watched those breathtaking deodorant ads? They are so breathtaking I had to open my window to let in some air and prevent myself from choking. All those ads in which a guy attracts wild women just by spraying deodorant is absurd and unrealistic.
Why?
Because deodorant sprays project fragrance which doesn’t last longer than half an hour, and if you are a person whose body odor is on the higher side, then your smell mixes up with the deodorant’s and the resulting smell is quite repugnant. With such a smell, forget about girls, you will even repel guys.
Because deodorant sprays project fragrance which doesn’t last longer than half an hour, and if you are a person whose body odor is on the higher side, then your smell mixes up with the deodorant’s and the resulting smell is quite repugnant.
So, what should we do?
- Use deodorant sticks that project minimal fragrance, not the sprays. I found Old Spice sport to be good. You can pick whatever you like, I’m just trying to say you don’t really need a fancy one.
- Deodorants just mask the body odor but antiperspirants prevent sweating. So, no more wet under arms. If you are in colder regions or if you don’t sweat much, then opt for just the deodorant and not antiperspirant. Also, hint: antiperspirants leave a white residue, deodorants don’t.
Deodorant recommendations:
For men, we would recommend Old Spice products because they smell really good and they are also bang-for-the-buck kind. Since
For women, we definitely have to recommend Old Spice Wolfthorn. Although this is a men’s deodorant, it has a great smell that women can also use think: candy mixed with sparkling water
Fragrances:
Moving on to perfumes. Actually, let’s use the term fragrance instead of perfume–hang on a bit and you’ll know why. Unlike deodorant, fragrances are not meant to mask an odor, their purpose is to project their own smell.
Every fragrance has a smell, character, and style. If you collect fragrances, you will realize certain fragrances don’t work the way we expect them to, some of them are seriously mysterious.
It’s important to note that fragrances are classified into four types, based on the concentration of essential oils.
Name – Essential Oils Percentage
- Eau de cologne (short name: Cologne) – 2–5%
- Eau de Toilette (short name: EDT) – 4–15%
- Eau de Parfum (short name: EDP) – 10–20%
- Parfum or Perfume – 15–40%
As you can see, perfume is one of the categories, which is why we shouldn’t categorize all fragrances under perfumes.
Rule of thumb: the more the essential oil content, the stronger the smell and the longer the smell lasts. But that doesn’t mean perfumes are the best of them all.
These fragrances can have different purposes as well. Colognes are good for indoors and work, EDT and EDP are for outdoors/clubs/parties, etc. Perfumes are very expensive and hard to find but are generally used for events as well.
In the US, people seem to refer women’s fragrance as perfume and men’s fragrances as cologne. Maybe to avoid ambiguity since not all people know what is what.
One of the biggest things to keep in mind in terms of fragrances is that they are NOT for underarms.
You should wear both a fragrance and a deodorant. Deodorant just for the underarms and fragrance one puff behind each ear, one on the chest and one on each wrist. If your fragrance is too strong, behind the ears should suffice. And never rub/pat your wrists–that will mess up the composition of the fragrance.
Always use deodorant and fragrance directly on the skin. Never spray the fragrance on clothes, they will leave oil marks. Also, it’s a good idea to choose an unscented deodorant or one with minimal smell, otherwise its smell will blend with the smell of fragrance which we do not want.
Also, some fragrances don’t smell good when you directly sniff them, but when they linger around you, they smell magical. To test, spray a fragrance on your wrist and let the smell come to you.
Quick hack: if you work/go to college and have to sit at a desk for a long time, avoid spraying fragrance on your wrists and chest. Otherwise, you would end up inhaling a lot and that would give you a nasty headache.
All in all: If you want to smell nice and get compliments then you should let go of your deodorant sprays and start the fragrance game!
