Male fragrance sections at shops are always so sad. Would you like to smell like you just downed a bottle of gin, like a leather couch, or like you were sitting on the wrong side of a campfire? Women get all the nice fruits and flowers. This stuff shouldn’t be gendered anyway like most things.
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@Gargron it’s only gendered if we believe it to be. The only real difference is the marketing and typeface on the bottle. Wear what makes you feel good (and smell good).
@Gargron
I just want to smell like a tree. Pine is tops, cedar is second. That's all. Wood just smells nice.
@Gargron I am a woman and I adore Davidson's Cool Water and Hot Water. In fact, I use Hot Water whenever I put on any perfume. It's unlike any of the smells you describe.
@Gargron you need to get into a real perfume shop, with people who actually know perfume to counsel you! I've discovered fragrances I never thought could even exist that way.
@Gargron I am really not "into" fragrances, much to the chagrin of my wife, I'm sure, but the one aftershave I currently have in my cupboard is for men, from a big brand (YSL) yet it does actually smell quite sweet and fruity. I like it because it reminds me cherries and marzipan.
@Gargron I just want to not smell like sweat. I'd rather not smell like the detergent aisle in the supermarket too.
@Gargron
It gets even worse with that. I remember first seeing Hummer cologne at the mall with my then boyfriend, who's an Army vet. He was like, "What TF does it smell like, axle grease?"
And Hummer is STILL coming out with colognes that help women know which guys to avoid. I suppose I should be grateful.
@Gargron Nah. Mine smell like Yak's piss.
@Gargron
I over here in the corner wanting everyone to smell of nothing so I can still breath. 🫢
Ugh. As an agender trans person I definitely agree on the silliness of gendering things.
(FWIW, I strongly prefer unscented products, whereas my genderqueer spouse loves fruity flowery scented everything.)
@Gargron Well, at least now anyone can smell like a Gold Caramel Billionaire.
@Gargron
I prefer my man to smell like a chocolate chip cookie. 🍪
@Gargron
The leather couch one is for when you want to attract JD Vance. 😉
@Gargron One of the best parfume I've ever worn is Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight in Paris *Pour Homme*, though I'm a woman. I totally recommend it!
@Gargron ...then why do so many women in DC smell like burning insecticide?
@Gargron You might go to the wrong Perfume Boutiques. Try Van Clef and Arpels or Maison Francis Kurkdjian. Not gendered.
@Gargron same goes for women section in new yorker, i want a t shirt with mickey mouse as well !
@Gargron knowing a few good perfume shops in Paris most of them have mostly non-gender perfumes. Like l'artisan parfumeur
@Gargron dollar shave club has some decent scents
@Gargron True. I like more "female" perfumes.
@Gargron clinique happy? Kenzo leupar? Paco rabano blackxs?
@Gargron it makes me laugh that 'Sauvage' for men is one letter away from 'Sausage' snigger
@Gargron Rather go for the burnt wood or sad couch on a cabin than vanilla flowery lemony (it makes me nauseous) ahah
@Gargron Grass clippings and diesel exhaust
@Gargron I want to smell like some forbidden incense that you burn to invoke a long forgotten deity.
@Gargron I think it's often what does the other people like to smell if they are standing close to a person.
Also just wear what you like why should a shop be able to tell you what you are allowed to.
Maybe if more people do so the men/female categories vanish over time.
I mean in history we had also a switch for heel sizes on shoes. As far as the Internet told me.
@Gargron Beats "Stale Tobacco" or "Eau de Outhouse"
The fediverse is waiting for the official Scent of Mastodon to come out! For the physically imposing but emotionally accessible citizens of the fediverse!
I find similar biases in alcohol. The last time I was in a bar (stupid work "dinner" meeting after a day on-site at a customer's, more than a decade and half ago) I took grief for ordering a "girly" ginger-ale+peach-schnapps. I have no qualms about ordering something my mouth would prefer over the taste of overpriced wood-stripper and leather that the other guys were drinking.
(fwiw, I'm not a drinker, at one or two drinks per year, so this easily met my quota 😆)
@Gargron, 100%!
One of my favorite fragrances is DS & Durga's Rose Atlantic. I find great personal joy when I wear it for meetings in the male-dominated industry I work in. You can see the gears grinding as they try to process what they're experiencing. The look of, "I want to ask, but it would be weird" is what gets me through some of those meetings.
@Gargron Motor oil and regret.
@Gargron
"Why sure, I would like to smell like a deer's ass"
@Gargron as a woman, I can't stand the fruity and floral scents. I want to smell musky or like a fire dammit.
:) Couldn't agree more!
@Gargron you can just buy women's fragrances
that works both ways:
i have it on good evidence that many women prefer men's underarm deodorant/ antiperspirant
some because they say it works better
others because they resent floral scents, that it clashes with natural odors
the grass is always greener on the other side
but yes: degender the entire fragrance product category
@Gargron That's right. I mean I am not sure I want to smell like a bad ginger subsiitute, but smelling like honeysuckle or lavender would be great as opposed to smelling like last night's single malt.
The good news is that even moderate applications of men's _or_ women's fragrance are enough to suffocate me.
A coworker thought I was joking when I said their lotion was making it hard for me to breathe.
Walking behind someone outdoors yesterday and I started to choke up.
No, I don't have asthma; there's just something about perfumes and colognes that I can't hand.
I have a very mild deodorant I can tolerate but that's about it; everything else I use is fragrance free.
@Gargron there's a cafe i used to live next door to that had a little shop in back that sold clothes and jewelry and stuff. i always liked that they didn't have space to partition things off by gender so the customer gets to use their own best judgement on these things. among other things they had some fancy fragrances that would be pleasant on anyone. can't remember the brand name though
@Gargron On a related theme a popular scent for fabric conditioner is so called "Summer Meadow".
I can't help thinking that summer meadows quite often smell of cow shit 🙂
@Gargron what, you don’t want to smell like sawdust and otter musk?
@Gargron are you based in Berlin? Check out the not gender specific fragrances at https://voostore.com/en-nl
I have the wonderful Kirsch from Headspace.
@Gargron leather couch!
@Gargron scents don't really have genders. Just get what suits you, it will smell like you if that's what you wear. I will here put in a plug for Neil Morris Perfumes, indie perfumer so good and most don't have any man or woman labeling.
@Gargron I tend to always get the "Tobacco/Cigar/Whiskey" scented body wash as a gift. I really like Lavender or Cherry, though...
@Gargron Go buy what you want, don't let packaging stop you.
@Gargron that's cultural I think - in the gulf countries rose is commonly used by men, for example. But in the west I find niche perfumers tend to not divide their scents by gender, which is nice.
