Food for thought - Scent

I was talking with my friend today and I came across a thought which we debated a little over.

Why do we sell perfumes and deodorants targeted to people by the smell they want to smell themselves, and not the smell they want others to smell from them?

It feels kind of egoistic. If I enjoy the smell of wood, wouldn’t it make more sense for the people around me to carry that smell, so I get to enjoy it? And if they like the smell of roses, maybe I should smell like roses for them. Right now, it’s like we are buying for our own noses instead of thinking about the experience of the people around us.

And that’s strange, because smell is one of the most social senses we have. It’s something that radiates out from us whether we think about it or not. Unlike sight or sound, you can’t really “turn it off.” If you walk into a room, your smell walks in too. It’s not just yours, it’s shared.

But then, look at the visual sense. With how we present ourselves, we do the exact opposite. Most of the time, we’re not dressing or styling for ourselves, we’re doing it for others. People wear uncomfortable shoes, itchy fabrics, heavy makeup, or tight clothes, not because it feels good, but because it looks good. Looking good is often painful and inconvenient, but we accept that because it’s directed outward: it’s about how we’re perceived.

So why is smell handled in reverse? With sight, we sacrifice our own comfort for the experience of others. With scent, we ignore others and buy purely for ourselves. That’s a pretty strange split in how we treat the senses.

Maybe the whole fragrance thing is backwards. What if we thought of scent like clothing, not something for our own comfort, but a layer of experience designed for the people around us?

Because in the end, sight and smell both communicate who we are. But only one of them we openly admit is for others.

Just a food for thought.