The Scent of Love

The Scent of Love

Most of us think that the smells that attract us to someone (or totally turn us off) are coming from a can of AXE body spray, a bottle of cologne or perfume, or perhaps even a stick of deodorant.  Sure, we all have opinions about what fragrances we love or dislike, but there is something natural at work when you get butterflies after meeting a new date or like to cuddle up with your spouse’s pillow while he or she is out of town; and that something is pheromones.  

Love the way they smell?

While pheromones were once thought of as a way that only animals communicated their readiness to breed with one another, it turns out that humans also produce and react to pheromones, whether we realize it or not.  These particular chemical signals are detected by specialized receptors in our brain (found in the hypothalamus), although we don’t pick up on pheromones as smells in our nose.  

Is Love just a chemical attraction?

Is Love just a chemical attraction?

When it comes to human beings, the presence of pheromones is quite a fascinating topic.  Studies have proven that we are able to detect a slew of information about someone through scent, particularly if they are someone of the opposite gender (in those who are heterosexual, at least).  Women respond to a chemical similar to testosterone but not to one similar to estrogen, while men have the opposite response with an attraction to the chemical similar to estrogen but not to the one similar to testosterone.  

The scent of love

As humans, our own personal “fragrance”, if you will, is most strongly released through our sweat and urine.  Our bodies give off specific pheromones through sweat when we have sex, which means that you might find yourself wildly attracted to a random stranger you pass on the street if they didn’t have time to shower after a romp.  This also explains why partners are often able to detect their lover is cheating on them with no other physical evidence to go on.    

A bottle of desire

Of course, now that there is scientific proof about our attraction to certain underlying hormone scents, synthetic versions have begun to surface with claims such as making someone ridiculously desirable to the opposite sex simply by dousing himself in the product.  Anyone with common sense should be wise enough to realize that although pheromones do play a large part in our attraction to someone, there are other factors that come into play for most of us, including looks, personality, charm and so on!  

Now the next time you find someone alluring but you can’t quite figure out why, you’ll know it is just your pheromones communicating for you!

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