Contact The Editor
Articles By This Author
Okay, let's do a pop quiz. How many readers of this column like smelling BO? Raise your hands. (If you've raised your hands and you smell BO right now, then you have a problem that requires more than a shower. You may be excused.) Anyway, let's get back to our count. So how many like smelling BO? Hmmm. I count nobody. Well, that's a good indication of the personal hygiene and grooming habits of my readers, I suppose. Actually, I don't think very many civilized people care much for that unclean human body odor.
But there are natural human scents that are not unpleasant, did you know that? I didn't know that, or at least I didn't think much about it, until several years ago and several years into my marriage. I'll relate that story in greater detail soon.
There are intimacies between married couples that others are not aware of. Well yes, there's the sex intimacy, but that isn't what I have in mind. When two people have been together for many years, there's almost nothing that the two of them don't know about each other. Likes, dislikes, what makes them angry, what makes them happy. What they prefer to eat, what kind of clothes they like to wear, what kind of clothes they'd like YOU to wear, favorite color, favorite movie, favorite song, etc. You get the idea
And then there's this. The intimacy of scent. Which gets me back to the original premise of this piece. True story, one day years ago, as I was getting dressed, I picked up a shirt that I had worn (just for an hour or so) the day before. I was uncertain whether I should wear it again, so I asked my wife what she thought. She smelled it and said it was okay, I could wear it. I questioned her again and she said, "It doesn't have any BO. It just smells like you, which is a nice smell."
That's when it occurred to me that I had a distinctive scent that my wife recognizes and happens to like. Interesting. Then, thinking it over, yes, I'm aware that my wife also has a scent that I know quite well and is very pleasant to me. I don't think outsiders pick up on these very personal scents which a man and a woman living together for many years have with each other. I have never sensed it in friends or other people I come in contact with. Wait. There's one exception. Make that two exceptions. My father and my mother had their own distinctive scents. Their personal warm smelling scents made me feel safe and comfortable as a child.
For some unknown reason we can't smell this pleasant scent on strangers. Understand, it has nothing to do with perfumes, colognes, after shave lotions, or other fragrant oils people apply to themselves to give off a pleasant scent. No, the personal scent to which I refer comes from within that particular person. And it seems to only exist with those we love, for some reason. I don't claim to understand it. Come to think of it, dogs can be trained to follow the scent of people, and BO has nothing to do with it, it's a person's personal scent they can detect. We humans don't have that ability with strangers.
So what is it that gives off the nice personal scent? Not being a scientist or anything close to that, I couldn't tell you, but I assume it might have something to do with diet, genetics, and just keeping clean. Whatever it is, it is sort of like a fingerprint or photograph of that person. I remember years after my dad died, I was looking through one of his drawers and I found one of his handkerchiefs. It still had his smell on it, and it gave me goosebumps and that warm, comforting feeling came back to me from when I was a kid.
I read somewhere that some people simply have a naturally pleasant body odor. How lucky for them. Having that attribute can enhance attractiveness and create a positive impression during social interactions. It is also linked to emotional bonding and sexual attraction, as individuals may be subconsciously drawn to scents that indicate genetic compatibility. Since I can't smell myself, I have to rely on soap and water and hope for the best.
You'll pardon my wistful longing at this point, but among many other things, I miss smelling my wife and my father and my mother. As crazy as that may sound.
(COMMENT, BELOW)