# Do you know what your significant other (or other loved ones) \*smell\* like? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736 "2016-02-10T18:29:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pidgeon92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/1 "2016-02-10T18:29:10Z")
In two novels I just read, characters died and the other characters would hold onto their clothing and sniff them because those clothes retained the specific odor of the dearly departed. This seems to be a fairly common narrative in books, television and movies. I cannot relate to this. I detect no specific odor on my husband. He doesn’t wear any sort of cologne or aftershave, and isn’t attached to any particular brand of soap or anything else. If he were to pass I would not be digging through the hamper or hugging his pillow trying to “breathe in his scent.” I suppose it could just be that my nose isn’t very attuned to this kind of subtlety. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/2 "2016-02-10T19:12:58Z")
Oh, yes. My husband is usually clean and cologned, but when he’s gotten mucky and sweaty, he has a distinct cedar-mineral scent. Like a freshly sharpened pencil. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/3 "2016-02-10T19:22:15Z")
Hell yes; I even know what friends and coworkers smell like (body chemistry, not cologne or perfume). Having a nose like a bloodhound is not usually a blessing. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/4 "2016-02-10T19:41:30Z")
When we return from vacation, my gf always delays laundering our beach towels. Weeks later they still smell of sea/sand/sunscreen. My gf doesn’t smell, though, and I hope I don’t either. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/5 "2016-02-10T21:17:40Z")
By and large, no. Unless someone drenches themselves in perfume, or hasn’t bathed in eleven days, I’m pretty much unable to detect any scent or odor at all from people. Once in a rare while, someone will have bad enough breath that I can smell it. For most people, as far as I can tell, breath is just air. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/6 "2016-02-10T21:21:19Z")
Ivylad wears [Grey Flannel](http://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Geoffrey-Beene/Grey-Flannel-4608.html) for special occasions, and that makes me weak in the knees. Sometimes I’ll sniff the bottle. 😃 I do remember when he was on his six month Med run in the Navy, and I was home alone with a baby and a three year old. I was cleaning out the hall closet and came across his peacoat. I buried my face in it and the scent overwhelmed me, I was missing him so much. I would say I don’t necessarily notice his scent when he’s around, but I do notice it when he’s not. And the Grey Flannel gets my engine running. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/7 "2016-02-10T21:52:21Z")
I used to date a guy who had a skin condition and used pine tar soap. He did in fact smell like pine - I told him he smelled like George Brett. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/8 "2016-02-11T01:52:20Z")
My husband is meticulously clean; he often showers more than once a day. And he never wears cologne. But not only can I identify his aroma, I can tell which part of his body it’s from. His t-shirts smell very different from his underwear. I often switch pillows with him, especially when he’s out of town on business. I can totally identify with **ivylass**. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/9 "2016-02-11T02:06:26Z")
Yeah, sure, to varying degrees. ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/10 "2016-02-11T02:07:29Z")
My wife is allergic to most scents so we are a scent-free household, but when I step into the bedroom hours after she’s been asleep, there is a scent, her scent, a warm soft smell they is uniquely her. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/11 "2016-02-11T02:46:42Z")
I know the smell of each of my children’s individual heads, and as far as I am concerned that is the best smell in the world forever. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/12 "2016-02-11T03:15:05Z")
Just to be clear, what I (and I think, others) are talking about is the natural, pleasant aroma of a person’s skin and body, not a sweaty or stinky smell. when my (now ex) husband was undergoing radiation treatment for cancer, his skin scent changed. Not a bad smell, just a different one. I mentioned it to the radiation oncologists, who were very interested in my report. ( well, at least they did not ridicule me!) It took about two years for his body chemistry to normalize and his usual scent to return. We were together for 35 years, split for 6 and I would bet you money I could still identify his scent on a tshirt accurately. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/13 "2016-02-11T03:15:57Z")
I’m very sensitive to smells, but I don’t _know_ her smell. Given the OP’s setting though, if she were to pass I’m sure that I would see value in smelling her pillow, wardrobe, etc. as I reminisce about her. My wife is always commenting on MY smell, however. I don’t detect it, but she loves it! I often hear her say, “I love the smell of you”. I don’t wear cologne and always choose scentless soap/detergent/shampoo. I’ve asked her what, specifically, she’s cluing into but she says it’s just “you”. I am a blessed man. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/14 "2016-02-11T03:23:06Z")
This is definitely a thing. When my kids were small my sister used to send hand-me-downs to my daughter from her daughters. My kiddo could identify which of the three nieces a piece of clothing came from by smell. I knew which of the nieces the clothes were from. My daughter passed the blind sniff test with 100% accuracy. My daughter is also, I believe, a super-taster as I’ve learned here. Some of her senses are way more refined than mine apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/15 "2016-02-11T03:54:31Z")
I have relatives who live overseas with such an incredibly specific smell. They’re very clean, and it’s a pleasant smell - sort of fruity and fresh - but I would recognize it anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/16 "2016-02-11T05:52:38Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > When my kids were small my sister used to send hand-me-downs to my daughter from her daughters. My kiddo could identify which of the three nieces a piece of clothing came from by smell. Oh, that reminds me. As my daughter outgrew her newborn and baby clothing, I threw it in a plastic storage bin. When the bin was full, I put it in the attic for baby #2. A couple years and five pregnancy losses later, we gave up on having a #2 and I got the bin down to sort through it. As soon as I pried off the lid I was hit with the odor of my newborn daughter–an odor she no longer has. Yeah, I cried. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-your-significant-other-or-other-loved-ones-smell-like/745736/17 "2016-02-11T06:09:45Z")
The recognition and memory of scent is a fascinating thing. Two years ago I traveled to Lima. I had not been there in 40 years. I lived there for most of my first five years and then again between age eight and ten. As soon as we left the airport, I remembered things via scent alone. My aunts house still smelled the same, as did she. I would recognize my guy’s scent anywhere. I love it. If I could bottle it, I would.