I am a 61-year-old who has decided it might be nice to smell nice. I don’t have any particular odor issue, that I’m aware of, but I wouldn’t mind smelling, I dunno, fresh. I have never mastered this part of life.
Cologne? Some body wash potion? Mint leaves in my pockets?
I am looking for subtle-but-pleasant. The last thing I want is a group making gagging faces to each other once I depart the elevator.
I’d love to hear some specific suggestions, both product and technique.
FWIW, my current routine is shower/shampoo/deodorant/floss/brush teeth. That is the extent of it.
Go to a fragrance counter in a upscale store. The counter person will be glad to help you choose a scent. You will come outta there smelling ‘loud’, And don’t buy anything there. You can probably find it cheaper online. I like citrus-y scent on men. <Just thought I’d throw that in, for your edification.
A complete scrubbing with Irish Spring soap ought to do you in the “subtle” department.
Go to the local bookstore and buy the latest issues of GQ, Maxim, Esquire and the like. They usually have advertising that have “scratch & sniff” samples. Every day rub a different one all over you and see if you like it. Then buy the one that hits all the right notes.
Shit. Shower. Shave. In that order. The other stuff doesn’t really matter in which order you do it, but the Shit, Shower, Shave is there for a reason. Each step takes care of any incomplete operations of the previous.
The only other suggestion is Axe, which I don’t really don’t deal with, but seems to be what the cool kids do these days. I use deodorant every other day or so, clean shirts, undershirts, and shorts every day and clean jeans every couple of days. If I have been getting dirty, new pants every day. If I’m not leaving the house, I might wear the same t-shirt two days in a row, but that’s in a controlled environment. I’ve been doing it this way for the past two decades and it seems to work. The secret is to be clean and wear clean clothes if anyone other that your spouse is going to see you.
For the love of god, don’t start sporting Brut. There is no more gag-inducing men’s scent than Brut. Makes my gorge rise to remember it.
Whatever scent you settle on, use a light touch. Make an agreement with a trusted friend to tell you if you start down the path of overuse due to developing an insensitivity to the smell.
There is a definite older man smell. Not saying you’re old:).
I kinda like the old guy smell. I may be unique it that, not sure.
Please, please, I’m begging you, don’t buy Axe. That is some bad bug spray scent, right there. I do believe it can be a dual purpose spray. Even old spice smells better.
You may have a spouse who likes clean. Your spouse is probably going to get closer to you than anyone else you might meet during the day.
For OP: Anecdotal, my husband uses some kind of clear but lavender-scented soap that makes him smell yummy. I have to be pretty close. He started using it because of dry skin, but it also smells good, nice and fresh.
Clinique has a scent called “Happy for Men” which my son likes, although he really hates the name. And he refuses to buy it for himself. Smells good, much less obvious than his previous scent. He also uses some nice-smelling body wash, which, I just checked, turns out to be Dove Men Care Extra Fresh.
Also, no Axe unless you are an oppositional-defiant teenager. (In which case you can’t be talked out of Axe until you come to your senses in a couple of years.)
There’s absolutely nothing that smells worse than teen boys who have played a b-ball game. Went to the showers and come out with Axe on. Nauseating. We have to endure that smell in the Concession stand, after the games. No ventilation. It’s awful.
Assuming the rest of your hygiene is already taken care of, and you are interested in exploring the world of fragrances, Beckdawrek has a great idea about letting the people at a fragrance counter at a decent department store show you some options in scents.
Sephora has a touch screen device in their stores that will guide you to potential scents you might find interesting. Plus, you can usually spritz a sample of most of their products on a swatch, and see if it’s something you might want to sample on yourself. Fragrances, especially expensive ones, can change scents as they dry. The effect can be startling.
For fragrance reviews and a database of scents, I like fragrantica.com.
I am strongly against using anything that retains a noticeable scent. There’s a lot of us out there that are sensitive to scents and what many people put on is just gawdawful.
Take what you might consider to be a “normal” level of scent and cut it back by a factor of 10 at least.
And rinse it all off before getting into the pool. This crap just floats on the surface and hangs around long after you’re out. Of course that is nose level for us lap swimmers. Ugh.
Personally, I use unscented soap, laundry detergent and so forth, but if I had to wear some sort of scent, I’d go for Bay rum, which is the stuff they put on me after I get a haircut.
