Some thoughts on "that Cologne guy"

[CaliDude]

I thought I was avoiding it by spraying under my clothes, but someone at the other end of the room commented that they smelt insence (3 sprays of Sequoia under my undershirt and shirt 4 hours beforehand, but because I'd been rushing my body heat must've given it new life). They didn't seem upset, just puzzled.

hah. That's happened to me once at work with Kilian's Rose Oud. I just sprayed it twice: once on each arm. A few hours later someone said it smelt like "incense" and kept commenting on the smell until I finally fessed up that it was me. He seemed puzzled as to why I would wear such a scent. Oh well.

[perfaddict]

This discussion is a bit too regional and narrow. The world is large and culturally diverse. Application volume and personal tastes, within bounds of moderation (again, varied) should be up to one's personal preferences.

[Renato]

What you say accords with what I've been saying here for a dozen years. If one only wears a few sprays - what's the point? Other guys wearing Old Spice, Brut, Axe/Lynx deodorants will all be putting out more scent than the 2 or 3 spray guy for a few hours, as will guys wearing mass market aftershave balms like Gillette and Mennen.

So what's the point of putting out less scent than guys wearing mass market stuff - to send out the strong message of "I'm not here" or "Please don't notice me?"
Regards,
Renato

[CompassRose]

What you say accords with what I've been saying here for a dozen years. If one only wears a few sprays - what's the point? Other guys wearing Old Spice, Brut, Axe/Lynx deodorants will all be putting out more scent than the 2 or 3 spray guy for a few hours, as will guys wearing mass market aftershave balms like Gillette and Mennen.

So what's the point of putting out less scent than guys wearing mass market stuff - to send out the strong message of "I'm not here" or "Please don't notice me?"
Regards,
Renato

What's the point of wearing a nice suit instead of an Ed Hardy t-shirt and drop-crotch pants when there are all these other guys doing that and their Ed Hardy t-shirts are so gaudy and attention-getting? I'm gonna wear a NEON ORANGE suit!

[sroreilly]

So what's the point of putting out less scent than guys wearing mass market stuff - to send out the strong message of "I'm not here" or "Please don't notice me?"
Regards,
Renato

Because, to me, at least, the point of a nice smelling fragrance is at its most flirtatious, an invitation. When you spray enough to compete with "the mass market guys" you are advertising. Advertising is trashy.

[ChuckW]

I wore 3 sprays of L'Instant EDT today and frankly it was not enough. Lesson learned.

[Rüssel]

Surely still better than being the no cologne guy.

I don't usually apply that much as I mainly wear it for myself and only really care about the opinion of the girlfriend who is allowed sufficiently close. I don't mind being that cologne guy that much though. One time, on a day off, I had applied a hefty amount of Yatagan, then visited a friend in her office. Did get some looks. Hadn't shaved either, so the smell did fit the look lol.

[Kagey]

The conservative ones above should preface their post with a 'Im in the States or Canada or western Europe'.

BN is global not American.

Yes, but that only illustrates the fact that culture has a role to play. When I travel to the Middle East, I adjust my wardrobe accordingly (more conservative; no short skirts, no tank tops) to fit in and show respect. We can acknowledge that cultural norms are different from place to place without being insulting about it.

Not that you're insulting anyone, hedonist--but I have seen many threads on this same topic where people use "conservative" as a pejorative and slag off Americans (and sometimes Western Europeans) for being "uptight" because we don't wear as much fragrance as you do. Rudeness, politeness, too much, too little - these all exist within different contexts.

[L'Homme Blanc Individuel]

Threads like this always crack me up. People who indulge in something are rarely if ever the best when it comes to determining if they're overindulging.

Hang out with beer drinkers and you'll quickly realize how many of the most passionate about their beer have no ability to judge how much is too much.

In college, I had a professor who drank a minimum of 20 cups of coffee a day. I literally wouldn't recognize the guy without a white cup in his hand (always the same cup). I'm a 2 to 3 cup a day guy, but my vice used to be sugar. I couldn't imagine a cup of coffee without at least 2 heaping teaspoons of sugar. Eventually, I added up how much sugar that was each day and I cut it WAY back. In order to help myself cut back, I bought myself a tiny spoon for sugar. I found it easier to cut back slowly over time if I also started using a much smaller spoon. Today, I still drink coffee with sugar, but I use less than 1/4 of a teaspoon per cup. And coffee actually tastes better.

Perfume is no different. Just as the beer drinker and the coffee drinker each have built up a tolerance to alcohol, caffein or sugar, heavy perfume sprayers have built up a tolerance to excessive smells, to the point where they think 5 sprays of perfume is barely noticeable.

It can be a challenge to rely on others to let you know if you overindulge. Friends are used to you always having a strong smell, so if you ask something like "Am I wearing too much?" they're likely to say no and think "It's no more than usual." And since people who like you don't want to hurt your feelings, they're not likely to be honest if you wear too much. I know a woman who wears really ugly clothes. Behind her back, her friends mention it a lot, but they never tell her. Why? They know her sense of style is important to her and they know she'd be upset if she knew what they really thought. Friends of "Cologne Guy" know cologne is important to him, so they're not likely to let him know he wears too much because they don't want to hurt his feelings.

[Renato]

Because, to me, at least, the point of a nice smelling fragrance is at its most flirtatious, an invitation. When you spray enough to compete with "the mass market guys" you are advertising. Advertising is trashy.

One may feel fine feeling superior by not "advertising" as you put it, or dressing and smelling one's best as I would put it, but it's darn annoying going home alone when someone else gets that gal (especially if he's wearing loud Axe/Lynx).
Cheers,
Renato

[Bigtruck260]

I am that guy. People know me by what I'm wearing.

I work in sales, and I have people in some offices that want me to give them decants for husbands, partners etc.
Some guys collect baseball cards. Personally, I enjoy smelling good.

While 20 sprays of certain things work for me, I tend to go a bit lighter with Aventus (less is more). Only once have I heard a complaint. That was the day I layered Azzaro Chrome Legend with Bang. Not sure what I was thinking.

[Dernier_Cri]

Because, to me, at least, the point of a nice smelling fragrance is at its most flirtatious, an invitation. When you spray enough to compete with "the mass market guys" you are advertising. Advertising is trashy.

Well said. Your feelings about what wearing fragrance is about seems to be in accord with my own. Your words "flirtatious" and "invitation" are so well chosen. When some object you care to intrigue or seduce gets close enough to you to get a good whiff here and there of what you're wearing that for me is what fragrance is about. Not blasting every life form in the room to see if you can stampede the herd...... But as always to each his own. Obnoxious over application of perfume really doesn't bother me as much as the attitude of some (not all) of the perfume users who do so, that being that they spent their hard earned money on the stuff and they don't really give a damn who's bothered by it.

[CologneFan85]

Just don't be that guy at work, other them that spray on everywhere !

[noirdrakkar]

Everyone has his own reasons for the number of sprays he chooses to apply. There's no wrong answer here IMO.

There is a wrong answer when allergic people around him are coughing and sneezing.

[Dernier_Cri]

Rudeness, politeness, too much, too little - these all exist within different contexts.

Bears repeating.

[sroreilly]

One may feel fine feeling superior by not "advertising" as you put it, or dressing and smelling one's best as I would put it, but it's darn annoying going home alone when someone else gets that gal (especially if he's wearing loud Axe/Lynx).
Cheers,
Renato

On the contrary, I also find that most scent do not "smell their best" when projecting at large volumes. I find that perfumes smell best when you can feel ever so slightly the body heat of the person the scent is emanating from. Many perfectly nice smelling scents get cold and screechy if you can smell them six feet away.


Also... you don't truly believe people are getting laid from the Axe they are wearing, right? I mean, even nice colognes. If something has ever gone well with a person of interest, maybe having the option of saying "you smell so good" is an opportunity to send a conversation more in the direction of getting laid, but I can guarantee you that as long as you didn't smell like an outhouse, said person would find some other way of breaking the ice.


P.S. Furthermore on the topic of getting laid in relation to being the cologne guy, I have found in my experience that women are far more critical of and sensitive to "the cologne guy" . So even here I would say it is a case of less is more. Cologne's best asset to the male wearing it, in the situation of attracting a mate or what have you, is to give him a sense of confidence, yet paradoxically there is a point where the more cologne he wears the more desperate and self-conscious he appears to others... at least in the states.

[cameron]

Cologne guy get mocked a lot in popular culture.

Of course there's Sex Panther cologne in Anchorman.

More recently, I was watching the Mentalist and the Simon Baker character was interviewing a doctor. He said something to effect of "how desperate are you? Divorced long?". Doctor replied, "why do you say that?". Simon Baker "because you wear too much cologne...obviously you're trying too hard to attract a mate".

People equate cologne guy to the Jersey Shore guys who spray 12 sprays before going to the clubs!

[EndlesslySurprised]

Threads like this always crack me up. People who indulge in something are rarely if ever the best when it comes to determining if they're overindulging.

Hang out with beer drinkers and you'll quickly realize how many of the most passionate about their beer have no ability to judge how much is too much.

In college, I had a professor who drank a minimum of 20 cups of coffee a day. I literally wouldn't recognize the guy without a white cup in his hand (always the same cup). I'm a 2 to 3 cup a day guy, but my vice used to be sugar. I couldn't imagine a cup of coffee without at least 2 heaping teaspoons of sugar. Eventually, I added up how much sugar that was each day and I cut it WAY back. In order to help myself cut back, I bought myself a tiny spoon for sugar. I found it easier to cut back slowly over time if I also started using a much smaller spoon. Today, I still drink coffee with sugar, but I use less than 1/4 of a teaspoon per cup. And coffee actually tastes better.

Perfume is no different. Just as the beer drinker and the coffee drinker each have built up a tolerance to alcohol, caffein or sugar, heavy perfume sprayers have built up a tolerance to excessive smells, to the point where they think 5 sprays of perfume is barely noticeable.

It can be a challenge to rely on others to let you know if you overindulge. Friends are used to you always having a strong smell, so if you ask something like "Am I wearing too much?" they're likely to say no and think "It's no more than usual." And since people who like you don't want to hurt your feelings, they're not likely to be honest if you wear too much. I know a woman who wears really ugly clothes. Behind her back, her friends mention it a lot, but they never tell her. Why? They know her sense of style is important to her and they know she'd be upset if she knew what they really thought. Friends of "Cologne Guy" know cologne is important to him, so they're not likely to let him know he wears too much because they don't want to hurt his feelings.

Excellent.

We should always apply "don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you".

It WAS tempting to me to think "so what, my . . . is so much better than what other guys are wearing" and over-apply yet I got much better. If you have to err, err on the side of discretion.

[kimo]

Good point. I agree that for some designer, you might have to put more than 2-3. But beware, with Montale in general 1 or 2 max