What Sweat Has to Do With Attraction?
And how does smell affect our behaviour?
I was doing some work in the library a few days ago when my friend came up to me and that man smelled so GOOD! But it wasn’t the cologne or deodorant sent that attracted me. In fact, he probably didn’t use either of those products that day. It was this strong masculine sweat that just blew up my nostrils. I swear, our conversation lasted no longer than 5 minutes and all that time I couldn’t pull myself back from him.
There was something dirty and sexy about it. Most people would find it repulsive, including me till that day. But oh my, that sweaty smell almost made me unzip my pants and jump on my friend like a crazy person.
So why did this happen? Why was I so attracted by something that is considered repulsive? Maybe we all should give up perfume and get a little bit sweatier?
While doing my research I concluded that there are two different beliefs, one that humans do produce pheromones (thus causing sexual attraction) and the other that they don’t (and the way a person smells has little to do with attraction, except when it is repulsive).
For the sake of our conversation let’s stick with the theory that people do produce pheromones.
So in that case why we are mostly repulsed by the smell of sweat and why was I suddenly attracted to my friend because of the same sweat?
There are a few key things to understand here.
According to a 2021 article by Social Issues Research Center males produce a pheromone called androstenol which is the one that attracts ladies. (The Smell Report 2021) A study, explained in Iris Examiner magazine published in 2015, had 20 men wear pads under their armpits while watching porn and while doing simple house chores. Then those pads were given to women afterwards and the scans of their brains showed that women felt sexual arousal after smelling the porn pads. However, the main takeaway from this study is not that women can smell when men are sexually aroused, though that is too, it mainly proves that sweat can be a factor in attractiveness. (Chonchuir 2015)
Yet, that doesn’t mean that sweat produced by men will always be attractive to the opposite sex. I am sure people who you public transport regularly know what I am talking about. Both men and women know when both men and women did not use deodorant. And this is because (at least for men) if their sweat remains in contact with oxygen for some time the original pheromone androstenol turns into androstenone and this one smells pretty horrible. So androstanol is the sexy one, androstenone is the nasty one. (The Smell Report 2021)
Based on that a simple answer to why did I think my sweaty friend smelled so good is that he probably went on a run before I saw him or at least something like that. We will never know. But it probably was androstanol that got me.
But what about women? Do our sweat appeal to men?
Well, yes and no.
According to the 2021 BetterHelp article by Sarah Fader women secrete four times fewer pheromones than men. So I wouldn’t rely on the pheromones so much. However, our hormones are the ones that make stuff happen. I am sure you heard about women appearing the most attractive during their ovulation and that is because of all the hormones are that making sure the potential mates know that it is time to bake some cakes. During ovulation, it is not only sweat glands that are involved. Everything gets infused with hormones signalling the readiness to mate.
All this talk about sweatiness brings me to a question. Is it better than not to mask your natural odour and let people smell all the pheromones they want?
As mentioned before men’s sweat starts smelling nasty after it is out reacting with oxygen for some time so use deodorant. For women the same thing. Even though we do not produce the same pheromones in the same amounts there is still a problem of bacteria farts that live in sweat. And bacteria will fart no matter your gender.
On top of that keeping up, good hygiene can actually make you a happier person! “According to the Herz Survey for the Sense of Smell Foundation, 90% of women report feeling more confident when they wear fragrance. Another experiment showed that daily use of cologne significantly improved the mood of middle-aged men.” (Chonchuir 2015)
Furthermore, apart from pheromones and hormones, there are a million other chemicals that go into your smell. Think about it as your personal chemical cocktail that your body emits at all times. This is highly dependent on your immune system. Adam Hurly in his 2018 GQ article states that smell is also an indication of your health code and sometimes people will be attracted to you just because your code is drastically different to their code. They do so because the more differences parents have the more diverse the offspring are going to be thus having higher chances of surviving. So there is no need to sweat around all day hoping that your charming pheromones/hormones will get you the attention of your crush. Leave it up to your biology to decide who is most compatible with you.
Another fun fact I will throw in here is that people can actually smell sexual orientation. Research at the Monell Chemical Senses Center asked a bunch of random people to rate in the order of pleasantness t-shirt worn by a bunch of other random people. They found out that heterosexual males preferred t-shirts of heterosexual females and gay males preferred other gay males’ t-shirts. (Chonchuir 2015)
In conclusion, the smell is a weird thing. It can attract people to us as well as repulse them. And while it is all fun and interesting, I wouldn’t rely on smell exclusively to attract potential partners. Yes, the smell is a very strong sense of ours. But there is so much more that goes into attraction apart from it.
Resources:
Chonchuir, Sharon Ni. 2015. “Body scents and sweat can be highly attractive to our sexual partners.” Iris Examiner.
2021. “The Smell Report.” Social Issues Research Center.
