Question:
I'm new to the board and not really familiar with where everyone's from, but I've been wondering...how is men's fragrance regarded in your culture? *Is is very common for men, of any age or profession to wear fragrance and are only certain kinds of fragrances preferred, etc.? *Does your country have regional or religious differences regarding this topic? *
Herb Lady

Answer:
I'm also curious about cultural preferences (if any) towards certain notes. I had never heard of Kouros or anything like it before I met basenotes, and yet here it is- a best selling frag.
Americans are brainwashed from day one that any odor, blemish, imperfection, or other flaw instantly renders them sexually unappealing and they will die alone because of it. I don't know if it's that bad in other countries. From what I hear, there are people who enjoy a more natural smell on other people- not unpleasantly rank, but not as clean as freakin Windex. I have yet to meet that kind of woman here in the states (well, I have met that kind of woman, but she has bad odor problems of her own )
I would like to live someplace where I could go out wearing Kouros or some other blatantly masculine frag and feel confident that at least SOME people would enjoy it for the same reasons that I do. Wearing Kouros out where I live would be like shaving only the left side of your face. People would stare.
-ben

Answer:
Nice topic
Here in Egypt, fragrances are not very common. when I found basenotes, I found people talking about some scents such as Cool Water and ADG as scents that every body wears. There's no such a thing here in Egypt. Some of these scents I don't know how they smell till now
I don't know any one except for me who is mad about fragrances - Although I have tried a few fragrances. Generally, having one scent is more than enough for most Egyptians and it is not always noticed by others - at least no one notices I am wearing fragrances, but I enjoy them though.
Getting samples for scents is not easy here, you cannot easily get samples for all fragrances you want to try.
price and the currency difference can be one of the reasons for people not to wear fragrances. Fragrances in Egypt are more expensive than in America or Europe - some time can get to double the price in some expensive stores, and the mean income in Egypt is less than in Europe and America.

Answer:
A gentleman or lady is never fully dressed without wearing fragrance. Gentlemen are expected to carry a handcherchief, I usually have the fragrance of the day on it.

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Most people here use it. It starts in the end of elementary school, usually. It's something everybody ought to have but not really something people talk about. Many people have their frags from christmas presents. You can't find anything niche here in Denmark at all. People tend to stick with the most common brands like Armani, Lacoste, Gaultier and Hugo Boss. If I need anything special I have to get it in other countries. :-[

Answer:
Originally Posted by aubrgene A gentleman or lady is never fully dressed without wearing fragrance. * Gentlemen are expected to carry a handcherchief, I usually have the fragrance of the day on it. Very interesting responses so far...thank you.
But Aubrgene - you didn't indicate where you were from or what culture you're talking about. You don't have to of course and I would understand your desire for privacy - just curious. Guessing from your cultural description, I wondered if you might be talking about France.
I live in the United States (Northeast) close to New York City, so of course many men here wear fragrance. But we have here such a diverse group of different cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds from all over the world, and I wonder what cultural habits men bring with them from their original homes that would determine their taste in fragrance.
When I was growing up, many older heterosexual men would wear aftershave, but not cologne, which they felt was worn only by gay men. Fortunately, that stereotype is no longer believed by younger generations of men here, such as my husband or our nephews. My great-uncles used to wear these hair tonics that simply reeked.
As for Americans always wanting to smell clean, I've found that the reasoning may be a combination of our early Puritan immigrants believing 'cleanliness is next to Godliness', but more importantly, we've historically have a plentiful supply of clean and inexpensive water, unlike so many other parts of the world (depending upon what part of the country you're in though, that has changed somewhat). I used to work for a European boss who once told me that Americans smell like soap, which completely surprised me. I hadn't thought we smelled like anything.

Answer:
Originally Posted by Herb Lady When I was growing up, many older heterosexual men would wear aftershave, but not cologne, which they felt was worn only by gay men. Fortunately, that stereotype is no longer believed by younger generations of men here, such as my husband or our nephews. My great-uncles used to wear these hair tonics that simply reeked. This is exactly what I was thinking. Im from the states (Colorado) and it seems like the decision of whether to wear a scent or not depends mostly on ideas about the masculine role in society.
Notice that older companies such as Dior, Guerlain, Chanel, etc, made TONS of feminine scents, almost on a yearly basis, all the way back to their beginnings. A masculine frag came out maybe once a decade. Now, ideas about gender attributes in the states (particularly in large metro areas) are more loosely defined. Masculine scents - many of which actually smell quite feminine these days - are released in droves.
I would imagine that fewer people wear scents in more patriarchal cultures with strict masculine identity codes. How many native Japanese Basenoters do we have? I would imagine not many. If you are one though, more power to you!


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Hi all,
This is an interesting question, and I’m glad that someone brought it up. I’m sure that preferences and attitudes toward fragrances differ based on country, region, and many different facets of culture. For example, I have moved a lot within the US, and have found very different attitudes moving from the West Coast to the East Coast and back. Here in Portland, Oregon I would say people are still really conservative about wearing fragrances, especially males. This area still has this frontier/hippy vibe that holds to an earthier ethic. I know that there are pockets of people in specific “sub-cultures” (like attorneys) that wear daily fragrances more commonly, but I would say that 90% of the men that I interact with daily wear NO fragrances at all daily (I’m a psychologist, and I interact with a pretty wide variety of folks through my week.) I’m sure that a fair number of those have a bottle of Polo or Cool Water stashed somewhere for special occasions, but even out at nice restaurants I rarely smell people wearing anything.
The pervasive attitude here, in a large part of the culture, seems to be that fragrances on men should be VERY subtle, or left at home. It has not happened to me, but people wearing even noticeable amounts sometimes get asked to leave restaurants, busses, and elevators. It seems to rank up there somewhere with secondhand smoke. Until I moved to the East Coast at age 18 NONE of my peers, male or female ever wore fragrances. It is just not something we are raised with here.
That being said, I live in a predominantly African American neighborhood, and I smell a lot of fragrances on men around here these days. My neighbors joke that you will find a bottle of Michael Kors in every bathroom.
So, I am clearly living in the right neighborhood….
-Slim


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Well, I'm from Brazil and right here almost everybody wears fragrances.
Most of the people own often 1or 2 bottles (1 for daily wear and another for special occasions). Although Brazil is a third world country, people wear the national colognes as O Boticário, L'Acqua di Fiori etc. These colognes are cheaper and are EDC or even a category that only exists here: Deo Cologne (even weaker than EDC) *
The Deo colognes are generally worn by the poorest people and vanishes in 30 minutes - 1 hour. It's common to see people reapplying fragrances.
The foreign fragrances are extremely expensive here: first of all, because of the import taxes: 60% plus! The currency is another factor that increases the value of the product (1 US$ = 2.2 R$).
It's interesting to see that the designer fragrances, normally in EDT strength, caused a great impression when they started to be worn by the richest and something interesting happened: everybody in Brazil likes strong, rich, with a lot of sillage fragrances!
Nobody here wants to pay a hideous price to smell a fainty watery fragrance... Everybody wants intoxicating fragrances and for that reason, the classics are the most worn here (for those who can afford). Azzaro, Kouros, Lapidus, Polo are best selling here!
There's a general consensus that if you wear a fragrance, you must be noticed. So, It's unthinkable to invite a person to leave a restaurant just because his fragrance is too loud.

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Everyone I know owns at least a few bottles of fragrance, although many don't bother wearing it every day. I can't imagine anyone not owning some Hugo Boss, Swiss Army, or similar. I'm still in high school and I think that has something to do with it: it's already hard enough to sit still in one place for hours within 3 feet of four other people without their perfume mixing with yours and making you nauseous.
On a class trip to Spain last year I remember we spent almost all our time at the airport in the perfume section of the Duty Free. When we go out we can't walk by the perfume section without trying something new.
However, I don't think anyone would feel their virility threatened because they are wearing cologne... That's really quite insecure. And kind of funny too. If American men are really of such feeble masculinity, then that explains a lot.
I live in Canada, in Montreal, but almost everyone in my school are third-generation Italian immigrants, so maybe that has something to do with it.