to think that fragrance/scent on a man is effeminate ?

[vienna1981]

My attitude could probably be described as old-fashioned, narrow-minded, prejudiced etc. I'm of the opinion that "smelling nice" is a woman thing and it's rather girly for men to reek like a rosebush. I'm not suggesting that anybody, man or woman, should pong of sweat and BO. Just to be hygienically neutral without added flavour, as it were.

By the way, my 89 year-old neighbour wears Old Spice. A 25 year-old workmate wears Paco Rabane, and way too much of it. Both of these products smell awful, IMO.

Over to you.

So do you think that women that don't wear fragrance/scent are masculine then, OP?
Yeah, you're being unreasonable. Men and women can wear whatever they want nowadays. We don't have to live up to stereotypes or worry about being feminine or masculine enough. Thank goodness.

Just out of interest, OP. Where do you stand on men wearing pink shirts? Are they 'effeminate' as well?

Yeah YABU as well as in need of a few gender studies classes.

There is something extremely attractive about a man (or a woman) who makes an effort to be desirable.

I grew up with male relatives whose idea of making an effort was to wash mud from under their fingernails. And who thought that using deodorant was a sure sign of being gay. And had a bath once a week whether they needed it or not.

When I was 17 I went to a big party in a country house. One of the guests was a perfumier from Marseilles. He was stocky, muscular, silver crew cut and quite hard-nosed - he looked a bit like a Bond villain's henchman. When he walked past you didn't notice anything at first, then these amazing, diverse and subtle fragrances breezed by. It was almost musical not pretentious moi at all

This was a revelation. And I've loved a fragrant man ever since. Not anything heavy - just a little scent when you get close or someone who leaves a beautiful smell behind when they leave the room.

I think you are being sexist. Women can wear fragrance but men can't ?

There was a man at the police department a couple of weeks ago who left a scent of tobacco and something else..sex maybe in his wake. I wanted to lick him. I didn't though..would have been unseemly.

I used to work in a place where there were a lot of middle eastern visitors. The men typically wore oil based perfumes. You got used to it, and the men certainly didn't see it as being effeminate.

I meant to add that I do like some of the modern, subtle scents on a bloke, nothing too heavy (I don't do heavy perfume myself, either).

The bearded bastard does amazing proper manly scents with no chemical fake smells.

They're delicious and very earthy. Couldn't be manlier really.

My dh wears all kinds of perfume (including mine!) sometimes more than one at a time. He just adores scents. I like it actually.

Why is "effeminate" a bad thing?

Why is smelling nice only something a woman should do?

A lovely fragrance on a man can be very sexy.

Aramis is not one of those fragrances.

Ugh!

I only like a man who smells of bollock-sweat and coal dust meself. Right manly. Grrrrrr.

YABU! Saying a man who wears scent/aftershave is effeminate is ridiculous.

My DH's aftershave smells divine. Makes him just delicious .

For what it's worth, I am a big fan of perfume too. The right scent on the right person can be fabulous. But there are a lot of ropey ones about, I'll give you that.

Dh particularly likes to use my rose oil and Coco Chanel together! Africans do splosh on the perfume if they get the chance. In all African markets there are traditional perfume sellers who make up a recipe using your choice of exotic ingredients and aromatic oils & spices. These are for men and women quite indiscriminately. They also tend to daub it on their clothes rather than their skin. Gorgeous, and very attractive to me!

YABU. Good male colognes were popular a hundred years ago and smelled of herbs, citrus and lavender. To me its a sign of good grooming and a citrus cologne is still my favourite.

I don't like some fragrances on anyone at all, but that's just personal preference (Paco Rabanne 1Million, I'm looking at YOU!)

In general I don't like fragrances as they give me migraines. I gave away a set of bench toiletries that DS got as I literally couldn't stand them in the house. So while I don't think it is girly to use them, they don't meet my approval in general.

My DP wears Jo Malone Oud & Bergamot.

Christ, he smells divine and I basically want to jump him whenever he wears it

Didn't men in Victorian times use something called 'bay rum' as a perfume? And macassar on their hair? (Hence 'anti-macassars' on chair backs) Vain buggers, men. No different to us women really!

DP wears Creed Green Irish Tweed and frankly it really turns me on when he wears it. There's nothing 'effeminate' about it and is possibly one of the most masculine things I've ever smelled!!

Good post hatespiders

That is my FAVOURITE kind of post.

(History board is very quiet...)

Oh, GIT is horrible to my nose. Haven't Creed stopped making it, though? No, I might be thinking of Royal Delight.

No one should reek of scent/perfume/cologne. There should be a hint in the air as they pass, so you need to turn and get close to be sure what it was.

Men tend not to reek of rose gardens, either. Most male scents tend to be more on the fresh, citrussy spectrum, or woody, rather than floral.

I quite like a slightly effeminate man. Eyeliner, mmm.

You can still buy bay rum, btw, hate. It's quite nice.

I am still jealous of my ex, because 90% of perfume I like turns odd on my skin, whereas he can wear it and it smells great.

Not old-fashioned, just literally prehistoric. Men and women have always used perfumes and scented products, throughout human history.
It would be weird if 50% of the population suddenly decided thus made them effeminate when there is a pretty good track record for women liking men who smell nice.

Oh, GIT is horrible to my nose. Haven't Creed stopped making it, though? No, I might be thinking of Royal Delight

No idea. He bought it about 9 months ago and I LOVE it

What's wrong with being effeminate?

The best part of my morning is leaning in to smell DH's cologne and kiss him on the neck before he heads off to work. Love smelling him.

Sorry, YABU.

DH+ Cologne + Nice suit = My panties are coming off tonight.