20 year old dudes almost never smell good, ever wondered how you can fix that?
As a young man who goes to college, I know the smell and habits of my fellow 20-something's. Not much is asked of the average college-going male. We ask him to shower at least a couple times a week, to brush his teeth and to try and look half-decent every once in a while. But, there are not many young men that ever really think about their smell. But your smell is very important. And as young men who hope (speak for yourself) to become respectable men one day, we should strive to do better with our smell. We should strive to be rid of that musky, post-frat party smell that has a fragrance akin to a vat of old beer that may or may not contain someone's regurgitated dinner. So without further adieu, here are the three steps that you can take, to start smelling good!
Step 1: Learn
In order to be good at something, all human beings must do this thing called learning. You know, the thing you're (by you're I mean your parents) supposedly paying over 30 thousand dollars a year for. So, how does one start to learn about colognes/perfumes? The first step is to learn the varying intensities of fragrances and the smell characteristics of the fragrances themselves.
A good visual found at thefragranceshop.co explains the varying intensity levels of colognes:
Not only does the solvent mixture determine the intensity of the smell but it also determines the lifespan of the smell. The majority of cologne's available to us college dudes fall under the Eau De Toilette category. In this category, the bottles are found to be bigger and last up to 2-3 hours on average. There are some higher intensity fragrances for men that are offered, but many are on the pricier side and for the more refined man. As a college kid who just desperately wants to rid the smell of week old beer off of his favorite shirt, Eau De Toilette's should be more than enough.
Up next, we explore the fragrance profiles of men's colognes. Another great graphic, found on scentbird.com, takes us through the different variations of smells offered:
There are four main fragrance types: fresh, woody, floral and oriental. Fresh contains smells such as green, water and citrus. Woody contains smells from the forest such as moss and the woods in general. Floral is pretty self-explanatory, the majority of the fragrances made in this style are for women, but there are a couple good floral men's fragrances. Lastly, we have oriental, this is going to be on the spicier side. If you grew up smelling chili's and various spices, you'll mostly love this one. From my experience, I find that I really like the fresh notes, especially water and citrus. I also like fragrances on the cusp of woody and oriental.
Step 2: Try, Adapt, Fuck Up, Repeat
One of the first mistakes you can make is to notice that one of your friends smell good, ask them what they use and then proceed to buy that scent. DO NOT DO THIS!!! Why do you ask? Well, colognes work differently for every person. You see, every person has their own signature smell, and the way cologne interacts with this signature smell is different every time. Davidoff Cool Water (a cologne I will wear until I die) can smell good on me, but that doesn't mean that it will work for you. Not to mention, every single person smells fragrances slightly differently. My take on Cool Water could be drastically different from yours, depending on the experiences we've had with this particular fragrance. Hell, my roommate, Brennan isn't particular to my signature Cool Water smell, but he really likes woodsy smelling fragrances. This is because he spends a considerable amount of his time fishing and being in the woods.
So, the only real way to find the smell that you really like is to try multiple colognes & fragrances to see what you like. Scentbird.com has a monthly subscription program that sends you about 200-spray sized colognes to try, and it's really a good way to not spend too much money, smell good and find out what you like!
Step 3: Own Your Smell
Once you find your smell, you must own it. There's nothing that hurts me more than seeing someone truly appreciate something and then crumble to peer pressure because other people don't appreciate it on their level. Don't let anyone tell you what you should smell like. Find your smell and rock that shit! Not only will this give you extra brownie points with the ladies, but it's a step closer to being the best version of you.