When I first started wearing cologne, it did not go well. It was a middle school dance and as someone who had never worn fragrance before, I was prepared about as well as a bomb diffuser who was blindfolded. Luckily my dad gave me the gift of Polo Sport (colloquially known as Gift of Polo from generations of teenagers fed up after their fathers continuously wore it since the Polo catalog invaded mailboxes in 1994) and some fatherly advice: “don’t use too much.” Two hours and about three generous sprays later I was walking into the school gym reeking enough to cause those around me to part like Moses at the Red Sea.
My crush Melissa took one sniff and grimaced like I gave her mint toothpaste to eat. She spent the rest of the night slow dancing with Tyler Henderson as I sat alone in the corner, nursing my Aeropostale hoodie and mentally plotting revenge against men’s fragrance. Clearly I was destined for a complex relationship with it.
For years I shied away from wearing any scent. Why risk being That Guy?
You know the one.
The fragrance comes before you walk in the room and hangs around like Tic Tac long after you’ve left. Finally a change was forced when my college roommate Marcus (who hailed from France and was consistently baffled by American showering habits) sat me down one morning. “Jackson,” he said, spitting out his English-TryNotToLaugh coffee, “no mature man can enter the world without a signature scent.” Okay, okay – maybe he didn’t actually say that.
But he did force me to at least consider throwing aromatics back into my rotation. I started small and took my poor teenage experience into consideration when approaching the world of men’s fragrance. The times had clearly changed since my Polo Sport induced nostril rape and thankfully guys were moving away from treating fragrance like a bat signal and toward something more interesting.
Armed with way too much knowledge and money on tiny bottles of liquid that make me smell like a human, I’ve come to view fragrance as one of the most underrated and personal parts of your style. Your clothes and accessories can scream style from afar but your scent is only noticed up close. It’s whispered conversations right before someone leans in for that Hollywood blockbuster kiss.
It’s enjoying the private amusement of knowing your significant other loves how you smell, but their coworkers do not have the same access. There’s incredible power in something that affects others on such a subconscious level. Style you can’t necessarily see?
Game-changing. If there’s one thing I still see guys getting wrong about fragrance, it’s they haven’t moved past 1987. Whether it be traumatized by uncle’s Drakkar Noir phase or misinformed by the “shake and spray” philosophy of fragrance applications of years past, we have a lot of clearing up to do.
So grab your ultrasoft towel and let’s wipe your knowledge slate clean. Skip the word “cologne” entirely when talking about men’s fragrance. Hear me out before you email my editor about the title of this article.
In the same way that not all shoes are sneakers, not all fragrances for men should be classified as “cologne.” Cologne (or eau de cologne) is just one dilution/concentration of fragrance. Traditionally cologne will contain between 2-4% aromatic compounds and will generally last around 2-3 hours. The majority of men’s fragrances nowadays are either eau de toilette (5-15% concentration) or eau de parfum (between 15-20%).
Knowing this will help guide you in two ways: applying correctly and setting expectations for longevity. A 3% fragrance isn’t going to last as long as one that’s 15%, no matter how much you spray on. More on application later.
Speaking of application… Time to expunge “splash on some cologne” from your vocabulary. Unless you’re using one of those tiny splash bottles (which are uncommon nowadays), you’re literally pouring your fragrance on.
Trust me, I worked at Sephora. For spray fragrances, we preach 1-2 sprays, tops. One on your chest where your shirt can help diffuse it, maybe one on the back of your neck if you’re feeling frisky.
There. Done. If someone can smell you before they get within smelling distance, you’re doing it wrong.
If you want a reference for how well to apply your fragrance, ask my friend David. David works as a furniture designer in trendy Brooklyn and has mastered the art of fragrant subtlety. When we hang out, I usually don’t realize he’s wearing something until we get close enough to talk over the din at Vintry & Company.
Or he dips down to grab a drink behind me and I smell it then. Not too little that I don’t notice, but enough that it doesn’t linger with me afterward. He tells me he doesn’t want to be remembered by how he smells and yet every time I’m near him, that’s exactly what I think about doing.
Buying fragrance is where things start to get tricky for most guys. Walking up to that fragrances counter can be intimidating and debilitating. Rows and rows of tiny bottles with overly dramatic bottles and worse descriptions.
Mountain Ridge Rainfall? Pioneer Man?! Who comes up with this stuff?
Here’s a secret most brands don’t want you to know: ignore everything on the shelf that says “for men” or “for women.” Seriously. Fragrance has no gender. Once upon a time, men and women shared the same scents until marketers created an artificial gender binary in the middle of the 20th century.
Before Guerlain started segregating potions into men’s and women’s fragrance, a person’s scent wasn’t divided by genitalia. Now we men have been limited to only a fraction of the fragrant rainbow, mostly decorated by woods, florals, and things that smell like your Dad’s basement. Some of my favorite masculine scents I own are actually from_fragrances not marketed towards men.
Trying fragrances that straddle the binary is a great way to start breaking away from outdated notions of masculinity and scent. One last groundbreaking tip when navigating the maze of fragrance: know thy chemistry. Every single person’s skin chemistry is different and will dramatically change how a fragrance smells on you vs. everyone else.
It wasn’t until I tested the same fragrance that my coworker loves that I realized skin chemistry seriously matters. It smelled like luxurious pine forest on him. On me?
Pine Sol Blast. That $180 bottle sat idle for years after I foolishly assumed it would smell the same on me. Which brings me to my final point about shopping for fragrance: test, test, TEST.
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And I don’t mean those tiny strips of paper they give you at the fragrance counter. Those only tell you 30% of the story. When you spritz fragrance on your skin, it goes through a life cycle.
When you first apply it, you’re smelling top notes. Once it settles in for about 15-30 minutes, you enter the heart of the fragrance. Finally, after several hours, you experience the base that will linger for hours, sometimes days.
You need to experience a fragrance through all of these stages before buying it. Thankfully, most companies will send you samples if you ask nicely. For $3-5 you can get a small vial that holds enough for 3-5 applications.
When testing fragrances, I never sample more than two a day and I apply them to each wrist. Wear them throughout your day and think about how they make you feel. Does it give you a headache after an hour?
Is it gone after lunch? Does it pleasantly find you later in your day? You can’t answer these questions by simply spraying it on a piece of chromatography paper.
After weeks of sampling back and forth, I finally found “the one.” Or at least my signature scent for now. I literally wore each fragrance all day, every day until I made my decision. The one I ended up picking wasn’t necessarily the most potent in the bottle.
It was one that wore the best throughout the day and wasn’t too overpowering when I was stuck in an office with wifi-less Photoshop meetings all day. Your signature scent should fit your lifestyle. If you hate wearing fragrance but want to branch out, start with something subtle that you know you’ll wear.
There’s nothing manly about smelling like a teenage boy’s locker attacked a perfume store. Speaking of signature scents… reconsider having one signature fragrance. I know we’re taught to think of fragrances as this signifier of yourself – a smell others know you by.
And while there’s nothing wrong with having that, one fragrance doesn’t (and shouldn’t!) suit you all the time. Think about how you dress: you have a variety of wardrobe options for spring vs. fall. You wear business casual at work and whole different look on the weekends.
The same should apply to your fragrance game. I have a lightweight citrusy fragrance for summer & the gym, a heavier woodsy scent for fall & winter, and something a little more fun and complex that I save for night time. I’ve watched many older gentlemen slowly become nose blind to their fragrance over the years.
They put more and more on each day because they no longer know how it smells or how strong it is. Your grandparents signature scent is not going to work for you – trust. Full disclosure: fragrance is expensive as shit.
Most mid-to-high end fragrances will start at $150 for a normal 50ml sized bottle. And most larger bottles won’t even last you a year if you’re wearing them multiple times a day. But here’s the thing: if you used roughly 1-2 sprays per day, a 50ml will last you upwards of 8-12 months.
Calculate the cost per wear and suddenly that $175 fragrance is cheaper than you thought. That being said, there are affordable ways to explore the world of scent. Lots of companies now have “explorer packs” that contain 4-8 smaller 10ml bottles of their fragrances ranging from $30-60.
Sure they’re not “samples” but they are 5-10ml bottles that you can wear 1-2 months each. Plus, it’s nice to have on hand for Gifts when friends ask, “Hey buddy, what’s your scent?” Best part about fragrance? It goes on sale all the freaking time.
Unlike watches and leather goods, department stores are actually pretty generous during their seasonal sales when it comes to offering steep discounts on fragrance. I’ve seen incredible 20-30% off prices on many of my favorite brands. Just beware of ludicrously discounted fragrance from things that didn’t sell through retailers.
The fake fragrance market is rampant and all too convincing. Please… let’s nip this in the bud right now. Body sprays, shower gels, body washes – are not fragrances.
Most contain barely any actual fragrance oils and are mostly comprised of propellants (ahem… alcohol). This isn’t to say they don’t have their place. Upsetting your girlfriend by spraying Axe Body Spray in the middle of the night after your evening shower is almost as effective a workout as pounding the iron yourself.
But please understand these are more akin to cologne’s evil stepchildren. My conspiracy theory about fragrance? I don’t think most men realize that the best compliment your fragrance can get is no compliment at all.
Don’t get me wrong, I love when someone walks up to me and says “damn, you smell good man!” But what’s even better is when I’m around someone and they don’t mention it but I know they notice. Part of your modern fragrance strategy should be adhering to your overall style goals. If you’re fresh, put together, and clean-looking you will smell like that too.
You shouldn’t need massive amounts of product to scream STYLE from miles away. Fragrance marketing has yet to adapt to this new philosophy.
Take a look at the majority of fragrance advertisements out there.
Nine times out of ten you’re being sold this fantasy that by wearing their fragrance, you will achieve some level of unrealistic masculinity, power, and sex appeal. Truth is modern fragrance isn’t about blasting everyone around you with your sick scent. It’s about augmenting your existing style, not overpowering it.
Like most things in style, my philosophy on fragrance has evolved over the years. Gone are my teenage eau-soaked days of treating fragrance like a glorified post-shower replacement. Now, I view fragrance as an extension of myself.
Sure, others can benefit from what I wear but at the end of the day I’m the only person who has to smell it all day long. So as you continue your style journey, don’t forget about your nose. There’s a world of scent out there that can help you define who you are.
And please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD don’t wear more than two sprays. Your younger self will thank you.
