I recently bought a set of soaps from Outlaw a small soap company in Sparks, Nevada. They have milled and handmade soaps as well as other bath and body products in smells that I haven’t seen before. The fragrances are western inspired and so are the names for them. Even though you can buy the products direct from the company website you can also get them on Amazon. I bought them through Amazon because I have Amazon Prime and could get no cost shipping for a small amount of product.
On Amazon I was reading the reviews and most all of them complain about how the smell of the soap doesn’t seem to last long outside the shower. This made me facepalm. As I continued to read the reviews I came to the opinion that most people aren’t taught or aware of how our sense of smell functions.
When we smell something for long enough that isn’t a threat to us our sense of smell will slowly ignore it. An example is when you are baking something be it cookies or a roast. Eventually you stop smelling them unless you leave the area. Like if you go outside for a few minutes and come back in.
When you use a soap that has a fragrance in it you’ll be getting a heavy continuous dose of the scent in the shower or bath with you. Once you leave the area and it is only the smaller amount on your skin or hair giving off the scent your nose will eliminate it. Other people that are just meeting you will still smell it on you as part of your general smell because your natural body odor will mix into it. This is why in the past it was so important to learn what different fragrances would smell like on your skin instead of just in the bottle, soap, lotion. Our body chemistry will change the smell that others detect on us. It’s why I was taught as a teen that less is more when it comes to cologne. Just put some on your wrists, neck behind the ears, and sprits a little in your hair. You will be set for hours if not the whole day from just that little bit. It’s why I love the fact that solid cologne is making a come back. You can slide your finger tips over your wrists and along your neck instead of spraying it everywhere and causing an asthmatic issue for a little bit and take a little and mix it into your hair product if you have wax, grease, etc. to spread it out evenly in your hair.
To get back on topic. This ability to cancel out smells is why some people don’t realize that they smell bad. Like people with strong body odor or someone that works a hard labor job all day. They won’t be able to smell themselves because it isn’t an immediate threat to them so they’re subconscious eliminates it from their notice.
Anyway, I just really needed to get this teaching moment out of the way because it was bugging the hell out of me.
Derek's Mindscape 