Smell Dating: Sniffing Out Potential Lovers (And Their Sweaty T-Shirts)

The Guardian ^ | 4/27

[nickcarraway]

The first ‘mail odor dating service’ matches people based on a three-day old T-shirt sample. If both your nostrils agree the other smells great, it’s a match

My date, Hannes, had just been swimming in the East River and I could smell him over the cafe table. This made sense, as it had been his scent that first attracted me several weeks earlier.

I’d chosen him as one of my Smell Dating matches, an online matchmaking project that combines the internet’s ability to judge multiple people at once with a physical object (a smelly T-shirt) packed full of pheromones.

Billed as “the first mail odor dating service”, Smell Dating hopes to connect people based on what body odor they find attractive. For $25, you’re sent a T-shirt to wear for three days – no perfume or deodorant allowed. You then send it off and receive samples to sniff in exchange. You choose which scent you like the best, and if both your nostrils agree the other smells great, you’ll be matched via email. No information about age, gender or sexual orientation is known beforehand.

[Jack Hammer]

Don’t forget the mayo....

[Ann de IL]

It sounds strange, but I have heard people say that they really disliked the smell of their partner or spouse, but were in a relationship with them anyway. Without fail, those relationships did not last. I really do believe that our nose can tell us a lot more than we realize about whether or not another person is a suitable match for long time relationship.