Don’t shake your head in disbelief; there is such a thing as smell dating. Smell.Dating is project by Tega Brain (artist and environmental engineer from Australia), Sam Lavigne and Useless Press (what appears to be a random blog for random/esoteric things) that helps put you in touch with the people you like the smell of. Literally.
This is how it works: the “smell exchange” dating service sends you a t-shirt which you have to wear for three days and nights and return via a prepaid envelope. In return you receive swatches of t shirts worn by others which you smell and then decide what you like. When smell preferences match, the website facilitates exchange of contact information. Whether or not you want to be led by the nose thereafter is up to you.
Choose by smell? Why?
The one thing that the internet cannot communicate is the sense of smell so this dating service promises to let you explore smells that you can live with. Apparently we all have a unique “smell signature” which the service promises to reveal. It promises to restore your “molecular intuition”.
No you can not wear deodourant or perfume during smell dating
And they mention nothing about bathing so it’s not clear whether you would be required to avoid all human contact and personal interaction (or risk being called “Smelly” for the rest of your life) during those three days when the t-shirt is soaking up all the awesomeness of your body odour. Oh sorry, we meant molecular essence.
You can smoke or attend barbecues…
…During those three days. Imbuing odours stemming from such personal habits and social activities to the sample are OK. So you can smoke and party… That’s alright then!
They don’t ask about gender or sexual orientation
So you could be very, very surprised when you find that the smell you are most “attracted to” could be old or young, male or female, straight or gay! Apparently your smell preferences will match your sexual desires…. You are invited to “embrace the musky possibilities” here. So what if you have to alter sexual orientation and so on.
Research says smell is very important
Smell researchers (yes, there is such a group of scientists) say that we don’t use our “natural olfactory intelligence” enough. They have linked the overuse of deodorants with higher divorce rates. If you can get your head around that one, you most certainly should use this service which sets you back by $25 (about Rs 1700 at the current exchange rate)
Author – Reena Daruwalla
