I miss your purple hair, I miss the way you taste

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Have you ever been left with someone's scent lingering on an item of yours and then you miss them?

Scent is an interesting thing. Why is it that when you spend extended amounts of time with certain people you pick up their scent on your clothes, or even when you borrow some people's clothes it has a scent, whereas other people's do not?

Jo and I spend hours discussing random thoughts, but this one is still bugging me. When I borrow Jo's clothes I can't smell anything, and she says the same thing about me, yet when I borrow some of my other friends clothing it has a scent. Now, of course you immediately think it's because we live together. Well, we don't use the same detergent, perfumes, or lotions. Also when I have visited her parent's house I don't pick up on a scent, and I have other friends who similarly don't have a scent. Some of my friends, however, I merely have to give them a hug and I recognize their scent.

So I wonder why this is? Are some people like a blank slate? No scent? Or is it that their scent is similar to mine, so I don't notice it? Or is it really living together that masks it? Which then begs, when you get married does your spouse lose their scent as you then use all the same products? When they go out of town and then come back, do you all of a sudden recognize their scent again?

I would propose to do a scientific study where a group of individuals all used scentless cosmetics (shampoo, lotion, deodorant, soap, etc.) and the same detergents and then after a week we could smell all of them to see if they smell any different. But since I live in the city of the vain (i.e. Provo), the odds of getting a sizeable group of people to go without scented products for an extended period of time is highly unrealistic. Therefore I must rely on your feedback. Let me know what you think.


Also, do I have a scent other than my perfume? (If it's the Mac Grill essence, don't tell me)

2 comments:

Mary said...

I've noticed this about friends, also. I had a friend whose scent I associated only with her until one day I walked into a mildewy room and then I realized that she just smelled like mildew. I can't smell my sister's house when I'm in it, but I can smell it on her clothes when they're out of her house.

When we were engaged, I had a shirt of Christian's that I would sleep with because it smelled like him, and even though now I do our laundry together and we use the same shampoo, conditioner, and soap, I can still always smell him -- I can smell his Christian smell, not just him because he stinks or has bad breath or something (which he usually doesn't).

So maybe if someone's scent is close enough to your own AND you live with them, you can't smell it. Like, boy smell is too different from girl smell to not be recognized. I once dated a guy who wore some kind of cologne, and every time now I catch a whiff of it, I want to vomit-puke.

Sorry for the way-long comment.

Carla said...

i love way long comments. very useful data.

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