Men's Perfume, Women's Perfume and Other Myths

One of the big trends in perfume now is the ambivalent fragrance, the scent that could be for men but might be for women. Back in the 1920s and through the perfume heyday of the 1980s, the fragrance departments were pretty much split on gender lines. Women wore My Sin by Lanvin or Chanel No. 5 and men wore English Leather. There was a pretty strict idea about what scents were feminine, which ones were masculine, and even the uneducated nose could tell them apart.

That all changed some time in the 1990s, as more and more hip scents entered that "green" zone between the male and female aisles of the perfume counter. Women were wearing fresh scents, men were wearing citrus and even subtle florals. Calvin Klein captured part of the feel when he released One.

We might think we're very trendy--inventing the unisex fragrance. Not quite. What was a recent invention was the opposite. The male/female distinction in perfumery is relatively new. In ancient times, scent was scent. Men wore florals. Women and men might very well dip into the very same cologne bottles.

Today, more men are experimenting with scents that might be considered decidedly feminine and not just because of the fancy foo-foo bottles. Florals and fruity scents once deemed very girly are finding their way (in subdued form, usually) into the male fragrance. Women are using more and more fresh and subtle fragrances.

But brave men are wearing women's classics and brave women, well, I don't know what brave women are doing. I doubt that they're slathering on Old Spice. But I think brave women are getting pretty comfortable with ambivalent scents, too.

Scent Span

I just heard a new word: scent span. It refers to the service life of a fragrance once it hits your skin.

Some fragrances have longer scent spans than other.

A lot of things can impact scent span. Some are very personal: how acidic your skin is and how much you perspire. Some are environmental: scents last longer in cold weather. And a lot depends on the type of scent you're wearing.

Perfumes, which contain the greatest relative amount of scent in proportion to solution, last longest. Colognes have less scent and are usually mixed with alcohol, which evaporates. Colognes evaporate more quickly on the skin, which creates a nice scent, but it disappears very fast. An oil-based perfume can last all day.

Some people think that scent span is influenced by where you place the scent. A quick spritz with an alcohol-based spray gives you a nice all-over scent but with a very short scent span. Dabbing perfume on pulse points (behind ears, at the base of the throat, on the wrist) is the classic. Knees are also good, but if you do the dabbing method, make sure you're using an oil-based or highly concentrated fragrance.

A long scent span seems like a good idea but in our multi-shower-a-day culture (morning shower, post-gym shower, relaxing bath, occasional dip in the hot tub), there's something to be said for those short scent spans.