A new trend is spreading across social media, encouraging people to do something called “pheromone-maxxing.” Here’s what it means.
If you’ve been online in recent years, chances are you’ve come across a few versions of the term “-maxxing.” “Looks-maxxing,” “jaw-maxxing,” even “vagina-maxxing” – well, all over social media, the term has become attached to different ways of supposedly “enhancing” one’s appearance.
These trends encourage people to alter their appearance in order to “look their best,” and sometimes it’s done through controversial methods that medical professionals have warned may be dangerous.
One of the latest viral trends on TikTok is pheromone-maxxing, and it’s apparently growing more popular among teenage boys. The idea is that women are supposedly attracted to men’s natural scent, and therefore, it’s supposed to be a good idea to skip showering or deodorant before a date.
Some of the people recommending the trend claim science backs it up. However, refusing basic hygiene isn’t necessarily what it’s all about.
What are pheromones?
While research does show that scent might play a role when it comes to attraction, it has not been proven that humans have pheromones. Pheromones are “substances which are secreted to the outside by an individual and received by a second individual of the same species. Many examples exist in animals but their role in humans remains uncertain since adults have no functioning vomeronasal organ, which processes pheromone signals in animals.”
Whether humans could pick up on pheromones or not is, in other words, still up for debate. And even if they do, there is no evidence proving that skipping a shower would send off “sexy”-hormones.
Dr Gayatri Bhatia, Associate Professor, Psychiatry, Amrita Hospital, told Firstpost: “Human attraction is based on sensory cues, personality, familiarity, context and reciprocal behaviour.
“Biology matters but there is no science behind the notion that an unwashed body is a dating advantage.”
So unfortunately for anyone hoping to let their natural scent do all the work, personality still seems to matter – and science has yet to show that sweaty armpits are the shortcut to winning someone over.
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