I searched for a thread on this and didn’t find one, and also google unsuccsessfully, so here goes.
I’m very much interested in herbs and their applications (as can be seen by my username here). I’ve noticed in a few posts, some herbs being mentioned as ingredients to some pheromones being commercially sold. Now, I’m not trying to get any recipes here, I’m just interested in the herbal aspect of the whole pheromones story.
Is there a tradition in using herbs for their “pheromonic value” in the world? I’m guessing there must be. Does anyone know any examples and any herbs used?
well, the herbal scents are not part of the pheromones per se, but are added to offset the often unusual scent of the artificial phero molecules and/or to help them diffuse faster.
er, let’s see… look for posts by OoohYahhh on the magic mushroom (not in the psychedelic sense!) that is said to make some women orgasm when they get a whiff of it! well a mushroom doesn’t count as a herb, but it seems that many naturally-occuring substances are quite close to human pheromones, molecularly speaking.
Well, catnip appears to mimic a feline pheromone, explaining its popularity with cats… it’s not unreasonable to suppose that equivalent things exist in the plant world that mimic human pheromones - it possibly helps the plant propagate or something if it becomes attractive to a mammalian species.
Well, I am a newbie here and so I am not yet clear on the difference between pheromone and aphrodisiac, but I spent a good amount of time researching essential oils for their aphrodisiac properties and I came up with this short list. there are more but I was looking for something very specific:
Neroli (orange flower) has a long tradition of being worn (by princesses, prostitutes and in brides) And it a great oil to use in fragrances because it is non-toxic, a non-irritant, non-sensitizing, and not photo-sensitive.
The mushrooms story is very interesting. I knew about catnip, but I didn’t realise that it hit the pheromonic receptors
I also heard people say that cats have a simmilar reaction to valerian. I wonder if valerian also hits the pheromonic receptors or if it’s something else.
Christina, I realised that, the older the tradition, the more chance there is that it’s real and strong. How effective are the aphrodisiac properties of the essential oils you mentioned? Looks very interesting.
As we gain more knowledge I suspect we will find many pheromone analogs in traditional perfumes.
I suspect both sandalwood and oud have fairly strong pheromone properties. Oud is quite expensive, and some of the discussions of particular ouds go into detail about “fecal” notes in particular ouds. It is quite attractive nonetheless. Oud comes from wood with a fungal infection.
Hi BlueLotus, I just began my own research so I am unable to say from experience how effective the aphrodisiac properties are of these herbs.
I do know from my own personal experience that amber had a strong effect on others. I usually wore it for meditation but one time I wore it out to a dance club - only because I love the smell. I had guys literal sniff me and ask me what I was wearing. It was quite funny.
