She told me that spraying perfum or cologne on your wrists and rubbing them together causes some sort of friction that screws up the cologne. You think that is true? Does that apply to the stuff we use? I never thought about that.
I have heard this before - in fact I probably read it on the Parfum forum. I am a bit sceptical about it making any really drastic difference myself, unless anyone can provide a more detailed explanation of how this occurs.
so where are all the experts?
Increased heat accelerates drydown, whether that heat is from high ambient temperature, working out, or rubbing your wrists together. It doesn’t destroy anything, but in terms of perfume, it may mean you don’t smell the top notes for as long as you would otherwise.
Sniff it before and after. Smell any difference? Didn’t think so. Unless you’re trying to saw your wrists in half with massive friction you ain’t gonna change jack-squat. Now you know why she works in a deadend mall job and earns minimum wage.
How long and/or hard would you have to rub your wrists together before a significant amount of heat was generated to damage the cologne? I mean usually I’ll do a spritz, and a quick rub between wrists and I’m done, I doubt I generated enough heat from that friction to raise the temperature of my wrists a single degree. So I would be hesitant to see how such an action would do much damage.
…And even if that simple act did destroy delicate synthetic cologne molecules, I have heard that pheromone molecules can be rather hardy. I might be wrong about this but I have a feeling the old wrist rub ain’t going to damage anything.
It depends. Most things being used in a perfume or cologne are probably pretty stable. That said, I don’t know every compound in every perfume or cologne, but I’d venture to say that they are stable enough that the wouldn’t be destroyed by the heat of you rubbing your wrists together.
The fact of the matter is that heat speeds up chemical reactions. The one that we’re probably most worried about in the case of stuff that smells good is oxidation. In the bottle, it probably isn’t as much of a problem because there isn’t a lot of oxygen in the bottle (most of it is displaced by the vapor of the fragrance and alcohol), but in the open air, it may be. I’d doubt it though because if it were a problem the scent would fade quickly regardless of how you applied it.
So I wouldn’t worry about it destroying the scent. It MAY spread it out more and leave you get more of an initial “rush” of the scent and make it last less, but I don’t think it matters. How quickly something evaporates (which it has to do for you to smell it, and which also causes it to wear off) is a function of its surface area (how big an area you spray it on) and the temperature (mostly constant, your body temperature). Thus, a single spray close to the body will last longer, but be more subtle than a single spray at a greater distance.
This is largely just my guess based on chemistry principles, so at the most, the difference should be small, and it may make no difference at all.
You don’t have to worry about that I think. I don’t have the software on this computer to look up exact decomposition points, but most hormones have relatively high decomposition temperatures, the steroid backbone is pretty stable.
Excessive heat will probably denature and break apart the pheromone molecules. Probably not enough heat caused by rubbing your wrists together.
On a related note, i’ve noticed the skin around my pulse point on my wrists (where I apply pheros, A314 mainly) starting to lightly peel. Nothing ghastly, but just wondering if anyone else had this experience.
Androstenone is stable at up to its melting point at 144°C at least according to the Materials Saftety Data Sheet I found.
That’s another thing mentioned in the MSDS for androstenone. It may cause skin irritation or cracking.
I heard that it wasn’t due to heat, but the rubbing motion releases oils in your skin and it starts to prematurely breakdown the cologne formula.
I was taught to tap my wrists together instead of rubbing them. Not sure if there’s any truth to that one.
Sokoban is a bio chemist for those who have not seen his intro so he knows his stuff.
I agree that it will not harm the mones or the scent unless your rubbing vigorously for a long period of time which is senseless to do.
Your body dosnt produce high enough temputures to damage the molecules. The heat just just diffuses them.
Tisha
Best response in the whole thread!
Actually the lady at macys in our mall is a cosmologist and she makes close to $25 dollars a hour plus commissions she also happens to be my sister in law 
so dont judge a book by its cover professor 
Tisha
Well, I don’t know about that. I seem to enjoy the time the Mrs. and I spend “rubbing vigorously for a long period of time” … 
So your S-I-L helps you keep track of the phases of the moon?