I stumbled into the world of pheromones because of a bet with a girl. It was about whether or not people could smell pheromones. I thought they could and she thought they couldn’t. I was just basing this on my sense that some girls smelled better than others, and that it probably had something to do with health and genetics, although I wasn’t certain that it was pheromones specifically. She emailed me later telling me that in fact at least some people could smell pheromones, according to her brief google search. And I said, “Wow. I’m surprised they don’t sell them.”, at which point she said that the majority of hits that came up in her search were from companies selling pheromone products. And hence I spiralled into the vortex of research that is pheromonetalk.
Basics about me would be that I’m in my late 20s, caucasian, physically fit with a good diet, although I do little exercise, decent looking (my mother told me once that I was a solid B+!), 5’8", 140lb. So I’m pretty short, but I get by. I’m decent with girls and like that Sam Cooke song Another Saturday Night says, if I can meet em I can get em, but as yet I haven’t met em. Basically since I’m not in school, or a work environment with coworkers, and I don’t drink, there aren’t a lot of contexts where I can meet girls. I’m also not such a joiner, and going to a class on something or group just to meet girls isn’t something I can get myself to do. I’m happy to go to somewhere that girls hang out, like the park or maybe coffee shops. But then you have to bridge that social gulf. I can do it, but I sometimes feel like a jerk or awkward about it. Like maybe there is something just a little bit wrong about approaching total strangers (if it’s because on a certain level I want something from them, girl or guy). So that’s where I see a potential for pheromones. If they can somehow change the nature or tone of interaction with strangers, making it a fundamentally warmer thing more of the time, I feel like that would really change my way of relating to the world.
I placed my first order last week and got To-gos of A314B, IH 2x, IO 2x, IS 2x, IJ, IG, MX297, MX390, TUTH, AMMO.
My first dilemma is that as part of my overall style, I try to avoid artificial scents. I use perfume free detergent, fabric softeners, and body products. I shower daily and use soap. But in some ways I’m kind of a hippy about avoiding unnatural scents. Partly I figure having my natural scent might make me more attractive to the right girl. And partly I just feel like it showy to have cologne on. But I do use a regular Gillette deodorant, so I’m not so hard core about it that I want to smell strongly of BO. I guess I’ll just have to get past this hangup and accept that if I want to use mones, I’ll need some amount of cologne scent.
My first instinct was to get scent free mixes/mones, but after reading threads on the topic, it seems that isn’t very effective because there simply isn’t sufficient or dramatic enough diffusion. I’d like to get scent free mones so that I could experiment with different amounts and mixes, and just use ONE spray of cologne under the mix. But AD doesn’t seem to recommend this, or have their system set up to encourage it. So I’m thinking I’ll have to buy high strength versions of the products, and then try to use partial spray or to dilute them. I should add that I’ve already used them a couple of times and with more than one spray, of either Akuto scented MX297, or one of the neroli instants, I get a vague sense of nausea and discomfort, stinging eye or a hotness in my throat, that doesn’t really go away until I shower.
Obvious observation number one, it can be very hard to discern whether an interaction is being influenced by pheromones. There are so many other factors that are involved in any situation. I have no doubt about the effect and relevance of mones. And although I haven’t experienced it yet, I’m sure the DIHL look and particularly unusual behaviors will be easy to spot. But with random stranger in any given interaction, it seems hard to discern the effects of mones in makes them more or less friendly, talkative, etc. Because those are things that people sometimes do all the time. I suppose the obvious solution is one needs a sufficiently large sample size of interactions, with and without mones, etc. I haven’t yet done any phero-bombing, which I should in order to try to elicit or experience more extreme reactions, because I find the power of the smell of the cologne overpowering and somewhat nauseating. So I’m only able to use 2-3 sprays max. I’m planning on buying some unscented mone formulations to mix in, so that I can have around 2 sprays of something with cologne in it to be the carrier, and then add some unscented sprays on top of that. I should add that I live in the Northeast, where right now at least, it’s still pretty cold out. Which obviously would be reducing diffusion, etc, and of course ideally I would like the diffusion to be as great as possible, but at the same time the smell gets to me. So this is a dilemma. Dealing with stock Neroli in sprays, and Akuto from A314 and MX390. As well as FF21? in the Ammo, which obviously is stronger than the sprays from the products with Neroli. Another factor possibly is that at least indoors right now, it is still very dry due to the heating of cold air and the reduction in relative humidity. Anyways hopefully I’ll get it nailed down to a particular scent and whatever maximum I can handle.
Lesson number 2, which is proving sometimes hard to avoid, don’t get into the car right away after spraying mones. Make sure to allow for dry down time. The smell in the car is positively overwhelming for me. Unfortunately rolling the windows down isn’t a very pleasant option because it’s been so cold out. This should be better soon and driving in the car won’t be a problem.
Social scenario: the Apple store at the mall. Returning a MacBook. Wearing MX297. 3 sprays. The girl is very helpful and attentive and doesn’t mind that I’m 1 day past the return period. Except she’s not attractive, and Apple store employees are always nice and helpful. A teenage girl with her mother seems to be checking me out. And so I walk by her and try to get more of a reaction but don’t notice much. And teenage girls sometimes stare or check me out in general. So neither of these are hits. Walking around the crowded store and playing with computers, I get no hits.
At a coffee shop in the evening, still wearing the MX297, a random guy is very friendly to me asking me questions about my computer. He looked normal enough. But later I saw him talking to another stranger. So I think he may have just been kind of weird. No other potential hits.
I went to an art museum the other night with a female friend, not a date, wearing 2x IG and 2x IJ. It was free night and crowded. I was feeling pretty good. I had kind of forgotten that I was wearing mones, and I think the IJ was having an effect. I found myself being belligerent at times with the museum security guards when I perceived that were being overly touchy about guarding a particular piece of art. I was also actually being a jerk taking occasional photos of my friend despite the regulations about not taking photos. I didn’t care at all. I also randomly talked to a few girls and felt very little approach anxiety. Which was of course part of the reason one goes to art museums, to talk to girls.. It seemed like there were a lot of them there on their own. Possibly my perception was being influenced and I was just zoning on in them, or maybe the numbers were objectively skewed. The world may never know.
The day after I went on a second date with a sort of high maintenance girl who’s a bit of a princess but also pretty smart and interesting. She’s dressier than me and not really my style, but luckily I don’t care very much so I’m able to be reasonable cocky to counterbalance things. And I also wore 2x IG and IJ again. So being intolerant of her occasional fussiness came extra easily it seemed. At one point, while I was waiting for her, and talking with her roommate in her living room, almost to herself the roommate said something about smelling perfume. I asked her what she’d said and she brushed it off. This made me feel even more self conscious than I already did about the cologne/neroli smell. I definitely need to get some unscented mones. I ended up spending the day with the girl, at a housewarming party and later in the park and briefly at my apartment. She seemed to be in a cranky mood from the beginning due I think to being hungover from the night before. Which was unfortunate. And I did the best I could to enjoy myself and keep myself entertained. Oddly, she had plenty of opportunities to bail on the date throughout the day (this was in New York where escape from dates is very easy), and yet she stuck with it. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her attitude throughout. At the end of the date, I felt very comfortable casually saying goodbye and starting to leave, and then she seemed to linger. So it’s unclear where she stands. I guess I won’t know until I call her again in another 10 days or so… If I go on another date with her, maybe I’ll just trying wearing some AMMO and IH. Or maybe some A314 would be in order. Not really sure…