Another scent dislike -- an odd one, perhaps, for someone on this site -- is strong perfumes, no matter their components. By strong I mean something with a lot of throw. Perfume, to me, is something you should pick up when you're close to someone. Maybe it's the romantic in me, but I think of it as something that should make you want to lean in and and take a deep breath. If it's swirling around you at ten paces from the source, it's irritating and pointless. People with strong perfume are no better than walking room fresheners. And why would you ever want to stand close to someone with a wall of scent around them? Actually, "wall" strikes me as a good word; a person loaded with perfume has a built-in defensive perimeter of scent. It isn't inviting, it's prickly and thick, like a rank of shields and spears.

I think my preference here is because I'm very aware of how much of my feelings for people are affected by scent. This may be something from the survival-based category, as I seem to rely a great deal on my sense of smell to really get a feel for people. Unfair or not, how someone smells can weigh heavily in my judgment.

We may be talking about pheromones here, as well as grooming scents. An example: I've known many people that make my whiskers stand up, for better or worse, before I've seen or heard anything from them that should give me a strong opinion. (BTW, I'm not a fan of simplistic application of the word 'instinct' -- instinct is merely the functioning of our five natural senses at a threshhold below conscious recognition. It isn't magic, it's just some part of us that resists being affected by the frontal lobe.) I know a few people that are pleasant, well-liked, and easy to get along with but that raise my hackles. Pheromones? Psychological? I don't know why it would be the latter. There are people that I really want to like, but for no apparent reason can't summon anything better than mild dislike for. If that isn't bad chemistry (quite literally), I don't know what it is. Well, and let's be honest: Conversely, I've known people that were absolutely no good, but that I was instantly comfortable around. People that were definitely not companion material, but that gave me an almost instant feeling of kinship, or ... well ... desire.

I know there are plenty of psychiatrists out there that would argue that every bit of that is software, and that it feeds a need for rebellion, or that it's hardware and feeds a need for adrenalin-pumping danger, etc., but that doesn't explain instant attraction to someone who's perfectly suitable as a companion, and yeah, I have those moments too. As an aside, I fully believe that we don't know enough about how our brains function to be able to properly distinguish between impulses that are software-driven, hardware-driven, or both.

I genuinely believe that some part of my olfactory-system-to-primitive-brain process can detect and make me understand when I'm too alike or too unlike some people (in all the wrong ways) at a basic, genetic level. It seems farfetched when stated "out loud" like that, but I'm not claiming to be any different than anyone else. I think we humans have many potentially strong, primitive subconscious interactions with our environment that have, for many people, gone rusty with disuse (or with being ignored). So what am I saying? Can we subconsciously detect when we're a good "chemical" (i.e. genetic) match, sexually? What about when we're judging a person of the same sex? (Speaking, obviously, from a heterosexual point of view.) Are we able to subconsciously understand that someone is very different from, or similar to, us in makeup, and do we then become more or less comfortable with them because they're "of our clan" or "other"? Did human senses ever allow our species to correctly judge such things, and do they still? Is it all written in our pheromones?

Another example: I know a few men that I don't particularly like or dislike, but that make my skin tingle when they're close. Seen at a distance: nothing. Sound of their voices: nothing. Thoughts of: not the least bit inappropriate. Close up: strong, unreasoning response with a deep desire to get close to their bare skin. What is that if not pheromones? I can't actually smell anything, but I'm responding from head to toes to someone that I'm otherwise completely uninterested in.

As far as grooming scents, I've never had a chance to research it, but there are men's scents that instantly leave me feeling mellow and ... pliable. I've never gotten that straight from a bottle of cologne, but warmed on the skin of a few men, it's hypnotic. My significant other is a good example of both: Freshly showered and without added scent, when I'm against his skin I feel like I want to just cling to him, breathing deeply, and stay that way forever. With cologne, I want to nibble every inch of him. With hot skin and a fresh, light layer of sweat ... oh. my. god.

Pheromones. Definitely.

Sorry. Wandered off track there. Ahem. So ... my point being: When I'm talking to someone and all I can smell is a thick layer of perfume (or cologne), I'm irritated by it in the same way I would be if that person required me to converse with them blindfolded. I feel like I'm being manipulated. It's as if they're projecting who they want to be, forcing me to have a specific impression of them, instead of just letting me get to know them. They may as well be wearing a costume, or talking with a fake accent. Ugh. It wrecks my sense of who they are and makes me uncomfortable. I literally feel like one of my senses has been stripped away. Deliberately. And as innocuous as the perfume wearer's intentions are, I end up resenting the olfactory masking.