What do pheromones smell like?
Although our cologne and perfumes are pleasent smelling, if you get a good whiff of pure androstenone concentrate you will be able to smell it. It is a strong musky smell similar to a cross of sweat and cats spray. That is the strongest smelling of all the pheromones, followed closely by its brothers Androsterone and Androstenol. The “scentless” claim you may of heard just means that pheromones are effective at levels undetectable with our normal smelling system. The mood lifting, friendliness and attention getting reactions still occur if we can’t consciously smell the pheromones because we detect them with a method that is not our normal sense of smell. This method is largely unknown, but it is done by some combination of the vomeronasal organ and the olfactory membranes. So, the real pheromone effect happens subconsciously, and doesn’t require that others get that musky smell. Also people can detect pheromones differently, to some they can detect pheromones stronger than others.
