Library
Search the Library for a word or phrase: 
Aromatherapy (the use of essential oils to improve health) and aromachology (the study of how odor affects the body) are both getting a lot of attention these days, for everything from improving our physical and mental well-being to investigating what scents influence people to spend money or help us lose weight.
History will bear out our unflagging interest in what scents attract people to each other. The rise and fall of empires were often influenced by scent and seduction; in 800 BC the Queen of Sheba brought fragrance to seduce Solomon, and when Cleopatra visited Marc Antony, the sails on her barge were scented to announce her arrival.
Today science has begun investigating not only fragrance, but specifically pheromones, and how they affect our attraction to the opposite sex and our sexual chemistry.
Pheromones are aromatic chemical compounds produced by one individual that affect the sexual physiology of another. The word pheromone is from the Greek "pherein"- to carry, and "hormon"- to excite. Pheromones, manufactured by the apocrine (sweat) glands, are odiferous substances chemically similar to hormones which are secreted by endocrine glands.
Apocrine glands occur in the armpits, face, nipples, and the anal and genital regions of both sexes and are activated at puberty. Before this time perspiration has no odor, which makes perfect biological sense. There is no need to "signal" the opposite sex before we are fertile.
Scientists have known about insect and animal pheromones for a long time. Pheromones are their primary communication system used to signal danger, for food and mating, and are relied on daily for their survival. Scientists have only recently acknowledged that humans also produce pheromones. They claim they do not necessarily act as sex attractants, but admit they do have a link between sexual behavior and reproductive health.
Gender and Pheromones
Women inherently have a keener sense of smell than men, and their ability to smell peaks at ovulation when olfactory sensitivity increases 1000 fold.
Conversely, the sense of smell is lowest at menstruation. This makes a lot of sense when you consider that the fertile time is when one would be most aware of sexual attractants. Masters and Johnson noted that 25% of people with smell disorders lose interest in sex; they recommend using scented lotion during foreplay.
Scientists report that women who have sex at least once a week with a male partner are more regular in their menstrual cycles, more likely to have normal length cycles, fewer infertility problems and milder menopause than women who are celibate or those who have sex in a feast or famine pattern.
Diane Ackerman states in her book, A Natural History of the Senses, "Because females have often been responsible for initiating mating, smell has been their weapon, lure and clue." Following that, it is interesting to note that pheromones produced by women can waft across a room, whereas male pheromones have an influence only by intimate contact.
One study demonstrating that point was done with women whose menstrual cycles were longer or shorter than normal and who had no current sexual relationship. Scientists were able to regulate their cycles by exposing them to the male underarm scent three times a week.
Exposure to specific aromatic chemicals exuded by a man's normal body odor must be received by intimate contact through skin absorption or directly through smell, even though she may not be consciously aware of his odor. Scientists are trying to isolate the chemicals responsible in order to produce nasal sprays for scent based birth control, to regulate menstruation, and to delay or ameliorate menopause.
Studies also show that women produce a pheromone that can cause other women's menstrual cycles to shift into synchronicity. Women who live or work together often begin to ovulate at the same time. The signal is sweat, though it can take three to four months to regulate.
After menopause women lose their ability to detect musk odors. Animal musk is very close to human testosterone and can be detected in portions as little as 0.000000000000032 of an oz. Again, this seems logical. There is no biological reason for a post menopausal woman to be attracted to the male scent after she is no longer fertile.
However, the ability to detect musk odors is restored when hormone therapy is given. (The body thinks it is fertile again.) What wasn't made clear in this study was whether the musk used was synthetic or real. Also, younger women who were exposed to a musk odor had shorter menstrual cycles, ovulated more often and conceived easier. How simplified (or boring, depending on your point of view) life could be to have musk replace men!
Girls and boys who are separated in adolescence (as in a boarding school situation) generally go through puberty later than do those in a co-ed situation. They are not exposed to each others scent which triggers them into puberty sooner. Cells that orchestrate our sexual development during puberty begin in the nose.
Published research has little information on how scent affects men sexually or physiologically. One anecdotal observation was reported by a scientist who often spent long periods of time isolated, but found that his facial hair grew faster when he was in the company of women. He measured the whiskers from his electric razor!
Society and Fragrance
There is no doubt that the culture we live in influences our perception of what we consider to be "acceptable", "normal" or "pleasant" scents. Members of a tribe in New Guinea say good-bye by putting a hand in each other's armpit and rubbing themselves with it, coating each with the other's scent.
Other cultures sniff each other in greeting or rub noses, and the word, "kiss" means smell in many languages. In Elizabethan times lovers exchanged "love apples." Peeled apples were kept in a woman's armpit until it absorbed her odor, then given to her lover to inhale her fragrance while they were apart. It is reported that Napoleon sent a message to Josephine, "Home in 3 days, don't wash."
Each person has an odor print as unique as their fingerprint. This is influenced by diet, gender, heredity, health, medication, occupation, and mood. Odor is a communication system; a statement about who we are, and even what emotional state we are in. For instance, when adrenaline is produced by the adrenal glands it actually changes your odor; animals truly are able to "smell fear."
Aphrodisiacs
There are many natural scents with a history of use as aphrodisiacs. A tantric sexual ritual from India called "The Rite of the Five Essentials" uses scent to arouse the woman as she is anointed with five different oils on various areas of her body to lift her spirits so she may manifest as a goddess and be worshipped as the embodiment of the creative force, Shakti.
On her hands, jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is applied; to her neck and cheeks, patchouli (Pogostemon patchouly); to her breasts, amber or musk (not of natural origin); spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) is rubbed in her hair; and sandalwood (Santalum album) caresses her thighs.
Other aphrodisiac oils historically used include rose (rosa spp.), jasmine (Jasminum officinale), and ylang ylang (Cananga odorata).
Essential oils used to balance or promote hormonal activity include clary sage (Salvia sclarea), sage (Salvia officinalis), anise (Pimpinella anisum), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), angelica (Angelica archangelica), geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), pine (Pinus spp.) and spruce (Picea mariana).
But choosing a scent that is sexually exciting is a matter of personal choice. It may be a scent that has an associative memory of a time of forbidden love, or the cologne worn by your first date. No single fragrance will be loved by everyone. Aroma preference is individually programmed.
The area of our brain that detects odor is called the limbic system; it is the seat of memory and emotions. Everyone has had the experience of smelling something that brings you back to some hidden memory and the emotions surrounding that time. This programming is quite powerful, beginning at birth and continuing until death.
It doesn't matter how many books recommend a certain fragrance as a sexual stimulant if you don't like its smell, or the scent reminds you of something negative from your past. One would likely be put off, possibly without being consciously aware of it, by someone wearing a fragrance that reminded them of a relationship that ended badly. And one certainly wouldn't want a lover to wear a cologne that was the signature fragrance of their father or mother.
Whether you rely on your natural pheromones or an essential oil blend you create, entice your lover with a fragrance uniquely you and he/she will always remember it.
Wild About You
3 drops jasmine
9 drops grapefruit
1 drop carrot seed
Don't Be Shy
3 drops rose
4 drops sandalwood
6 drops mandarine
Combine either combination in a glass mist bottle with two ounces of water. Shake well and spray.
Mindy Green is an herbalist, aromatherapy expert, aesthetician, and author living in Boulder, Colorado.
|
|
|