Pheromones and Fragrance

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Bruce

Author Grant Osborne Editor, Basenotes.com
Reprinted with permission

Back in June, we had an inquiry from one of our visitors inquiring about pheromone enhanced cologne’s. To be honest, Basenotes hadn’t a clue! We knew of Realm and Jovan’s long gone Andron, but other than that we knew very little about pheromones. So we did some research….

If you skip to the back of a ‘men’s lifestyle’ magazine, you’ll probably find some advert for a pheromone enhanced cologne. Along with quotes like: “I didn’t believe it but it really works
- I had to literally peel the women off me!”. Sounds good doesn’t it?

So, what is a Pheromone? Well, each species of animal gives off pheromones – it’s like a ‘chemical messenger’. Each species of animal can detect pheromones from the same species. We detect them using a smell sensory organ in the nose called the vomeronasal organ (VNO), it’s actually different from the sense of smell – it’s like a sixth sense. Different pheromones influence feelings such as confidence, well-being and sexual desire.

Although the discovery of the VNO was many years ago (in 1703 by F. Ruysch). It was mainly assumed that the pheromone detector was redundant in humans a bit like the appendix, or nipples on men. It’s only relatively recently that it’s been realized that our VNO’s do work.

We give off these pheromones naturally, but because we have a shower in the morning and use deodorants, then we cover up most of our body with clothing, the poor old pheromones can’t compete. No wonder it was thought the VNO was inactive in humans- we didn’t have much for it to detect.

This is where pheromone enhanced scents and their like come in – we can supplement what we’ve already washed off.

Realm

Possibly one of the most famous pheromone enhanced scents is Realm by Erox Corp. Erox was set up in 1989 by anatomist, David L Berliner. Berliner had discovered how to isolate the human
pheromones that help put you at ease and boost confidence and well-being. When you feel more confident more can be achieved. We spoke to some Realm wearers: Frank D told us: “I do notice a “sense” of well-being to ME when first applied. It was somewhat startling the first time, since there was an increase in heart rate associated with it. As for women’s reaction, I still feel that is closely tied with presentation, grooming and overall personality — regardless of the fragrance. So any success with these pheromone based fragrances might be tied in more with how they make you feel about yourself — which is projected, and noticed, by the women around you.”

Another Realm fan, Ziggy, told us: “I was selling advertising at the time. My sales went up. People would stop me (even at the gas station) just to be friendly. The results must’ve been from the fragrance since nothing else changed about me.”

However, not everyone found Realm worked for them. Thomas K said: “I tried Realm for Men. I must admit I bought it to attract some women and to hopefully arouse my current. [It] Didn’t work. It was a pleasant scent, and just about everyone liked it, and in the beginning as I wore it I felt and acted more confident, which did get me a little more notice. After that, nothing else.”

Although Thomas felt it didn’t work he mentioned that it made him feel more confident, which is what Realm was designed to do. One complaint we heard regarding Realm was although users liked the scent after a while they got bored of it. Obviously this could be a problem if you want to try Pheromones but didn’t like the scent it was sitting in.

Love-Scent.com

Luckily, unscented pheromone products are available. One of the internet’s main players in the pheromone market is Love-Scent.com, set up in 1998.
We spoke to the director, Mr Bruce Boyd about the most popular pheromones he sells.

“The most popular by far are the unscented, very concentrated products. Specifically: The Edge, New Pheromone Additive, Primal Instinct (unscented), Andro 4.2

“My regular customers mix their own “combos” as they call them, and these super concentrated products are the chemistry sets they use to build them. Most of the pheromone products on the market contain very little actual pheromones (including a few that I sell) and are of little help if used on their own other than they may give the wearer some confidence (the “magic feather effect”). The truth is that pheromones can and do give spectacular effects to anyone taking the time and energy to find the right amount, type of real pheromone ingredients, spots on the body etc., to match their own natural pheromone signature, and personality. This is something I am sure you are familiar with in the fragrance world. The cologne that works well for one individual may be a total bust with another because it is simply not believable on him/her.

Colognes speak on your behalf to others and they say what they want to say, not necessarily something that works with the way you dress, look and act. For example, I have a sample bottle of the pheromone containing product Realm which I could never wear. It smells nice, but it is not “me”. You get a whiff of somebody wearing the wrong cologne (or even just too much for that matter), you almost get an image of a man splashing on after shave in a TV commercial. When you smell a woman with the “right” cologne, you are transported to another dimension because everything works together (facial expression, clothes, body, fragrance). Anyway, this concern is even more important with pheromones, and the science has barely gotten off the ground. At the moment, to get miracle stories you have to “roll your own” unless you just happen to be very lucky. And to do that, the “phero gurus” (who you can meet on my forum), are mixing the above products with designer colognes, essential oils, scented pheromone products, deodorants, lotions and/or applying various products separately to different parts of the body until they find that magic combo that works for them.

Some popular scented products that also contain a lot of pheromones and/or have proven themselves effective on their own or when mixed are: Alter Ego, Attraction and Pheromol Factor”

Success Stories:
Basenotes then became intrigued. Mixing stuff together sounded fun. It was like chemistry at school. We spoke to some of the Phero-Gurus on the love-scent forum.

Matt told us “The holy grail is the “right combo” of two or more pheromone products in just the right ratio. My own experience is that some women are a bit friendlier and more relaxed
around me. No clothes being ripped off. But a factor that isn’t often mentioned is the effect of the pheromones on the wearer. As we know, when wearing a good cologne, you are often more confident and magnetic. One more thing. High end pheromone products smell like cat piss and it’s necessary to cover them up with a good smelling cologne. maybe A*men?”

We know someone that has good results with A*Men anyway so imagine the effect when added to pheromones! We also spoke to another forum regular, Ken M.

“I have had several very positive experiences with them. Since wearing them and finding my ratio of the different pheros. They are not sure fire for anything. But they do really work.
Well here is one example of the power of phero’s.

“On the last Memorial Day weekend. I was working in our nightclub and it was wall to wall people with 450 or so in the club and another 300 or so waiting in line to gain entry. I have
worked these weekends as the manager/cooler for the last 6 years or so. On the first night of weekend (Friday) it was normal. With all the bitchy and PO’s folks in line and dealing with them all night long. The second night I wore my phero mixture (The Edge with New Phero Additive – both from love-scent, and my cologne with a bit of glycerin for staying of the scent).  My first hour
or so I thought was a fluke with dealing with the folks as they were mad or PO’d when they came to the door but in speaking with them they seemed to relax right out and actually joke a bit on entry. Had more hugs from girls and just little conversations with them on through the night.”

Ken then goes on to tell us about a cigarette break when a girl had got very friendly with him. I’m sure you don’t want all the details. The girl then inquired about what cologne he was wearing.

“Told her it was blend a friend makes for me. She then hugged me again took a big sniff and squeezed me tight and told me she would be back in a few weeks and wanted to know if I was
available for dinner or something more. Gave her my card and told her to give me a call. Long story short, 2 weeks later she came back and we had a good weekend. And she really kept saying how nice my scent was.

While this is not the norm. I think the pheros had something to do with it. Have had many hard in depth conversations with women in social settings and hugs and looks etc. I work as a
Risk Management Rep for a casino do I usually have irate guests to deal with. And I have found that in face to face situations, folks seem to chill out and really pay attention to every syllable I am saying to them. No back in my face replies. All in all, pheros are a great tool for personal as well as professional situations.”

Trying them Out:
So Pheromones have lots of fans. For ‘Scientific Reasons’ Basenotes decided to try them out. Armed with New Pheromone Additive and Alter-Ego from Love Scent and Entropy from Interneeds, Basenotes enticed a bunch of volunteers to experiment.

1. Entropy
Entropy smelt like a cheap after shave. Okay, so it definitely wasn’t Cool Water but we had a job to do. What we found. Girls were very friendly, but maybe no more than usual. We felt confident though. Shame it didn’t smell better.

2. New Pheromone Additive
Designed to be added to cologne. On it’s own it smelt a bit musky. We added a few drops to Body Kouros from YSL and went out to play. What we found. Women kept telling us how nice we smelt and tended to hang around us a lot. As this was an experiment in the name of science we didn’t want to take advantage of the situation!

3. Alter Ego:
Can be used on it’s own or as a mixture. We tried it with some Chrome by Azzaro What we found: Similar story to the Pheromone additive, we felt pretty confident and were often told how good we smelt. Women were very touchy-feely.

Overall we were quite surprised, especially as we were all a bit skeptic. Not everyone had the same success but it’s probably a case of trying different formulas and seeing which works best.

The Future of Pheromones

Bruce from Love-Scent is optimistic about the future of Pheromones:

“I think that some day pheromones will be used extensively in medicine, and the stage we are in now will be looked upon as the stone age of pheromones. Pheromones have been shown to have an effect on hormone levels, so I think that having an understanding of the science of pheromones both store-bought and natural can help us remain youthful and sexually active further into old age than would normally be possible.”

And for those of you who think this whole pheromone deal is a one way street designed for men to attract women, well you couldn’t be further from the truth. Love-Scent carry a range of pheromones designed for women too. And just as we thought we’d seen all the combinations we received a press release from 10% productions.

The new fragrance ‘Ten’ was launched in November 2001 with the slogan: “Gain confidence…seduce the senses…get the man”. The fragrance is the first pheromone scent designed for the gay market. President of 10% productions, Greg Nimer says “Most men’s fragrances are what I call either ‘full throttle’ or ‘full brake.’  They’re either overpowering or they disappear. I wanted to create something long-lasting, but not overpowering — decidedly masculine, but clean and fresh — that wouldn’t completely take over a room,”

We think that if you are unsure about whether pheromones would work for you then give them a try. Most are reasonable priced so it’s worth buying some for ‘experimental purposes’. We had lots of fun!

We would like to hear from you if you’ve had experience with any pheromone products.

Basenotes would like to thank the following for all of their help in researching and writing this article: Bruce Boyd at Love-Scent and the Love-Scent forum members, Erox Corp (Realm),
Interneeds, Human Response Laboratories and Tammy Carter.

Most of the products mentioned in this article can be purchased from Love-Scent.com.

Copyright: Grant Osborne, Editor, Basenotes.com grantosborne@basenotes.com

http://www.basenotes.com
The Online Guide to men’s fragrance and grooming

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in do pheromones work, human pheromones, Love-Scent, New To Pheromones, pheromone colognes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

PHEROMONES 101: A Starters Guide to Pheromone Science

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Bruce

by Dale Andrews for Love-Scent.com

For many people, the human sciences are a fascinating but somewhat murky realm, filled with complex terms and indecipherable jargon. Some of the words might sound familiar from that early morning Biology class you snoozed through, but generally speaking it’s a dry and technical area unless you happen to have a background in biology or chemistry.

Still, if you’re like most of us, you also have a great deal of curiosity about human sexuality. And if you’re reading this, it’s clear that you’re also curious about human pheromones and the role they play in our sexual and reproductive behavior. Maybe you’ve seen some of the marketing hype that claims human pheromones are the “ultimate aphrodisiac.” Or, maybe you stumbled upon an article in some scientific journal that was so dense with “science speak” it was like reading a foreign language.

If you want to know some of the basics about human pheromones, then read on! The following article will provide a glimpse into this relatively new science.

What are pheromones?
The term “pheromone” was coined by researchers in the 1950s and comes from the ancient Greek words pherein (to carry) and hormon (to excite). Pheromones can be thought of as chemical “messengers” that have the potential to evoke responses in others of the same species. Female rats, for example, will raise their rumps in a mating posture upon catching a whiff of a pheromone from the male of the species.

For a long time, scientists and the general public believed that humans were so highly evolved that there was no longer any such thing as a human pheromone. Much of the reasoning was centered on the argument that humans didn’t posses a specialized organ in the nose – the vomeronasal organ (VNO) – that acts as a pheromone detector in most mammals. However, by the 1990s researchers had found that humans do indeed possess a VNO, and more recent research has shown that the organ will respond to tiny amounts of pheromone (or pheromone-like) substances [1].

While scientists still haven’t shown that the human VNO is fully functional (i.e. connected to the brain) there is evidence to suggest that the normal sense of smell can pick up chemical signals. Whether the communication happens through our normal sense of smell or the VNO, one thing is clear: our body odors can unconsciously affect others. Numerous studies have shown that the chemical substances (in sweat and other odorous bodily secretions) can affect the behavior and hormone levels of people around us. Female pheromones, for example, can regulate ovulation in other women [2], and chemicals produced in male sweat can influence the mood and hormone levels of females [3].

It still isn’t known just how many pheromones are produced by humans, but most studies have focused on two chemicals – androstenone and androstenol. Androstenone is characterized by its somewhat urinous scent and androstenol has a specific musky odor. These odorous substances are only produced by sexually mature humans and are found in greater concentration in males. Interestingly, these same chemicals are found in other species including swine.

Do pheromones affect us?
While there is plenty of evidence to suggest that pheromones do affect our social and reproductive behavior, the exact role of these chemical signals is something that remains elusive.

In most studies, androstenol has generally caused females to see males as more attractive. One team of researchers gave 38 men and 38 women a necklace with a pendant containing androstenol, which they wore while sleeping. The next morning, the subjects’ social interactions were measured and it was found that women wearing the necklace had much more intensive contact with men [4].

In another study, volunteers were asked to rate photographs of men and women. Volunteers who were under the influence of androstenol rated the photos of women as sexier and more attractive, and rated the photos of men as warmer and friendlier [5].

Androstenone’s effects are somewhat more difficult to understand. Researchers took a group of male and female volunteers and exposed them to androstenone. The men and women were shown a photograph of a male and then asked for their thoughts. Women reported their own mood to be less “sexy” when exposed to the chemical; men, on the other hand, thought the male in the photo was “passive” or they reacted favorably, if they liked the smell of androstenone [6].

A clue may be the fact that women can react differently to both androstenol and androstenone on different days of their menstrual cycle [7]. One theory is that the two substances are a signaling system. In one study, female volunteers who were ovulating actually rated the smell of androstenone as more pleasant, compared to other days of their cycle. There seems to be a change in the emotional evaluation of males, triggered by the reaction to androstenone [8].

Further complicating the issue is the fact that the sexy androstenol will quickly oxidize to produce smelly androstenone [9].

Fortunately, the role of other human pheromones is somewhat clearer. For instance, vaginal secretions, known as copulins, have been shown to increase male testosterone levels; in fact, the copulins produced during ovulation can boost male testosterone by 150 per cent. Copulins may have evolved to make a female’s attractiveness less important for males [10].

Still a new science
There is still much to learn about the role of pheromones and odor in human behavior and sexuality. Why, when we have such a detailed knowledge about other areas, is this particular field still lagging?

One answer is that there has been something of a stigma attached to “sex research.” In fact, some researchers claim that despite its prevalence in modern advertising, sex is still a dirty word when it comes to research. Policy makers or funding groups may shy away from supporting research that deals with sexual subject matter, for fear of being seen as supporting promiscuity or nontraditional sexual behaviors. [11]

But, perhaps the real answer lies in the complexity of the human animal and the difficulty in measuring our behavior. It isn’t as simple or easy to measure human behavior as it might be to measure the actions or reactions of a moth or rodent.

It should come as no surprise, however, that scientists are catching up. And with an increasing number of researchers working to unravel the mysteries of human odor and pheromones, perhaps one day soon we’ll know just what our bodies are trying to say.

###

References

1. Monti-Bloch L, Grosser BI. Effect of putative pheromones on the electrical activity of the human vomeronasal organ and olfactory epithelium. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 1991; 39:573-82.

2. Stern K, McClintock MK. Regulation of ovulation by human pheromones. Nature 1998; 392:177-9.

3. Preti G, Wysocki CJ, Barnhart K, Sonheimer SJ, Leyden JJ. Male axillary extracts effect lutenizing hormone (LH) pulsing in female recipients. Poster presentation at the 23rd Association for Chemoreception Sciences Annual Meeting; 2001.

4. Cowley JJ, Brooksbank BWL. Human exposure to putative pheromones and changes in aspects of social behavior. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 1991; 39:647-59.

5. Kirk-Smith M, Booth DA, Carroll D, Davies P. Human social attitudes affected by androstenol. Res Comm Psychol Psychiat Behav 1978; 3:379-84.

6. a. Filsinger EE, Braun JJ, Monte WC, Linder DE. Human (Homo sapiens) responses to the pig (Sus scrofa) sex pheromone 5 alpha-androst-16-en-3-one. J Comp Psychol 1984; 98:219-22.
b. Filsinger EE, Braun JJ, Monte WC. Sex differences in response to the odor of alpha androstenone. Percept Mot Skills 1990; 70:216-8.

7. Maiworm RE. Influence of androstenone, androstenol, menstrual cycle, and oral contraceptives on the attractivity ratings of female probands. Paper presented at the Ninth Congress of ECRO; 1990.

8. Grammer K. 5 alpha-androst-16-en-3-one: A Male Pheromone? A Brief Report. Ethol Sociobiol 1993; 14:201-8.

9. Labows JN, Preti G, Hoelzle E, Leyden E, Kligman A. Steroid analysis of human apocrine secretion. Steroids 1979; 34:249-58.

10. Jutte A. Female Attractiveness and Copulins. In (Eds.) M. Taborsky & B. Taborsky. Advances in Ethology 32, Supplements to Ethology. Contributions to the XXV International Ethological Conference, Vienna, Austria, 20-27 August, 1997. p.49.

11. Sankaran N. SEX: Still A Bad Word For Some People. The Scientist 1994; 6:15-21

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in New To Pheromones | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Pheromone Forum Still Has It’s Fans

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Bruce

Over the past couple of years participation in the forum has gone down. We suspect lots of regular posters have moved to our Facebook page. With almost 23,000 fans it is not a bad place to connect.

People still post in the forum and use it every day to find answers to their questions about the use of pheromones. But a few weeks ago an “Old Timer” from the Love-Scent forums posted this question “Are you guys still here…. I remember the good old days, especially when I reminisce over the archives. Boy we had some good discussions. If you still visit lovescent to read or contribute to posting and you have joined from 2008 or earlier please state your name!”

As it turns out many people were still listening. He had almost 100 replies and over 5,000 views in a short period of time. Nice to know the forum still has value for our customers.


Read the responses to his question.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in Question in Forum | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Human VNO and How We Sense Pheromones

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Bruce

After many years of darkness on the subject, scientists now
seem to agree that there is a very unique system with which both humans and
many other animals receive their pheromonal chemical messengers from the air.
This system is quite separate from the one with which we detect normal smells
and is especially linked to our emotions and sexual behavior. This system is
known as the AOS (accessory olfactory system) and even uses a special pair of
organs to do its work, the VNO (vomeronasal organs). The following is a short
history of the discovery of these organs through which pheromones influence our
perceptions. Many of the details come from an article that appeared in the
Journal of NIH Research in January of 1994 (volume 6) by Robert Taylor.

A great deal of research has been done, which clearly shows the power of pheromones over the sexual and territorial behaviors of various animals. In these studies there can be little doubt of the importance of the VNO in mediating these effects, because when the VNO is surgically removed from any of these animals they will not mate at all unless they have had prior sexual experience. If you open most medical text books, however, you will read that the human VNO disappears while we are still in the womb, and therefore does not exist in adult humans. This was the unchallenged medical dogma for fifty years, and has only recently been corrected.

The human VNO was first mentioned in anatomy books as early
as the late 1700s, but the whole idea of its existence was stricken down by a
team of well-known scientists in the 1930s and no one has had the courage or
inclination to refute them until now. There is a lot of speculation as to the
psychological forces that could create such a long and hard to break “dark
ages” for pheromone research, but in any case the independent efforts of
two teams of researchers have demonstrated to everyones satisfaction that
humans do indeed possess a VNO that does in fact react to stimuli in the air.
David Moran, Robert Josephson and colleagues at the University of Toronto in
Canada reported in the Journal of Otolaryngology that vomeronasal pits were
present in about 40 percent of the adults they examined, and Bruce Jafek, an
otolaryngologist at the University of Colorado in Denver found a VNO in all of
his subjects.

The jury is still out as to whether the VNO is actually connected to the brain or not, but there is plenty of strong support that it does. Two of the VNO’s staunchest supporters, scientists David Moran and David Berliner have helped found two companies that are banking that it does, the Pherin Corporation in Menlo Park, which is devoting a lot of time and money into researching the VNO as a delivery system for drugs, and the EROX
Corporation, the first fragrance manufacturer to patent pheromones for reputed
effects on sexual behavior.

Does this mean we are no more than animals and can be literally led around by the nose? Not according to Robert Taylor: “the effects of chemical cues in mammals depend strongly on other visual, auditory, or tactile stimuli received at the same time. Furthermore, mammals are behaviorally more complex than other animals. Human sexual behavior depends on everything from hormonal state to childhood memories and moral philosophy. A chemical cue is unlikely to override a lifetime of socialization.”

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in human pheromones, sexual attraction | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Win a Pot of Gold on the Edge @Lovescentinc!

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Tanja

 

Win a Pot of Gold on the Edge with Love-Scent in time for St Patty’s Day!

Want to reach the Edge to win with Love-Scent in time for St Patty’ s Day? Here is your chance!

How to enter:

1. Follow @lovescentinc in Twitter – must be following us in Twitter to qualify to win

2. Between March 9- March 17, RT our suggested phrase @lovescentinc on Twitter, like this:

“Win a Pot of Gold on the #Edge #@lovescentinc. Details on how to enter here: http://love-scent.com/blog/?p=339“

3. We will pick winners on March 18, 2012 and message you via Twitter.

4. One man will win pheromone cologne, Edge Diesel,

 

 

 

 

and one woman will win pheromone perfume, Edge Delice.

 

 

 

 

Details

-Any type of retweet is acceptable. You can copy/paste the contest tweet, or use either the new or old method of retweeting. As long as your retweet is @lovescentinc and you used the phrase example we provide with your Valentine’s Day sentence, we see your entry.

-Hashtagging your tweet with #lovescentinc isn’t necessary but it’s always nice to help spread the word!

-Contest ends March 17, 2012 at midnight. Happy St Patty’s Day!

-Winner will be notified via Direct Message and will need to submit mailing address to receive prize

The Fine Print:

1.     ACCEPTANCE OF PRIZE: By accepting a prize, winner(s) consents to the use of his or her name, Twitter handle, comments and/or likeness for purposes of advertising or promotion without further compensation.

2.     CONDUCT: All entrants agree to be bound by these Rules, Twitter’s “

Terms of Service

” and “Twitter Rules”, and decisions of Love Scent. Love Scent in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person it finds to be in violation of these Rules, Twitter’s “Terms of Service”, or “Twitter Rules”. Indigo is not liable if any entrant’s account is suspended by Twitter for violation of Twitter’s “Terms of Service” or “Twitter Rules”. Such entrant will also be disqualified from any Indigo-sponsored contest.

3.     LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY: Love Scent is not responsible for late, lost, incomplete, irregular, or misdirected “tweets”, email or for any computer, online, telephone or technical malfunctions or human errors that may occur. If for any reason, the contest is not capable of running as planned, or more prizes are awarded than planned, including due to a computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort, Indigo may cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the applicable contest. Entrants further agree to release Love Scent from any liability resulting from, or related to participation in the contests or the awarding or use of any prize. Indigo reserves the right to terminate or withdraw this contest at any time.

4.     PRIVACY: Entry information collected by Indigo become the property of Love Scent and will not be used for any purpose other than administering contests on Twitter. For information about Indigo’s privacy practices, read its Privacy Policy located at ____ “Tweets”, including Twitter @Replies, are public. Your use of Twitter is subject to Twitter’s Privacy Policy.

5.     GENERAL: Decisions of Love Scent shall be final and binding in all matters relating to contests and the awarding of a prize. These Contest Rules shall prevail, govern and control over contests offered by Love Scent on Twitter.

 

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in Contests, Gift Items, Holiday Specials, human pheromones, Love-Scent, New To Pheromones, pheromone colognes, Pheromones for Men, Pheromones For Women, Products, sexual attraction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Where do Pheromones Come From?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Bruce

Pheromones at workWhat are pheromones, and where do they come from anyway? Most of us are only vaguely aware that they are some kind of odiferous substance produced by the body that seems to attract and/or sexually arouse others, and that is about it.

In an earlier issue of the Pheromone News, I attempted to describe research that has shown that human beings as well as animals possess a special smelling apparatus located in the nose but yet separate from our normal smelling organ, and which is used specifically for detecting pheromones. But how are these pheromones made, and how do they get to the nose of their target?

In both humans and animals hormones regularly break down into various other substances, which are finally acted upon by friendly bacteria in or on the body to produce what we now refer to as pheromones. I would guess there are currently hundreds of known pheromones with countless functions, but in short, any substance which is used by the body to communicate or otherwise stimulate others via the VNO (pheromone detecting organ in the nose) can be called a pheromone by definition. The most well-known spot for the production of pheromones in humans is right on our own skin.

Hormones and their metabolites (broken down versions) are excreted out through special sweat glands on the skin, where they meet up with certain sex-specific bacteria that actually make the pheromones and determine how we “smell” to the world. To a large extent though, these pheromones are undectable in the usual sense of the word, even though they have such a dramatic effect on our feelings and behavior. From sweat with the help of our hair these pheromones evaporate and become a gas in which form they can easily travel through the air to the noses of others. But this is only one way that pheromones travel. In a slightly different form, pheromones travel together with the numerous skin cells we lose every day.

The average person “sheds nearly forty million (skin) cells a day in an invisible airborne cloud of particles that contains sex pheromones..” (Scent of Eros; Kohl and Francouer)

While  you probably won’t find this a very romantic image to dwell on, but if it is true and pheromones are really as powerful as believed, at levels far far below what we can consciously detect, this may give a whole new meaning to the old adage “love is blind”. Is it possible that we are being led around by the nose at least as far as romance goes?

I am going to belabor this point for a moment, not because it is so hard to understand, but because it is so hard to believe. If the theory is true, than we don’t actually have to be able to smell someone to be blown away by their pheromones, which means that the whole pheromone effect must be hard-wired into our brain, ie: it can bypass our conscious mind. From a distance further away than we can clearly make out someone’s face we may be getting invisible sexy signals from that person and never realizing how.

But sweat and our skin cell cloud are not the only way we communicate pheromonally. Pheromones as well as hormones themselves are present in great amount in human saliva, and therefore a major factor in determining the smell of our breath. And, as is the case at all pheromone launching sites, these pheromones are not limited to sex pheromones.

I expect the parents and especially mothers among you will not be surprised when I tell you that I find the smell of my small children’s breath literally intoxicating. I still pause occasionally by my four year old son’s bed to catch a whiff before turning in for the night. Not exactly a scientific study, but I don’t think anyone would argue with me for saying that parent-child attraction is also quite probably pheromonally regulated.

Bruce Boyd

 

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in human pheromones, New To Pheromones, pheromone colognes, Pheromones for Men, Pheromones For Women, sexual attraction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Do Pheromones Play a Role in Our Sex Lives?

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Tanja

Article by Scientific American Magazine

Humans might use a nuanced concoction of chemicals even more complex than formal pheromones to attract potential mates

By Adam Hadhazy  | February 13, 2012 | 8

 

Article and picture by Scientific American Magazine

Love might be in the air on Valentine’s Day, metaphorically speaking. But scientists have long debated whether love—or, at least, sexual attraction—is literally in the air, in the form of chemicals called pheromones.

Creatures from mice to moths send out these chemical signals to entice mates. And if advertisements about pheromone-laden fragrances are to be believed, one might conclude that humans also exchange molecular come-hithers.

Still, after decades of research, the story in humans is not quite so clear. Rather than positing that single, pheromone-esque compounds strike us like Cupid’s arrow, investigators now suggest that a suite of chemicals emitted from our bodies subliminally sways potential partnerings. Smell, it seems, plays an underappreciated role in romance and other human affairs.

“We’ve just started to understand that there is communication below the level of consciousness,” says Bettina Pause, a psychologist at Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf (H.H.U.), who has been studying pheromones and human social olfaction for 15 years. “My guess is that a lot of our communication is influenced by chemosignals.”

Parsing pheromones
Animals, plants and even bacteria produce pheromones. These precise cocktails of compounds trigger various reactions in fellow members of a species—not all of which are sexual. Pheromonal messages can range from the competitive, such as the “stink fights” of male lemurs, to the collaborative, such as ants laying down chemical trails to food sources.

The term “pheromone” itself came about in 1959 with the identification of bombykol, a powerful aphrodisiac secreted by female silk moths that can work over kilometers of distance. “The males are enormously sensitive to it,” says Tristram Wyatt, a zoologist at the University of Oxford. “Just a very few molecules are enough to get the male to fly to the female.”

Nothing quite so obvious is happening with people. But the scientific search for human pheromones is still in the early stages. The first steps have focused on areas of the body that already omit noticeable odors—in particular our gland-filled armpits. “Early on it was discovered that there’s some action there,” says Charles Wysocki, an olfactory neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Some of the first evidence for subtle smell cueing came from reports that women who lived in close quarters, such as those in college dorms, ended up with synchronized menstrual cycles. Subsequent research has shown that armpit sweat—from females or males—when placed on women’s upper lip, can modify cycle time. But a putative pheromone behind this time-of-the-month alignment has not been isolated, Wysocki says, and subsequent work has poked statistical holes in the initial findings.

In nature, pheromones that induce gradual physiological changes of this kind are dubbed “primers.” Those that cause a behavioral response—such as with the smitten male silk moths—are called “releasers.” In humans, the most salient example for a releaser pheromone does not involve sex but rather its product: newborn babies, who seem to be guided to a mother’s breast by scent. “Newborns will move in the direction of the odor source,” Wysocki says. Research published last year pointed to secretions from the areolar gland “bumps” on mother’s nipples as the source of the behavior-modifying, odorous molecules that cue a baby to find its food source.

Other results over the years have hinted at pheromones altering adults’ moods. Odors given off by the breasts of breast-feeding women, for example, can render childless females downright randy—although a particular chemical messenger remains unidentified. H.H.U.’s Pause, meanwhile, has demonstrated that humans can sense alarm scents in anxious or fearful people’s perspiration. Yet more studies with sweat have explored the strongest isolated candidate so far for a human pheromone, known as androstadienone, which derives from the male hormone testosterone. The presence of this compound has been reported to make women feel more relaxed. Wysocki and his colleagues are currently seeking National Institutes of Health grants to find out just what the “magic bullet—or bullets—are in male body odor” that elicit female responses, he says. They also hope to study whether female odors can similarly influence male mood and hormonal activity.

The nose knows
Although the nitty-gritty of their dispersal remains obscure, pheromonal detection mechanisms are becoming clearer. Scientists have long thought that a specialized structure in animals‘ noses, called a vomeronasal organ (VNO), detects pheromones. The problem with that theory when applied to humans, however, is that the tiny VNO duct behind each of our nostrils is not always present, plus the genes for its receptors seem to be inoperative. But as it turns out, regular mammalian nasal tissue seems to be able to pick up pheromones just fine—at least in some animals. For example, sows, upon smelling a pheromone in boars’ saliva, assume a mating stance, even if researchers plug the pigs’ VNOs. In humans, a 2011 study showed that when volunteers were exposed to androstadienone, all their brains showed a reaction, even if they lacked VNOs or had their VNOs blocked. “The VNO need not be the pheromone-sensing organ,” Wysocki says. “The olfactory system can be the input.”

Other work suggests that less familiar inputs might exist for a human pheromonal network. Investigations continue into a possible pheromone nerve, known as cranial nerve 0, or the terminal nerve. [For more about the terminal nerve, read "Sex and the Secret Nerve," by Douglas Fields, in Scientific American MIND, February/March 2007.] Initially discovered in sharks in 1878 and humans in 1913, this pair of nerves runs from the nose directly into the brain in front of cranial nerve 1, the olfactory nerve (the traditional first of a dozen recognized cranial nerves). Animal research points to important sexual, pheromonal roles for the terminal nerve. Hamsters with severed terminal nerves fail to mate, and when male zebra fish get an electrical zap to theirs, the fish ejaculate. In humans, just what part the terminal nerve might have for adults remains sketchy, Wysocki says. It does have one clear purpose, however: During fetal development, the terminal nerve works as a pathway for certain sex hormones to migrate into the brain crucial for later development during puberty.

Whether or not pheromones initially affect sexual attraction, other research has indicated that humans might be using a different set of subtle smell cues to help select our mates. Variation in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), an important set of immune system genes, imbues each of us with a unique “odorprint,” like a fingerprint. “With the exception of identical twins, no two individuals are likely to have the same odorprint,” Wysocki says. In nature, the sexual union of unlike MHCs yields offspring with more diverse and thus more robust immune systems. Instinct may also guide us in this manner: Previous research has revealed that human females preferred the musk of sweaty T-shirts worn by men with suitably different MHC genes.

Because scores, if not hundreds, of unidentified odorants comprise an odorprint, Oxford’s Wyatt has argued that it cannot be considered a pheromone in the classic sense. Evidently, the complex cloud of aromas we emit needs a lot more parsing before science closes the book on pheromones. The olfactory cues of many insects remain better understood than our possible covert realm of social and sexual chemistry. “The real problem,” Wyatt says, “is simply a lack of knowledge so far as humans are concerned.” Wysocki agrees: “There’s no good literature in the biomedical field to support that sexual-attractant pheromones exist,” he says. “But that is not to say they aren’t out there. I think we have to go in with an open mind.

Until more is known, then, those on Valentine’s Day dates should probably just follow their noses.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in do pheromones work, human pheromones, Love-Scent, New To Pheromones, Pheromones for Men, Pheromones For Women, sexual attraction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Valentine’s Day Contest on TWITTER!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Tanja

 

Love-Scent’s Valentine’s Day Contest!

Click here to get to Twitter @lovescentinc to enter contest!

Want to win a Valentine’s Day gift from Love-Scent? Here is your chance! Send a sentence containing the words, pheromone and love, and Retweet it via the Love-Scent phrase to be entered to win it!

How to enter:

1. Follow @lovescentinc in Twitter – must be following us in Twitter to qualify to win

2. Between February 6- February 14, RT your Valentine’s Day message via a Retweet @lovescentinc. For example, if your message in a bottle is something like this: “Pheromones brought me love!” Then RT this phrase:

“Pheromones brought me love @lovescentinc. Details on how to enter here: http://love-scent.com/blog/archives/282“

3. We will pick a winner on Ferbruary 15, 2012 and message you via Twitter.

4. One man will win pheromone cologne, Chikara, and one woman will win pheromone perfume, Cleo For women!

Click here to website

Details

-Any type of retweet is acceptable. You can copy/paste the contest tweet, or use either the new or old method of retweeting. As long as your retweet is @lovescentinc and you used the phrase example we provide with your Valentine’s Day sentence, we see your entry.

-Hashtagging your tweet with #lovescentinc isn’t necessary but it’s always nice to help spread the word!

-Contest ends Feb. 14, 2012 at midnight.

-Winner will be notified via Direct Message and will need to submit mailing address to receive prize

The Fine Print:

1.     ACCEPTANCE OF PRIZE: By accepting a prize, winner(s) consents to the use of his or her name, Twitter handle, comments and/or likeness for purposes of advertising or promotion without further compensation.

2.     CONDUCT: All entrants agree to be bound by these Rules, Twitter’s “

Terms of Service

” and “Twitter Rules”, and decisions of Love Scent. Love Scent in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person it finds to be in violation of these Rules, Twitter’s “Terms of Service”, or “Twitter Rules”. Indigo is not liable if any entrant’s account is suspended by Twitter for violation of Twitter’s “Terms of Service” or “Twitter Rules”. Such entrant will also be disqualified from any Indigo-sponsored contest.

3.     LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY: Love Scent is not responsible for late, lost, incomplete, irregular, or misdirected “tweets”, email or for any computer, online, telephone or technical malfunctions or human errors that may occur. If for any reason, the contest is not capable of running as planned, or more prizes are awarded than planned, including due to a computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort, Indigo may cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the applicable contest. Entrants further agree to release Love Scent from any liability resulting from, or related to participation in the contests or the awarding or use of any prize. Indigo reserves the right to terminate or withdraw this contest at any time.

4.     PRIVACY: Entry information collected by Indigo become the property of Love Scent and will not be used for any purpose other than administering contests on Twitter. For information about Indigo’s privacy practices, read its Privacy Policy located at ____ “Tweets”, including Twitter @Replies, are public. Your use of Twitter is subject to Twitter’s Privacy Policy.

5.     GENERAL: Decisions of Love Scent shall be final and binding in all matters relating to contests and the awarding of a prize. These Contest Rules shall prevail, govern and control over contests offered by Love Scent on Twitter.

 

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in Contests, Gift Items, Holiday Specials, human pheromones, Love-Scent, New To Pheromones, pheromone colognes, Pheromones for Men, Pheromones For Women, Products, sexual attraction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sweaty shirt party hooked singles up!

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Tanja

Time magazine’s article, Can Your Smelly Shirt Land You a Better First Date?, will invite you to agree with COURTNEY SUBRAMANIAN that days of toiling over perfecting online-dating profiles may be over. All you may need is a sense of smell.

Here is a clip of Time Magazine article, quoting Judith Prays: “The first time I dated someone for purely physical reasons, it was amazing how well it went,” she told The Daily. “I was so into his smell even when it was objectively nasty. So then I just thought, what if I could choose people by smell?”

Choosing our partners by smell is nothing new to the pheromone community. Pheromones are the invisible chemical signals that attract us to our sexual partners. Experimenting with exactly how pheromones work at a party seems like a great idea.

Prays did just that. She invited 40 people to her sweaty shirt party in 2010 to test her theory. What goes down at a sweaty shirt party? It takes some prep work prior to attending the party. Guests are instructed to wear their shirt to bed for 3 nights in a row without the use of deodorant or fragrance. The pheromone scented shirt is put in a bag, labeled with numbers, categorized by sex, including a picture of the person’s armpit.

At the party, people take a sniff at the sweaty shirts and pick the shirt that awakens their senses. A picture is taken of each person with their favorite shirt and projected onto a wall. Now, the green light is on for the hidden shirt person to come forth in breaking the ice.

According to Prays, 12 people hooked up and 6 prolonged lasting relationships. Prays called it a success. Pheromones are the reasons why it worked. At a dating site, all you see are profile pictures with a write up next to it. Can you trust a picture or a scent to lead to romance? Charles J. Wysocki, a behavioral neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, believes, “attraction to pheromones seems to be how many animals do it. Either way, it’s a good indication that you’re off to a good start. ”

Times are changing in the world of successful match making. Pheromone parties are helping singles find their romantic match. Sweaty shirts lead to love matches. You might want to get your pheromone batch out…

 

Cheers!

-Tanja

Put some pheromone love in your scent by clicking her

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in do pheromones work, human pheromones, Links, Love-Scent, New To Pheromones, pheromone colognes, Pheromones for Men, Pheromones For Women, sexual attraction | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Types of Pheromones, Part 2

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Tanja

In 1959, Peter Karlson and Martin Lüscher, introduced the term”pheromone” based on the Greek word pherein (to transport) and hormone (to stimulate). Pheromones trigger a social response in members of the same species. The chemicals act outside the body to impact the behavior of the receiving individual. There are different types of pheromones that affect behavior and physiology. I will mention a few here:

Androstadienone: Also know as A1, is a popular pheromone within the pheromone community. This pheromone elevates the mood of a woman, and has been noted to alleviate PMS. A1 or “love pheromone” increases intimacy and comfort, which is useful in a cozy relationship. Men and women wear this product. Men love it because of the reaction they receive from women, and women love it because it elevates their mood.

Click here for products containing Androstadienone.

Copulins: This pheromone is secreted into the vagina at the optimum ratios during ovulation with the aim of encouraging men to desire to copulate.  The application combination of this fatty acid pheromone on a woman has been noted to increase testosterone levels up to 150% in men. Testosterone can cause arousal in men. It is said that once a man smells Copulins on a woman she is deemed to be more attractive.

Some Body Builders have used this product for the benefit of testosterone increase. Men apply a small amount of A1 on their mustache for impact.

Click here for products containing Copulins.

Estratetraenol: This is the female equivalent to androstadienone (A1). It has been noted to elevate the mood of some men. This pheromone is rare in it’s availability.

Click here for products containing Estratetraenol.

If you missed, Types of Pheromones, Part 1, read it to learn about some other pheromone types.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope this helped you in deciding which pheromone best suites your needs.

Till next time,

Tanja

 

 

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Posted in do pheromones work, human pheromones, Love-Scent, New To Pheromones, Pherolibrary, pheromone colognes, Pheromones for Men, Pheromones For Women, Products, Question in Forum, sexual attraction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment