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“Phwoar, he's gorgeous.” “You must be joking!” Sounds familiar? Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder – but you'll rarely get two people to agree on what exactly makes someone sexy. So what is it that makes some men absolutely irresistible, while other good looking guys seem to get ignored? Being put together like Orlando Bloom or Jude Law might help, but it seems that how a man SMELLS is the key to whether we fancy him or not.
Scientists at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne have found that some men appear sexier to women because they produce lots of their own special “fragrance”. Without any help from after-shaves or deodorant, their natural body smell brings women flocking.
Chemistry of Attraction
Many animals emit natural chemicals, called pheromones, to send out signals to other animals of the same species. Think of cats that mark out their territory with their own special odour, or ants that leave an aromatic trail to guide other ants to a food supply. Humans also secrete pheromones and despite our best efforts to cover them up with artificial fragrances, it seems that our pheromones can still have a pretty powerful effect.
Make those armpits charm pits!
Dr Nick Neave, from the School of Psychology and Sport Sciences at Northumbria University, has been investigating whether male pheromones have any influence over women. He collected pheromone secretions from four young male volunteers by asking them to sleep with cotton wool pads under their armpits overnight and devised an experiment to test this theory.
Thirty-two female students were asked to come to the laboratory on two different days and look at pictures of men and judge how attractive they found them. What the women didn't know is that on one of the days they were being exposed to male pheromones (the pads were hidden under the table) and on the other day they were not.
To ensure that the experiment was fair, Nick made sure that some women were exposed to male pheromones on the first day, while others were exposed on their second day. Each woman rated the pictures she saw on a scale of 1 to 5 to indicate how handsome she thought each man was. A score of 1 suggested she wouldn't give him a second glance, while 5 implied she thought he looked really rather sexy.
The nose has it
Amazingly most of the men received a higher attractiveness rating when the women were exposed to male pheromones. A guy, whom most of the women rated as being less than averagely attractive, suddenly emerged as passable or even attractive when male pheromones were in the air.
Scientists still don't fully understand what male pheromones mean, but they know that their composition is determined partly by genetic factors. “This means that pheromones signal genetic information about a person,” says Nick. In effect, women are using male pheromones to decide if a man has good genes! A strong and healthy man produces different smelling pheromones to a weak and sickly man - and it seems that women are picking up on these signals.
Interestingly, some women were not as sensitive to pheromones as others. Half the women in Dr Neave's study were taking the contraceptive pill and for these women the effectiveness of the pheromones was reduced. So unattractive men remained unattractive - and pheromones did nothing to convince them otherwise. It seems that the hormones in the contraceptive pill interfere with a woman's ability to detect pheromones, but as yet Nick is not sure why.
It's all in the mind
How women detect male pheromones is still a big question. Other mammals detect pheromones through a special group of cells in their noses called the vomeronasal organ. Some studies report that humans may not possess this organ, but other studies do! Either way, there are many pieces of evidence that suggest we can detect pheromones. Brain scans have shown that an area of the brain called the hypothalamus becomes excited when people are exposed to certain pheromones.
If men want to ensure that their natural pheromones are detectable they may want to go easy on strong-smelling soaps and deodorants. But beware of the possibility of pongy armpits. “When pheromones come into contact with bacteria they become smelly and unpleasant,” says Nick.
What about if you are a man who doesn't produce many pheromones? Are you destined to remain a lifelong bachelor? Not any more, according to perfume companies who have started to produce artificial pheromone colognes. They claim that their colognes and perfumes will mimic the real pheromones and trick women into believing that a man is producing lots of pheromones. However, before male readers rush out to buy pheromone cologne, take note that pheromones are not the only cue women use to decide how attractive a man is.
Good old-fashioned humour, intelligence, romance and charm are still useful for chatting up the girls!
For more information on pheromones contact Dr Nick Neave on nick.neave@northumbria.ac.uk
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