A woman's nose knows body odor
It may be wise to trust the female nose when it comes to body odor. According to new research from the Monell Center, it is more difficult to mask underarm odor when women are doing the smelling.
Unpublished research* also suggests underarm odor is rated more positively when perfumed, but that the perfume does not merely mask the body odor. Instead, some aspect of body odor quality appears to be preserved. This fact supports the concept of human pheromone-enhanced fragrances ( i.e., perfume-body odor interaction).
* Lenochova, P., J. Havlicek, et al. (2008). Do perfumes mask or interact with body odour? International Society for Human Ethology. Bologna, Italy.
