Sept. 6, 2026
Men, Please Shower! Science (And Women) Do NOT Support Pheromone-Maxxing
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RSS Feed We just had to get to the bottom of one of the most bizarre dating trends that has exploded online: pheromone-maxxing. Also known as, not showering for days in order to let body odor build into a “biological superpower” to attract a partner. Here’s the deal though, human pheromones have been studied for decades, and there is no scientific evidence to support this trend. In fact, not only is it flat out gross, it could also be detrimental to your health.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Sunday, September 6th, and I am going to try to keep an open mind on this one. But Robach has told me that there is a way to a woman's heart. There is a way to make yourself, fellas, irresistible to women. The key? Don't wash your ass as often. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ, Colloquial Stories. colloquial way of saying it. Don't watch your ass. People aren't taking, I say people, men think the key to making themselves irresistible to women could be showering less is what you're telling me.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: Well, I want to clear this up.
00:00:47
Speaker 3: I am not telling you that it makes, I'm not telling you that that makes men sexier. I'm telling you that men think that makes men sexier.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: What do you think about that on the surface? Before you even get into, before you even dive into it, it is okay to say that sounds silly.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: And it sounds like something only a man would say or think. Because there's no woman. I don't know a woman.
00:01:06
Speaker 3: I don't know a friend, a family member who is female who thinks it's hot when a man has body odor.
00:01:14
Speaker 1: Okay, then why is this a thing? Then why would a guy think that? Why would a guy think his body odor makes him more attractive? Sexually attractive, right?
00:01:23
Speaker 3: Yes, because this man is being told by other men on social media that you have pheromones.
00:01:29
Speaker 2: That attract the opposite sex.
00:01:32
Speaker 3: And that Yes, it might fly in the face of reason, but the reality is it's our animal instinct and it's within us all. And if you just let your pheromones fly freely, you'll get.
00:01:45
Speaker 2: All the ladies.
00:01:46
Speaker 1: Okay, so is there some science? Do you have something in there that's going to back this up?
00:01:50
Speaker 2: No, but I have science.
00:01:52
Speaker 1: Wait, that does back it up.
00:01:54
Speaker 2: They're fools.
00:01:55
Speaker 1: Oh, I thought it was the opposite. So why are they saying this?
00:01:58
Speaker 3: Okay, all I can tell you is that Gen Z men on TikTok.
00:02:01
Speaker 1: You say Gen Z men. Yes. Please tell me, who are they again? It's Gen Z men.
00:02:04
Speaker 2: Which one is that?
00:02:05
Speaker 1: Is that Ava and Annalise?
00:02:07
Speaker 2: Yes, Ava and Annalise.
00:02:08
Speaker 1: Okay, so the group above Sabine.
00:02:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, Sabine, she only missed it by like a week.
00:02:12
Speaker 1: Oh.
00:02:12
Speaker 2: She's Gen A, I think.
00:02:14
Speaker 1: Thank God. Gen Alpha.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: But, like, she's on the border. She's on the cusp.
00:02:19
Speaker 1: All right, Gen Z, that age group.
00:02:20
Speaker 2: Gen Z is below millennial.
00:02:22
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: So, yes, it's the 20-something, 30-somethings.
00:02:25
Speaker 1: All right, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: The ones who are all dating think they know it all.
00:02:29
Speaker 3: All right.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: You know, we were all there at one point.
00:02:30
Speaker 1: We need to listen then. Maybe they're on to something. So I'm listening. I'm listening.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: So Gen Z men specifically on TikTok have been bragging about skipping showers... for going deodorant, not washing their hair, and they're calling it pheromone maxing.
00:02:45
Speaker 2: That is the trend's name. The hashtag is everywhere.
00:02:48
Speaker 3: If you look up Google pheromone maxing, you will see a million articles. But this is about young men letting their body odor build up To create what they call a biological superpower. They say it makes them irresistible to women.
00:03:04
Speaker 2: Potential power. Partners. Maybe not just women. Maybe other men as well.
00:03:08
Speaker 3: And I just, all I can think of is the Verrazano Bridge on Marathon Day.
00:03:11
Speaker 1: Wait, that's what we're, wait a minute, baby. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I don't understand. You don't, like, is there, like, for how long? Or is there just indefinite? Or what are we doing? I don't understand. If I want a pheromone max, what should I start doing today?
00:03:24
Speaker 2: You should stop showering.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: Okay, I just went for a run. Yeah. Three miles. Am I not supposed to shower?
00:03:29
Speaker 2: Now you're ahead of the curve. Now you're hotter than most. Don't put deodorant on. Just go about your day.
00:03:35
Speaker 1: I got shit to do today.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: But no, but can you talk about what the Verrazano Bridge smells like on Marathon Day?
00:03:42
Speaker 1: If that's what we're talking about, look, a lot of people, we're not in this group, but we'll, hey, I'm about to run a marathon anyway. Why shower? So a lot of people will show up to a run. And in particular, at the marathon, this is really bad, New York City Marathon, when you start, and we start with more elite folks because we get this privilege. So these are serious runners that we're in a group with.
00:04:04
Speaker 3: They're elite, and I also would say that a lot of them are from different countries.
00:04:08
Speaker 1: Yes, and fine, okay? But it is one of the worst things I've ever smelled in my life, and I smell it once a year when I run this marathon. Robes, it's B.O. beyond B.O., And it's terrible. And that's how you start your race. You're actually pissed when you start because they're shoving and pushing and everybody's doing this thing and you have this odor on top of it. So if you're telling me, baby, those dudes are the sexiest men alive. Yes.
00:04:35
Speaker 2: That's what they're saying.
00:04:36
Speaker 3: And when you, when you, when some of those men, and they are men who smell, touch you with their sweat, I can still smell their stink.
00:04:43
Speaker 2: On my arm.
00:04:44
Speaker 3: Like, It is so repulsive to me, and that's all I could think of when I was reading these stories.
00:04:48
Speaker 1: So it can't be that. Nobody is going out there and intentionally trying to smell like that. Wait a minute, baby. Wait, wait. I don't understand.
00:04:56
Speaker 3: Yes, I told you a story that this reminded me of. When I was in high school, I was in my English class, and I can't remember which author it was. Maybe it was Henry James, but it was one of these older authors. And I remember my English teacher telling us that he wrote a letter to his wife saying, I'm coming home, baby.
00:05:14
Speaker 2: And it's going to take me three weeks, whatever passage he had to take on whatever ship. Don't shower. And we were all grossed out. And she's like, some people actually like natural scent. And it was a thing.
00:05:26
Speaker 3: And especially back in the day, he literally told his wife not to shower for three weeks.
00:05:30
Speaker 1: What was the day? How back in the day was this?
00:05:32
Speaker 2: I mean, this is like the 1800s, like that kind of a thing.
00:05:35
Speaker 1: Before ASAP. Before.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: Before deodorant.
00:05:38
Speaker 3: Before what they knew how people could actually smell if they washed themselves daily and used wonderful scents. Okay.
00:05:44
Speaker 1: Yes. Okay, babe, back to this. You're telling me men, they stink.
00:05:49
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: Or are they saying that that odor that I am calling stench is actually attractive and pleasant?
00:05:57
Speaker 2: Natural musk is what they call it.
00:05:59
Speaker 3: Oh, okay. Here are some of the TikTok posts to give you some examples. Stop washing my hair at all, and now I unironically.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: Get more compliments on how it smells and looks from women. That was one post. Another post.
00:06:13
Speaker 3: I stopped using cologne, and I've been getting so many more compliments on my disgusting onion smell than ever before.
00:06:18
Speaker 1: You said comments?
00:06:20
Speaker 3: Compliments on my disgusting onion smell. The reason you can't pull bad age is because you wear cologne and deodorant. Honestly, when he said disgusting onion smell, you know that smell, that body odor smell. How could he, he's saying he gets compliments on how he smells.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: This is what he's putting out on TikTok.
00:06:40
Speaker 3: Then they actually have like tutorials on how to go three days without washing before a date to build a halo effect of pheromones. So I guess the idea is you go three days before your date without showering, and then you'll have pheromones just oozing out of your pores and you'll get all the ladies. I would love to have a hidden camera on these men as they go on dates and And I'd like to actually see what these women say and think and what their facial expressions are.
00:07:05
Speaker 1: So is this one of those things, babe, to each his or her own? Maybe this is attractive to somebody. But it's being, that sounds, okay, fine. If somebody likes a nasty onion smell, then I'll leave it at that.
00:07:19
Speaker 3: Okay, but let's talk about the science. You asked about the science. And this is where I'm just not buying any of this.
00:07:24
Speaker 1: What are we doing?
00:07:25
Speaker 2: What are pheromones?
00:07:26
Speaker 3: Pheromones are chemical signals released between individuals of the same species that can trigger behavioral or physiological responses, meaning you're sexually attracted to someone. These chemicals are linked to mating in animal species.
00:07:43
Speaker 2: Here's the deal. Human beings do not have a functional, I'm going to try to get this right, vomeronasal organ.
00:07:52
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:07:52
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:07:52
Speaker 3: A vomeronasal organ is found in animals, and that is the organ that's used to detect pheromones. We lack the physical anatomy to process or even smell or pick up on pheromones.
00:08:06
Speaker 2: We're not animals. We're human beings.
00:08:08
Speaker 3: And so we don't have the organ that we need to detect pheromones.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: So it's impossible for it to actually attract pheromones.
00:08:22
Speaker 3: Another human being. And human pheromones, by the way, have been studied for 60 years. So this is like something that scientists have truly looked into.
00:08:30
Speaker 2: Now, the only thing.
00:08:32
Speaker 1: Scientists, guys, they were always trying to find a way to get women. Yes, exactly. Sounds like something men would study.
00:08:37
Speaker 3: So there is something in male sweat specifically called androstadionone.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: Anyway, I can't pronounce it.
00:08:47
Speaker 1: Just blow with it. We wouldn't know if you mispronounced it.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: It's a testosterone derivative that is found in male sweat specifically, okay? At the National Institutes of Health, they actually put an upper lip application... Of a pharmacological dose of this testosterone derivative on women.
00:09:07
Speaker 2: And the result was that it did improve their mood and heighten their focus.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: Women? Yep.
00:09:13
Speaker 3: So they said the only thing they could say is a positive mood is known to facilitate a woman's sexual response. Basically, if a woman's in a better mood, she's more likely to have sex with you.
00:09:23
Speaker 2: So then they were like.
00:09:24
Speaker 1: Again, men know this.
00:09:28
Speaker 2: So they said even though they were able... That was the only thing they were able to like.
00:09:33
Speaker 3: pieced together from this derivative in male sweat. And they said, despite that, psychologists and dermatologists say still there is no evidence whatsoever that skipping a shower is going to make you any more desirable to potential partners. Here's something from a board-certified New York City dermatologist.
00:09:53
Speaker 1: Okay, can't get better than that.
00:09:54
Speaker 3: Let me hear it. Pheromone maxing takes a kernel of legitimate science. The fact that humans produce individual chemical odors, and that smell can influence how we perceive other people, but now stretching it into a conclusion that the science just does not support. That somehow, smelling all of your natural sweat is not going to make a woman.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: More attracted to you. I can speak from personal experience. I would run for.
00:10:22
Speaker 3: The hills if I smelled body odor on anyone I was thinking about dating.
00:10:27
Speaker 1: Is this just guys looking for an excuse?
00:10:30
Speaker 2: To not shower?
00:10:31
Speaker 3: Maybe. That's actually totally, like, probably one of the best reasons I've ever heard.
00:10:38
Speaker 1: So I want to take them at their word, but you think a guy, these guys are for real on TikTok. I'm pulling women left and right as soon as I start putting shampoo in my hair. And body wash on my body. I am pulling. You can't get it. What was the line in there? You can't pull a baddie? What?
00:10:56
Speaker 2: It says the reason you can't pull baddies is because you wear cologne and deodorant.
00:11:01
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: Does he include a picture?
00:11:05
Speaker 2: Scratch and sniff, please.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: All right. All right.
00:11:07
Speaker 3: So this all may sound funny. And like you said, do what you want to each their own. But when we come back, we're going to tell you why pheromone maxing can actually be detrimental to your health and even dangerous.
00:11:21
Speaker 1: Okay welcome back am i the only one when you tease right before break whose response was no shit When you say, well, I can be dangerous. And what was your tease? Well, I can be dangerous.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: And why can be detrimental to your health and dangerous?
00:11:43
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Okay. No kidding. Tell me why not washing my butt for a week might not be good for my health.
00:11:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: Here's the deal.
00:11:49
Speaker 3: I didn't, I guess I knew this, but not really. Did you know that actual fresh sweat is odorless? Your sweat when it comes out of your body is odorless. Body odor happens when your natural skin bacteria breaks down your sweat. So your body has a process to cool off, and that is when you start to smell because it's your own body's bacteria that breaks down the sweat. So pheromone maxing is actually bacteria maxing because when you don't wash the bacteria that is now all over your skin to break down the sweat, you now have bacteria all over your body.
00:12:28
Speaker 1: Okay. This trend should go away just on that. Everybody, write that line. Post it with the hashtag pheromone maxing and this trend should end.
00:12:40
Speaker 2: Bacteria maxing.
00:12:41
Speaker 1: That's what it is. That's what it is. It's disgusting.
00:12:44
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:12:44
Speaker 1: How do you get in the bed the same sheets every night?
00:12:48
Speaker 3: Ew.
00:12:49
Speaker 1: Think about robes. Bacteria. You haven't showered for three days. Let's cuddle.
00:12:54
Speaker 3: Ew.
00:12:54
Speaker 1: Let's get in this bed. Let's share bacteria. What woman wants this four-day showerless guy in her sheets?
00:13:02
Speaker 2: No woman.
00:13:03
Speaker 1: At her bed because... Ugh, it just does it for me. That is so gross.
00:13:09
Speaker 3: And by the way, you want to actually, if you're even still thinking about it, Google.
00:13:15
Speaker 3: Folliculitis, because that is where this leads to some nasty skin problems. Folliculitis is inflamed or infected hair follicles that lead to red.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: Painful bumps. Oh, don't Google that. Don't Google it. Folks, do not do what she just said. Do not Google that. It's gross.
00:13:34
Speaker 3: Folliculitis is what happens when you pheromone max.
00:13:37
Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
00:13:38
Speaker 3: Red, painful bumps all over your body. Everywhere you have hair follicles, you get bumps because bacteria... It's bacterial overgrowth.
00:13:46
Speaker 2: And it's painful. Not only is it disgusting to look at, it's painful. This is why people, please shower. And men, please understand.
00:13:56
Speaker 3: I believe that I can speak for all women when I say we don't like how you smell when you smell. We don't like body odor. I don't like Axe body spray either. Like powerful, pungent odors, period, are not something that women like. A fresh, clean bar of soap smell with a spray of whatever, clean cologne, fine.
00:14:17
Speaker 2: That's amazing.
00:14:18
Speaker 1: But can we say to each his or her own, have you ever actually met someone who might even be so in love with her guy, like, I just love how he smells when he comes back from a run kind of a thing.
00:14:27
Speaker 2: Have you ever known that?
00:14:28
Speaker 3: No. Now, everyone has their own unique smell.
00:14:31
Speaker 2: And I love that smell.
00:14:33
Speaker 3: But not when you haven't accompanied the smell with a shower.
00:14:37
Speaker 2: Your smell comes through. even after you shower.
00:14:40
Speaker 1: See, that's the thing, babe. Everyone has, you have a unique scent. You have that. I notice that. I smell that. When you're funky, that is not the same thing. It's not. That's not who you are. That's not your scent.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: That's a universal, disgusting... Oh my God, what did you eat last night? There's garlic coming out of your pores.
00:14:58
Speaker 2: It's disgusting. I mean, look, you can, I have been in the gym.
00:15:04
Speaker 3: The best way I can kind of think about how this must smell or what they think they're actually achieving with whatever smell they want. If you have worked out in a gym in a foreign country where they eat very different foods than we eat possibly, and then you work out next to someone who clearly has not showered on a treadmill in an enclosed room, it is one of the most disgusting experiences I've ever had. And that's what I think of when that in the Verrazano bridge, when I think about what these men are doing and I, you know, look, if there's a woman out there who's listening, I would be so interested in what it is about a smell of filth that turns you on. But yes, I like someone's smell, but we, we turn only when they're clean.
00:15:46
Speaker 1: But why do we turn our back things? Like, I mean, is this just silly or just funny or kind of a thing? Is this real? Our, But it seems like there are loyal followers of things that are simply, clearly, demonstrably wrong.
00:16:01
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:16:01
Speaker 1: Like we can tell you this is unhealthy to do. 99.9% of women out there will tell you they don't like this. And yet you're saying, nope, I got baddies, baby.
00:16:11
Speaker 3: It's weird.
00:16:12
Speaker 1: This is what you got to do.
00:16:13
Speaker 3: It feels like this is the manosphere thing. Like they've got like, oh, you've got low T and like, oh my, I've got special superpowers in my sweat.
00:16:22
Speaker 2: Like it's this like delusional feeling like everything I do.
00:16:26
Speaker 3: Is better and grander because I'm a man.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: That's what it feels like.
00:16:30
Speaker 1: And men stink. You know what? I've been freaking out lately. I ran out of cologne. I'm like, oh, God, I need a new scent. I'm freaking out because I don't have it. Deodorant's working just fine, but still, I'm missing something.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: You need a little extra ding.
00:16:46
Speaker 1: No, this one's, you brought a lot of stuff to me that I can be an open mind about. I just don't understand. This one, I don't understand. I'm trying to leave room, but hey, this is, when we promote these as, right, people are giving their experience, people are following that And all of those guys listening to the other guy that said, if you want baddies, right? They're listening to him. They're not listening to you who just gave fact. based on people with doctor in front of their name and years of study. Not just anecdotal because I went out and some girl said she liked my hair and I ain't washed it in three days.
00:17:21
Speaker 3: No.
00:17:22
Speaker 1: Listen to that. This is dangerous. In fact, we do not possess the capacity as human beings to actually be turned on by somebody else's scent.
00:17:31
Speaker 2: We do not.
00:17:32
Speaker 3: No. No. No, we do not. Maybe we might be in a little bit more of a positive mood, according to that one NIH study.
00:17:39
Speaker 2: But you know what?
00:17:39
Speaker 3: There are a lot of other ways you can put us in a positive mood.
00:17:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hear flowers work.
00:17:43
Speaker 2: I was like, bring some flowers.
00:17:44
Speaker 1: Politeness, I hear. Open the door. Yeah, I hear those things do wonders. Tell me I look hot.
00:17:48
Speaker 2: I'm turned on right now.
00:17:50
Speaker 3: By the way, I love your open mind, but I'm really happy it's closed off with pheromone maxing, as it should be.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: We just came back from a run. I'm uncomfortable because I haven't showered yet.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: Same.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: Okay. All right.
00:18:02
Speaker 2: And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: And please listen to me, fellas. And with that, I'm Amy Robach alongside DJ Holmes.
00:18:10
Speaker 2: We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Sunday, September 6th, and I am going to try to keep an open mind on this one. But Robach has told me that there is a way to a woman's heart. There is a way to make yourself, fellas, irresistible to women. The key? Don't wash your ass as often. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ, Colloquial Stories. colloquial way of saying it. Don't watch your ass. People aren't taking, I say people, men think the key to making themselves irresistible to women could be showering less is what you're telling me.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: Well, I want to clear this up.
00:00:47
Speaker 3: I am not telling you that it makes, I'm not telling you that that makes men sexier. I'm telling you that men think that makes men sexier.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: What do you think about that on the surface? Before you even get into, before you even dive into it, it is okay to say that sounds silly.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: And it sounds like something only a man would say or think. Because there's no woman. I don't know a woman.
00:01:06
Speaker 3: I don't know a friend, a family member who is female who thinks it's hot when a man has body odor.
00:01:14
Speaker 1: Okay, then why is this a thing? Then why would a guy think that? Why would a guy think his body odor makes him more attractive? Sexually attractive, right?
00:01:23
Speaker 3: Yes, because this man is being told by other men on social media that you have pheromones.
00:01:29
Speaker 2: That attract the opposite sex.
00:01:32
Speaker 3: And that Yes, it might fly in the face of reason, but the reality is it's our animal instinct and it's within us all. And if you just let your pheromones fly freely, you'll get.
00:01:45
Speaker 2: All the ladies.
00:01:46
Speaker 1: Okay, so is there some science? Do you have something in there that's going to back this up?
00:01:50
Speaker 2: No, but I have science.
00:01:52
Speaker 1: Wait, that does back it up.
00:01:54
Speaker 2: They're fools.
00:01:55
Speaker 1: Oh, I thought it was the opposite. So why are they saying this?
00:01:58
Speaker 3: Okay, all I can tell you is that Gen Z men on TikTok.
00:02:01
Speaker 1: You say Gen Z men. Yes. Please tell me, who are they again? It's Gen Z men.
00:02:04
Speaker 2: Which one is that?
00:02:05
Speaker 1: Is that Ava and Annalise?
00:02:07
Speaker 2: Yes, Ava and Annalise.
00:02:08
Speaker 1: Okay, so the group above Sabine.
00:02:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, Sabine, she only missed it by like a week.
00:02:12
Speaker 1: Oh.
00:02:12
Speaker 2: She's Gen A, I think.
00:02:14
Speaker 1: Thank God. Gen Alpha.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: But, like, she's on the border. She's on the cusp.
00:02:19
Speaker 1: All right, Gen Z, that age group.
00:02:20
Speaker 2: Gen Z is below millennial.
00:02:22
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: So, yes, it's the 20-something, 30-somethings.
00:02:25
Speaker 1: All right, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: The ones who are all dating think they know it all.
00:02:29
Speaker 3: All right.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: You know, we were all there at one point.
00:02:30
Speaker 1: We need to listen then. Maybe they're on to something. So I'm listening. I'm listening.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: So Gen Z men specifically on TikTok have been bragging about skipping showers... for going deodorant, not washing their hair, and they're calling it pheromone maxing.
00:02:45
Speaker 2: That is the trend's name. The hashtag is everywhere.
00:02:48
Speaker 3: If you look up Google pheromone maxing, you will see a million articles. But this is about young men letting their body odor build up To create what they call a biological superpower. They say it makes them irresistible to women.
00:03:04
Speaker 2: Potential power. Partners. Maybe not just women. Maybe other men as well.
00:03:08
Speaker 3: And I just, all I can think of is the Verrazano Bridge on Marathon Day.
00:03:11
Speaker 1: Wait, that's what we're, wait a minute, baby. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I don't understand. You don't, like, is there, like, for how long? Or is there just indefinite? Or what are we doing? I don't understand. If I want a pheromone max, what should I start doing today?
00:03:24
Speaker 2: You should stop showering.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: Okay, I just went for a run. Yeah. Three miles. Am I not supposed to shower?
00:03:29
Speaker 2: Now you're ahead of the curve. Now you're hotter than most. Don't put deodorant on. Just go about your day.
00:03:35
Speaker 1: I got shit to do today.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: But no, but can you talk about what the Verrazano Bridge smells like on Marathon Day?
00:03:42
Speaker 1: If that's what we're talking about, look, a lot of people, we're not in this group, but we'll, hey, I'm about to run a marathon anyway. Why shower? So a lot of people will show up to a run. And in particular, at the marathon, this is really bad, New York City Marathon, when you start, and we start with more elite folks because we get this privilege. So these are serious runners that we're in a group with.
00:04:04
Speaker 3: They're elite, and I also would say that a lot of them are from different countries.
00:04:08
Speaker 1: Yes, and fine, okay? But it is one of the worst things I've ever smelled in my life, and I smell it once a year when I run this marathon. Robes, it's B.O. beyond B.O., And it's terrible. And that's how you start your race. You're actually pissed when you start because they're shoving and pushing and everybody's doing this thing and you have this odor on top of it. So if you're telling me, baby, those dudes are the sexiest men alive. Yes.
00:04:35
Speaker 2: That's what they're saying.
00:04:36
Speaker 3: And when you, when you, when some of those men, and they are men who smell, touch you with their sweat, I can still smell their stink.
00:04:43
Speaker 2: On my arm.
00:04:44
Speaker 3: Like, It is so repulsive to me, and that's all I could think of when I was reading these stories.
00:04:48
Speaker 1: So it can't be that. Nobody is going out there and intentionally trying to smell like that. Wait a minute, baby. Wait, wait. I don't understand.
00:04:56
Speaker 3: Yes, I told you a story that this reminded me of. When I was in high school, I was in my English class, and I can't remember which author it was. Maybe it was Henry James, but it was one of these older authors. And I remember my English teacher telling us that he wrote a letter to his wife saying, I'm coming home, baby.
00:05:14
Speaker 2: And it's going to take me three weeks, whatever passage he had to take on whatever ship. Don't shower. And we were all grossed out. And she's like, some people actually like natural scent. And it was a thing.
00:05:26
Speaker 3: And especially back in the day, he literally told his wife not to shower for three weeks.
00:05:30
Speaker 1: What was the day? How back in the day was this?
00:05:32
Speaker 2: I mean, this is like the 1800s, like that kind of a thing.
00:05:35
Speaker 1: Before ASAP. Before.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: Before deodorant.
00:05:38
Speaker 3: Before what they knew how people could actually smell if they washed themselves daily and used wonderful scents. Okay.
00:05:44
Speaker 1: Yes. Okay, babe, back to this. You're telling me men, they stink.
00:05:49
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: Or are they saying that that odor that I am calling stench is actually attractive and pleasant?
00:05:57
Speaker 2: Natural musk is what they call it.
00:05:59
Speaker 3: Oh, okay. Here are some of the TikTok posts to give you some examples. Stop washing my hair at all, and now I unironically.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: Get more compliments on how it smells and looks from women. That was one post. Another post.
00:06:13
Speaker 3: I stopped using cologne, and I've been getting so many more compliments on my disgusting onion smell than ever before.
00:06:18
Speaker 1: You said comments?
00:06:20
Speaker 3: Compliments on my disgusting onion smell. The reason you can't pull bad age is because you wear cologne and deodorant. Honestly, when he said disgusting onion smell, you know that smell, that body odor smell. How could he, he's saying he gets compliments on how he smells.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: This is what he's putting out on TikTok.
00:06:40
Speaker 3: Then they actually have like tutorials on how to go three days without washing before a date to build a halo effect of pheromones. So I guess the idea is you go three days before your date without showering, and then you'll have pheromones just oozing out of your pores and you'll get all the ladies. I would love to have a hidden camera on these men as they go on dates and And I'd like to actually see what these women say and think and what their facial expressions are.
00:07:05
Speaker 1: So is this one of those things, babe, to each his or her own? Maybe this is attractive to somebody. But it's being, that sounds, okay, fine. If somebody likes a nasty onion smell, then I'll leave it at that.
00:07:19
Speaker 3: Okay, but let's talk about the science. You asked about the science. And this is where I'm just not buying any of this.
00:07:24
Speaker 1: What are we doing?
00:07:25
Speaker 2: What are pheromones?
00:07:26
Speaker 3: Pheromones are chemical signals released between individuals of the same species that can trigger behavioral or physiological responses, meaning you're sexually attracted to someone. These chemicals are linked to mating in animal species.
00:07:43
Speaker 2: Here's the deal. Human beings do not have a functional, I'm going to try to get this right, vomeronasal organ.
00:07:52
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:07:52
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:07:52
Speaker 3: A vomeronasal organ is found in animals, and that is the organ that's used to detect pheromones. We lack the physical anatomy to process or even smell or pick up on pheromones.
00:08:06
Speaker 2: We're not animals. We're human beings.
00:08:08
Speaker 3: And so we don't have the organ that we need to detect pheromones.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: So it's impossible for it to actually attract pheromones.
00:08:22
Speaker 3: Another human being. And human pheromones, by the way, have been studied for 60 years. So this is like something that scientists have truly looked into.
00:08:30
Speaker 2: Now, the only thing.
00:08:32
Speaker 1: Scientists, guys, they were always trying to find a way to get women. Yes, exactly. Sounds like something men would study.
00:08:37
Speaker 3: So there is something in male sweat specifically called androstadionone.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: Anyway, I can't pronounce it.
00:08:47
Speaker 1: Just blow with it. We wouldn't know if you mispronounced it.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: It's a testosterone derivative that is found in male sweat specifically, okay? At the National Institutes of Health, they actually put an upper lip application... Of a pharmacological dose of this testosterone derivative on women.
00:09:07
Speaker 2: And the result was that it did improve their mood and heighten their focus.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: Women? Yep.
00:09:13
Speaker 3: So they said the only thing they could say is a positive mood is known to facilitate a woman's sexual response. Basically, if a woman's in a better mood, she's more likely to have sex with you.
00:09:23
Speaker 2: So then they were like.
00:09:24
Speaker 1: Again, men know this.
00:09:28
Speaker 2: So they said even though they were able... That was the only thing they were able to like.
00:09:33
Speaker 3: pieced together from this derivative in male sweat. And they said, despite that, psychologists and dermatologists say still there is no evidence whatsoever that skipping a shower is going to make you any more desirable to potential partners. Here's something from a board-certified New York City dermatologist.
00:09:53
Speaker 1: Okay, can't get better than that.
00:09:54
Speaker 3: Let me hear it. Pheromone maxing takes a kernel of legitimate science. The fact that humans produce individual chemical odors, and that smell can influence how we perceive other people, but now stretching it into a conclusion that the science just does not support. That somehow, smelling all of your natural sweat is not going to make a woman.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: More attracted to you. I can speak from personal experience. I would run for.
00:10:22
Speaker 3: The hills if I smelled body odor on anyone I was thinking about dating.
00:10:27
Speaker 1: Is this just guys looking for an excuse?
00:10:30
Speaker 2: To not shower?
00:10:31
Speaker 3: Maybe. That's actually totally, like, probably one of the best reasons I've ever heard.
00:10:38
Speaker 1: So I want to take them at their word, but you think a guy, these guys are for real on TikTok. I'm pulling women left and right as soon as I start putting shampoo in my hair. And body wash on my body. I am pulling. You can't get it. What was the line in there? You can't pull a baddie? What?
00:10:56
Speaker 2: It says the reason you can't pull baddies is because you wear cologne and deodorant.
00:11:01
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: Does he include a picture?
00:11:05
Speaker 2: Scratch and sniff, please.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: All right. All right.
00:11:07
Speaker 3: So this all may sound funny. And like you said, do what you want to each their own. But when we come back, we're going to tell you why pheromone maxing can actually be detrimental to your health and even dangerous.
00:11:21
Speaker 1: Okay welcome back am i the only one when you tease right before break whose response was no shit When you say, well, I can be dangerous. And what was your tease? Well, I can be dangerous.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: And why can be detrimental to your health and dangerous?
00:11:43
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Okay. No kidding. Tell me why not washing my butt for a week might not be good for my health.
00:11:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: Here's the deal.
00:11:49
Speaker 3: I didn't, I guess I knew this, but not really. Did you know that actual fresh sweat is odorless? Your sweat when it comes out of your body is odorless. Body odor happens when your natural skin bacteria breaks down your sweat. So your body has a process to cool off, and that is when you start to smell because it's your own body's bacteria that breaks down the sweat. So pheromone maxing is actually bacteria maxing because when you don't wash the bacteria that is now all over your skin to break down the sweat, you now have bacteria all over your body.
00:12:28
Speaker 1: Okay. This trend should go away just on that. Everybody, write that line. Post it with the hashtag pheromone maxing and this trend should end.
00:12:40
Speaker 2: Bacteria maxing.
00:12:41
Speaker 1: That's what it is. That's what it is. It's disgusting.
00:12:44
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:12:44
Speaker 1: How do you get in the bed the same sheets every night?
00:12:48
Speaker 3: Ew.
00:12:49
Speaker 1: Think about robes. Bacteria. You haven't showered for three days. Let's cuddle.
00:12:54
Speaker 3: Ew.
00:12:54
Speaker 1: Let's get in this bed. Let's share bacteria. What woman wants this four-day showerless guy in her sheets?
00:13:02
Speaker 2: No woman.
00:13:03
Speaker 1: At her bed because... Ugh, it just does it for me. That is so gross.
00:13:09
Speaker 3: And by the way, you want to actually, if you're even still thinking about it, Google.
00:13:15
Speaker 3: Folliculitis, because that is where this leads to some nasty skin problems. Folliculitis is inflamed or infected hair follicles that lead to red.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: Painful bumps. Oh, don't Google that. Don't Google it. Folks, do not do what she just said. Do not Google that. It's gross.
00:13:34
Speaker 3: Folliculitis is what happens when you pheromone max.
00:13:37
Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
00:13:38
Speaker 3: Red, painful bumps all over your body. Everywhere you have hair follicles, you get bumps because bacteria... It's bacterial overgrowth.
00:13:46
Speaker 2: And it's painful. Not only is it disgusting to look at, it's painful. This is why people, please shower. And men, please understand.
00:13:56
Speaker 3: I believe that I can speak for all women when I say we don't like how you smell when you smell. We don't like body odor. I don't like Axe body spray either. Like powerful, pungent odors, period, are not something that women like. A fresh, clean bar of soap smell with a spray of whatever, clean cologne, fine.
00:14:17
Speaker 2: That's amazing.
00:14:18
Speaker 1: But can we say to each his or her own, have you ever actually met someone who might even be so in love with her guy, like, I just love how he smells when he comes back from a run kind of a thing.
00:14:27
Speaker 2: Have you ever known that?
00:14:28
Speaker 3: No. Now, everyone has their own unique smell.
00:14:31
Speaker 2: And I love that smell.
00:14:33
Speaker 3: But not when you haven't accompanied the smell with a shower.
00:14:37
Speaker 2: Your smell comes through. even after you shower.
00:14:40
Speaker 1: See, that's the thing, babe. Everyone has, you have a unique scent. You have that. I notice that. I smell that. When you're funky, that is not the same thing. It's not. That's not who you are. That's not your scent.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: That's a universal, disgusting... Oh my God, what did you eat last night? There's garlic coming out of your pores.
00:14:58
Speaker 2: It's disgusting. I mean, look, you can, I have been in the gym.
00:15:04
Speaker 3: The best way I can kind of think about how this must smell or what they think they're actually achieving with whatever smell they want. If you have worked out in a gym in a foreign country where they eat very different foods than we eat possibly, and then you work out next to someone who clearly has not showered on a treadmill in an enclosed room, it is one of the most disgusting experiences I've ever had. And that's what I think of when that in the Verrazano bridge, when I think about what these men are doing and I, you know, look, if there's a woman out there who's listening, I would be so interested in what it is about a smell of filth that turns you on. But yes, I like someone's smell, but we, we turn only when they're clean.
00:15:46
Speaker 1: But why do we turn our back things? Like, I mean, is this just silly or just funny or kind of a thing? Is this real? Our, But it seems like there are loyal followers of things that are simply, clearly, demonstrably wrong.
00:16:01
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:16:01
Speaker 1: Like we can tell you this is unhealthy to do. 99.9% of women out there will tell you they don't like this. And yet you're saying, nope, I got baddies, baby.
00:16:11
Speaker 3: It's weird.
00:16:12
Speaker 1: This is what you got to do.
00:16:13
Speaker 3: It feels like this is the manosphere thing. Like they've got like, oh, you've got low T and like, oh my, I've got special superpowers in my sweat.
00:16:22
Speaker 2: Like it's this like delusional feeling like everything I do.
00:16:26
Speaker 3: Is better and grander because I'm a man.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: That's what it feels like.
00:16:30
Speaker 1: And men stink. You know what? I've been freaking out lately. I ran out of cologne. I'm like, oh, God, I need a new scent. I'm freaking out because I don't have it. Deodorant's working just fine, but still, I'm missing something.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: You need a little extra ding.
00:16:46
Speaker 1: No, this one's, you brought a lot of stuff to me that I can be an open mind about. I just don't understand. This one, I don't understand. I'm trying to leave room, but hey, this is, when we promote these as, right, people are giving their experience, people are following that And all of those guys listening to the other guy that said, if you want baddies, right? They're listening to him. They're not listening to you who just gave fact. based on people with doctor in front of their name and years of study. Not just anecdotal because I went out and some girl said she liked my hair and I ain't washed it in three days.
00:17:21
Speaker 3: No.
00:17:22
Speaker 1: Listen to that. This is dangerous. In fact, we do not possess the capacity as human beings to actually be turned on by somebody else's scent.
00:17:31
Speaker 2: We do not.
00:17:32
Speaker 3: No. No. No, we do not. Maybe we might be in a little bit more of a positive mood, according to that one NIH study.
00:17:39
Speaker 2: But you know what?
00:17:39
Speaker 3: There are a lot of other ways you can put us in a positive mood.
00:17:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hear flowers work.
00:17:43
Speaker 2: I was like, bring some flowers.
00:17:44
Speaker 1: Politeness, I hear. Open the door. Yeah, I hear those things do wonders. Tell me I look hot.
00:17:48
Speaker 2: I'm turned on right now.
00:17:50
Speaker 3: By the way, I love your open mind, but I'm really happy it's closed off with pheromone maxing, as it should be.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: We just came back from a run. I'm uncomfortable because I haven't showered yet.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: Same.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: Okay. All right.
00:18:02
Speaker 2: And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: And please listen to me, fellas. And with that, I'm Amy Robach alongside DJ Holmes.
00:18:10
Speaker 2: We'll talk soon.