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Is rose a masculine scent?

It's safely unisex by itself, imho. I have Southern Witchcrafts' Necromantic shave soap and splash and that scent is amazing. Rose, wisteria, honey, red wine, dirt, ozone are the notes listed and those dirt and ozone notes make this a fantastic dirty--but also fresh--rose scent. I can't get enough of it.
 
Funny how societies arbitrarily allocate gender association to different things. The color pink, for example, is considered feminine in all major Anglo-Saxon culture centers since the 30s (before that it was considered masculine) despite something as fixed as a wavelength clearly having nothing to do with the evolutionary strategy of gender segregation.

In the context I believe when you mean when you ask, though, I don't believe Rose sits firmly in either camp the same way that citrus scents don't
 
As many have said, scents are neutral, society and marketing have made some associated with a gender, which can vary greatly depending on where you live. I don't like overly floral scents, but prefer woodsy and spicy scents.
 
As many have said, scents are neutral, society and marketing have made some associated with a gender, which can vary greatly depending on where you live. I don't like overly floral scents, but prefer woodsy and spicy scents.
I’m the same but also love fruity scents. Grapefruit, citrus, etc.

I use rose Thayers and I am not a huge fan of the scent, but I don’t think wearing it makes me any less manly. 🤪 Not a super strong scent though.
 
I’m the same but also love fruity scents. Grapefruit, citrus, etc.

I use rose Thayers and I am not a huge fan of the scent, but I don’t think wearing it makes me any less manly. 🤪 Not a super strong scent though.

I like the smell of fruits and citrus, but don't want to smell like them. :)

I use medicate Thayers, but also have cucumber which is tolerable to me, hate the rose. I will try mixing Dickinson’s Enhanced Witch Hazel Deep Cleansing Astringent with unscented Thayers in the future though, since Thayers only sells medicated in pads now.
 
When I wanted a rose scented soap, I didn't even ask that question. It never occurred to me. Now I have Wickhams 1912 rose and Soapy Science rose scent. I enjoy them and that's all that matters. As someone already stated, scents and colors are neutral until society assigns a gender to them.
 
These associations come and go over time, and rose has been considered an appropriate scent for male products in the more distant past, and is perhaps so still in cultures like the Middle East.

It might be more accurate to say the placing of scents from nature into sex categories is a pretty modern development and that before (or even early in) the 20th century when men used rose scented products, they were not considered exclusively male or female. Just as something like 4711 was just "cologne water," intended to be neither male or female (I would not say "unisex," since that implies a different attitude about these things - that it was an "asexual" product would be more accurate to say). In any case, I don't think something as superficial as scent (especially since rose occurs in nature) can be intrinsically male or female, even though I do believe that there are intrinsic male and female differences that go beyond just biology, as un-PC as that may be to say.

If you're not worried about the perceptions of others, go ahead - why not? Tell people if they ask that you just have more traditional or old-fashioned tastes. As for me, while I might one day use a rose shave soap, since I enjoy the smell, or something similar that would only go noticed by me, given contemporary norms I would not enjoy dealing with the odd reactions I would likely get as a man today if I went about in public smelling like roses. I do like the idea of "coming up smelling like roses" in the figurative sense, though. 😁
 
Like SterFry said, pink is arbitrarily considered feminine in some nations. Yeah, in the 19th century it was considered quite appropriate for men. I actually like it.... it's all so dumb that things are this way but what can you do.

My namesake Jan Sobieski was classically educated, wrote poetry and collected Rembrandts.... and also stomped a** on the battlefield. Just saying....

It's just a scent, or just a color, after all.
 
I would not enjoy dealing with the odd reactions I would likely get as a man today if I went about in public smelling like roses.
As I pretty much said previously, I do not think you are going to get any odd reactions wearing C&S "88," other than, perhaps, what is that amazing scent? I would guess the same thing for C&S "Dark Rose", or, say, Montale "Black Aoud." Each very much a rose scent. Wearing Penhaligon's "Elisabethan Rose" or C&S "Rose" might get odd reactions of wow that is a feminine scent!
 
Good point, Knize, I guess it also depends on the composition of the rose scent!

Sure. I trying to think of scents that have big rose components with a lot of other things going on. Some have probably already been cited in this thread. I probably do not know women's scent well enough to comment on them. It has been a while, but as I recall Floris No. 89 has a big rose component, but I do not think it is going to come across as feminine. Tauer Incense Rose seems unisex to me, but I think because it has lots of wood and vetiver in the base. Penhaligon's HB seems rose and masculine to me, but I really do not like it at all.

I have seen it opined that feminine rose scents tend to be more purely rose, whereas masculine rose scents tend to be both dirty and to have other components, too.

Domeneco Caraceni 1913 comes to mind as a masculine rose. I forget whether it was mentioned earlier in this thread. Lots going on besides rose in it. I have read it opined that DC seems more masculine because it is really geranium, not rose, and therefore tangy, sharp, and green. The green aspect makes sense to me.
 

tankerjohn

A little poofier than I prefer
Like SterFry said, pink is arbitrarily considered feminine in some nations. Yeah, in the 19th century it was considered quite appropriate for men. I actually like it.... it's all so dumb that things are this way but what can you do.

My namesake Jan Sobieski was classically educated, wrote poetry and collected Rembrandts.... and also stomped a** on the battlefield. Just saying....

It's just a scent, or just a color, after all.
Outstanding! I swear if I could go back in time to anywhere, I don’t think anything would be as spectacular as the charge of the Winged Hussars at Vienna in 1688.

As for rose scent...mmmm, yeah. I don’t think I’m manly enough to rock it. I’ll stick with Clubman Special Reserve, even if it is pretty much the aromatic equivalent of Truck Nutz.
 
totally enjoy my rose shaves!!

rose shaves.jpg
 
Not a fan of straight up rose but I really enjoy TFS Mattino. A mix of aquatic notes with rose. It's wonderful, I generally like sweet scents, some of them could easily be labeled as feminine.

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Good point, Knize, I guess it also depends on the composition of the rose scent!
I think it depends on two factors. One as you said is the composition of the scent. The other is who’s smelling it. I could give a particular rose scent to 10 people and get at least 10 different opinions on whether it’s masculine or not
 
I'm curious, because I love the smell. But my girlfriend said it reminds her of her grandmother. Is rose a man's scent or strictly for the girls?

I like the rose in Old Spice, and Rose 31 opened the door after that. I since bought a bottle of Saint Charles Shave Savory Rose, and the other day found Tea Rose by Perfumers Workshop. The Tea Rose smells like a tamed version of Savory Rose, but it's marketed strictly as a woman's fragrance. I find it would work very well with a modern suit... or am I crazy here?
I used that scent as well, but my wife said the same thing about it smelling like my grandmother, so I gave up. I do think men can and should wear it. It's a touch of elegance we could all use.
 
I myself love the smell of rose and rose shaving cream...roses are amazing plants...i have like 10 different species around my house they are all pretty big...i find nothing girly about roses...its a smell for everyone to enjoy..i from time to
Time make a bottle of pure rose essential oil and vodka ...use that as splash and wear it for hours whilst in town :)
 
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