Sufferin' Stereotypes!!

[luvmysuper]

Noted quite a few posts about poor Brut aftershave and how it has such an unfounded bad rap.

What other aftershaves do you think suffer the same fate?

Hai Karate
Avon Wild Country
Stetson

 

[Nadir M]

Lilac Vegetal, the haters think it smells like cat pee. I love the stuff, and I thought I could get away with wearing it from time to time...Until the wife told me it smelled like cat pee. Now I must part with it.

 

[Walter Sobchak]

Lilac Vegetal, the haters think it smells like cat pee. I love the stuff, and I thought I could get away with wearing it from time to time...Until the wife told me it smelled like cat pee. Now I must part with it.

I truly believe there's something physiological that allows some people to smell LV and love it and others to think it smells like cat pee. Just like some people can't enjoy something like asparagus, due to physiological impacts on the perception of taste and/or the composition of tastebuds in the mouth.

Anyway, back to the OP:

RL's POLO is one that I think is very stereotyped.
AV is definitely maligned by a great many.
Clubman, too.

 

[82R100]

I truly believe there's something physiological that allows some people to smell LV and love it and others to think it smells like cat pee.

...which begs the question: Are you wearing the fragrance for yourself or for others? Your *knowledge* that you don't smell like cat pee does nothing for those who perceive that you do.

- Chris

 

[The Nid Hog]

Lilac Vegetal, the haters think it smells like cat pee. I love the stuff, and I thought I could get away with wearing it from time to time...Until the wife told me it smelled like cat pee. Now I must part with her.

Fixed.

 

[Kratos]

This is too subjective of a subject. I love me some Ice Blue, but I'd rather wear bleach than Brut. I have not liked the stuff since I was a kid. That's interesting, a physiological difference. I just think some people may be better able to stand some smells than others, or actually just enjoy them. Many people who like Vegetal even say it smells like pee until it dries on them.

 

[luvmysuper]

This is too subjective of a subject. I love me some Ice Blue, but I'd rather wear bleach than Brut. I have not liked the stuff since I was a kid. That's interesting, a physiological difference. I just think some people may be better able to stand some smells than others, or actually just enjoy them. Many people who like Vegetal even say it smells like pee until it dries on them.

Funny you should mention that.

I bought a bottle this morning and tried it on. I can see why some people might say it smells like cat pee, because when you first put it on....it smells like cat pee.

Ok, that goes away in 5 minutes, and the smell is very powdery and flowery. I kinda like it. My wife says that it smells like a 2 dollar prostitute.
I told her maybe the smell will grow on her, and she said that she was afraid it WOULD grow on her, like a fungus might.

I'm going to give it a week and see what happens. If the folks at work tell me it stinks (and if it does, they will) maybe I'll chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on. Otherwise - I like the stuff.

 

[Topgumby]

I think there are quite a few products that get acceptance here, but would be viewed as kind of quaint (to put it kindly) by the general public.

Vintage Old Spice, or the dollar store knockoff that is as close as something made nowadays gets, is pretty revered on B&B, but I wager that's not the case most other places.

 

[Myanmar Shave]

I truly believe there's something physiological that allows some people to smell LV and love it and others to think it smells like cat pee. Just like some people can't enjoy something like asparagus, due to physiological impacts on the perception of taste and/or the composition of tastebuds in the mouth.

I think I agree with this. I personally like LV but there is so much controversy with this stuff that I don't wear it on dates or out in public. I use it as a knock-around afternoon-chore kinda fragrance when I'm doing stuff on my own. To me it smells nice BUT maybe there is a possibility that I could be skunk-like and not even realise it.

One thing I have noticed is that it doesn't always smell the same once it's on. I wonder if skin chemistry or maybe even diet on any given day might play a role with this stuff. I know that for me somedays I get the light floral and some days it stays in the musk/greenhouse zone. It seems to be a temperamental item for sure. It sure is a soothing A/S though....

Your mileage will absolutely vary-

Marty E.

 

[ClubmanRob]

I believe Brut, Aqua Velva, and anything by Pinaud are probably the most unfairly maligned scents that I can think of. Brut is just an all-around great scent to me, I never understood why it is hated so badly by so many. Aqua Velva and Clubman? Well, I love them too but I can see where they could rub someone the wrong way. Brut is a mystery, though. And I never knew so many people disliked Aqua Velva until I started hanging out on TSD, where there is an anti-AV movement going on (all in good fun, might I add).

Tabac is another one that I think gets a bad rap. I don't like it as much as some, but I absolutely do not hate it like many guys on here. References to "Grannie's knickers" and "Victorian whores" make me wonder what kind of background and past experiences these guys have been through.

Old Spice is another one that gets flamed outside of the B&B community. Usually by young girls whose fathers wore it. I know that most of my girlfriends personally have not liked Shulton Old Spice on me, but if I don't tell them what it is, they think it's sexy. I guess the name "Old Spice" just doesn't conjure up as sexy an image as "Jimmy Furiously" or "Redundancy por homme by Calvin Klein". Another poster on here once said that he makes up names for the colognes he wears so that the women will think that they're some cool new hip frag that they haven't heard of yet instead of Old Spice. I've started telling everyone that the knock-off Ivy Club Old Spice that I wear is actually Ivory Club por Homme (thanks mretzellof ) or some new scent by DKNY called Vapid or shallow.

And one that always surprised me by the lack of feedback compared to some of the other classic "old geezer" brands is regular green Skin Bracer. It seems like no one really talks about that one too much, but I never really got into the green. I love all the other ones though.

 

[Kratos]

Vapid? Jimmy Furiously? Dude that's hilarious. How about Pretense, or Entitled?
AV is as far as I go. Old Spice isn't bad, but it's not something I'd wear. Same for the Bracer. I wanted to try it based on the colder cooling effect, but I don't know. I tried some on and I still didn't like it.

 

[tsmba]

I always wonder about scents described as smelling like cat urine. There are a lot of cats nearby and I've yet to smell any fragrance that smells like a litter box or have any ammonia note. C&S Citrus Paradisi has gotten those comments for its grapefruit note.
The two frags I can think of that get the most negative comments are the LV and Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan (this one really gets 'em going). I guess the word is "animalic"....civet, castoreum, ambergris, and musk. These seem to be the most polarizing scents, as well as the most expensive. People must love them, because they sure are in a lot of products.

 

[crocto]

i think stuff like aqua velva, old spice etc. get a bad rap because there's so many people out there that put too much on. so if you're walking down your office hallway reeking of anything people are going to notice.

 

[JLA334]

i think stuff like aqua velva, old spice etc. get a bad rap because there's so many people out there that put too much on. so if you're walking down your office hallway reeking of anything people are going to notice.

I agree with your theory. I would also add that each scent, when it "seasons", so to speak, on each indvidual takes on a little bit different scent. I have worn a certain EDT and received several compliments. A co-worker bought the same EDT and applied the same two squirts that I usually do, yet on him it smelled like straight gasoline. Had he had the EDT first there would've been no way in heck that I would have even thought of buying it.

 

[pmast]

I believe Brut, Aqua Velva, and anything by Pinaud are probably the most unfairly maligned scents that I can think of. Brut is just an all-around great scent to me, I never understood why it is hated so badly by so many. Aqua Velva and Clubman? Well, I love them too but I can see where they could rub someone the wrong way. Brut is a mystery, though. And I never knew so many people disliked Aqua Velva until I started hanging out on TSD, where there is an anti-AV movement going on (all in good fun, might I add).

Tabac is another one that I think gets a bad rap. I don't like it as much as some, but I absolutely do not hate it like many guys on here. References to "Grannie's knickers" and "Victorian whores" make me wonder what kind of background and past experiences these guys have been through.

Old Spice is another one that gets flamed outside of the B&B community. Usually by young girls whose fathers wore it. I know that most of my girlfriends personally have not liked Shulton Old Spice on me, but if I don't tell them what it is, they think it's sexy. I guess the name "Old Spice" just doesn't conjure up as sexy an image as "Jimmy Furiously" or "Redundancy por homme by Calvin Klein". Another poster on here once said that he makes up names for the colognes he wears so that the women will think that they're some cool new hip frag that they haven't heard of yet instead of Old Spice. I've started telling everyone that the knock-off Ivy Club Old Spice that I wear is actually Ivory Club por Homme (thanks mretzellof ) or some new scent by DKNY called Vapid or shallow.

And one that always surprised me by the lack of feedback compared to some of the other classic "old geezer" brands is regular green Skin Bracer. It seems like no one really talks about that one too much, but I never really got into the green. I love all the other ones though.

+1 on Brut. I really like the scent and I enjoy it for sentimental reasons.
+1 on Skin Bracer. To me it smells just like a freshly washed baby. That's not a bad smell, but not what I'm going for.

I had someone laugh when I said I wore AV and OS. She said it reminded her of little old men at Cracker Barrel. I wore OS the next night at work and asked her if I smelled like an old man. She said I smelled good and asked what it was. When I told her it was OS, she was shocked, but admitted that she really liked it. I think a lot of it is simply mindset. A lot of teenagers today have no idea what the drugstore fragrances smell like. My wife loves AV and has never heard of it. She and her sister also L.T.A.O. when they found out there were men searching for Florida Water to wear as an aftershave. They are hispanic and I guess Florida Water is their equivalent to AV.