"Too strong"

[justinp]

People who don't use fragrances-- and plenty who do-- often say that something smells "too strong." This is invariably a derogatory term. And you hear this a lot! Heck, someone has a thread posted in the Shaving Creams forum about how his girlfriend has nixed TOBS Sandalwood because it's "too strong."

But the thing is, TOBS Sandalwood Cream isn't strong! It's fairly light, I'd say. And it's hardly something that will stink up a room...

So I'm wondering what on earth people mean by this. Because it's clearly not a judgment of the power of the scent (in the sense of how smelly it is relative to other smells). It's a judgment of the way something smells; the content of the smell rather than its magnitude.

Is "that's too strong" just the equivalent of "I don't like that"? Or is there some other substantive content that I'm missing? In other words, is this poor henpecked fellow's girlfriend just saying "I dislike the smell of TOBS Sandalwood," or is there a specific thing that people understand themselves to mean when they say that a scent is strong?

 

[StylinLA]

I'm going to go with "I don't like that" as a rule.

I wear a shytload of different scents. Some of them are slamming when I first get to work. My boss only ever comments on something he hates. I don't think he's ever used the words "too strong." Rather, variations thereof.

In my experience, and it is a simple generalization based on my world, women are more inclined to have a very sensitive nose for these sorts of "too strong" comments. Part of this for me due to an ex GF who mostly hated everything I wore. Only a handful slipped under the wire with her.

 

[maxman]

Curious. I'd say that something in that scent doesn't appeal to that particular person.
For lack of a better term, they say "too strong".
Maybe because when they smell something that is a composite of many scents, one jumps out at them that they find offensive.
And so, they say "too strong". It would me more helpful if people could say something like "ugh, the clove scent is too strong".

All I ever get out of SWMBO is "I don't like it". Even when I ask "what don't you like about it?" she doesn't say anything.
It's all or nothing.

If you want a good example of a fragrance that has polarized reviews, check out Marc Jacobs "Bang".
I happen to like it very much. It's very different. The top notes are extremely peppery.
It turns off a lot of people on the first sniff (not me!).

 

[Ron991]

I would suppose that statement could have numerous meanings. When I hear that the first thing I think of is over application perhaps.

 

[franz]

I think it means over-application, but people have a much lower tolerance for smells they don't like.

 

[grignak]

Today is my first visit to the fragrances forum. I don't wear fragrances because I find most scents "too strong", and therefore, offensive. Of course, I have a respiratory ailment, and a hypersensitivity to scents. I generally buy unscented or fragrance-free products. But EVERYTHING related to shaving smells really good, and a lot of it bothers me at the same time I am enjoying the scent. It's a challenge. Before I had this ailment I worked in a home office, and when my boss' wife came home, she would complain about my cologne even before she entered the room. I now wish I had been more sensitive to her concerns.

 

[BCatl]

Ignore them or tell them to get a job outdoors because Nature doesn't smell. Tell them to get out in the fresh air and complain to a bear if they're not happy.

 

[tehtimmeh]

So I'm wondering what on earth people mean by this. Because it's clearly not a judgment of the power of the scent (in the sense of how smelly it is relative to other smells).

This. (in bold). Has nothing to do with how "strong" it is in terms of intensity or overapplcation. My wife likes fruity aquatics. Anything with a tobacco or leather note even if it is a drop applied 5 hours prior is too "strong". It's not that the smell is pounding, it's the type or genre of smell that gets the flag.

Of course I have to disagree that they smell too "strong", but I can see why a sandalwood in any intensity could be considered as such to some noses.

 

[Alraz]

People's thresholds for different scents or odorants could be dramatically different.

Al raz.

 

[bkfist]

People who don't use fragrances-- and plenty who do-- often say that something smells "too strong." This is invariably a derogatory term. And you hear this a lot! Heck, someone has a thread posted in the Shaving Creams forum about how his girlfriend has nixed TOBS Sandalwood because it's "too strong."

But the thing is, TOBS Sandalwood Cream isn't strong! It's fairly light, I'd say. And it's hardly something that will stink up a room...

So I'm wondering what on earth people mean by this. Because it's clearly not a judgment of the power of the scent (in the sense of how smelly it is relative to other smells). It's a judgment of the way something smells; the content of the smell rather than its magnitude.

Is "that's too strong" just the equivalent of "I don't like that"? Or is there some other substantive content that I'm missing? In other words, is this poor henpecked fellow's girlfriend just saying "I dislike the smell of TOBS Sandalwood," or is there a specific thing that people understand themselves to mean when they say that a scent is strong?

I have to agree with everyone else who says it probably means they don't like it, but it could also be that with most well-behaved scents, you don't have a continuous aura surrounding you iike Pig-Pen in the Peanuts cartoons. Some fragrances, on the other hand create an entire zone around the wearer. Angel-Men comes to mind... The scent is strong, many find it cloying, obnoxious, toxic even, and it just doesn't fade within a human's lifetime...

Most fragrances, when not over-applied, give hints or whiffs of themselves from time to time, but are not "constantly there in your face". I don't care what the scent is (even the scent of L'Occitane Cade which I love) I don't want to smell it in every breath I take. Any scent, no matter how much I happen to like it, would be "strong" if I smelled it every single time I took a breath in through my nose.

A strong scent might be considered a fragrance that doesn't just make it's presence known when you approach someone, then fades quickly to the background, but is still very noticeable to your sense of smell minutes later. (Or in the case of A-Men, weeks, months...)

 

[The Nid Hog]

I'll throw another one out there too. I think that lots of guys have a certain anxiety about scents (this is not, of course, people who have allergies, etc.). Not to put too fine a point on it, they think that wearing or liking a fragrance can open you up to the charge of being feminine. If it's something familiar (Old Spice, Brut) that dad might have worn, then it gets a pass (although that can also be the reason that some people avoid it). If you get it from a woman, it also gets a pass. In some ways, that's strange because the implication is that it's OK to let a woman tell you what to do, but it isn't OK to smell in a way that somebody---anybody--might just perceive as being girly. Even so, the user can play it off as his way of either appealing to the opposite sex or of humoring them. Regardless, I think that if you follow this kind of thing all the way down, there's an anxiety about one's masculinity at the root of it. In other words, if you are confident about who you are, you couldn't possibly think that wearing a fragrance that you like is going to change you in some negative way, and you wouldn't care about the opinions of people who would evaluate you on that narrow basis alone.

 

[Itabe]

In regards to 'too strong,' I would say its a matter of putting too much on. Even a great scent can be overpowering.

Jeff

 

[justinp]

In regards to 'too strong,' I would say its a matter of putting too much on. Even a great scent can be overpowering.

Jeff

Lord knows that some of us in this forum are probably 'that guy' at work (protip: change frags daily and they'll never figure out who it is!) but this isn't really the phenomenon I'm talking about. I'm asking more about when you're fiddling around in the fragrance section and someone sprays a single shot of let's say 4711 on a strip, waves it around, and sniffs... And declares it too strong. Pretty clearly matter of what it smells like, not the amplitude of smell.

I think tehtimmeh's experience is a lot like what I'm talking about.

 

[Price]

I'll throw another one out there too. I think that lots of guys have a certain anxiety about scents (this is not, of course, people who have allergies, etc.). Not to put too fine a point on it, they think that wearing or liking a fragrance can open you up to the charge of being feminine. If it's something familiar (Old Spice, Brut) that dad might have worn, then it gets a pass (although that can also be the reason that some people avoid it). If you get it from a woman, it also gets a pass. In some ways, that's strange because the implication is that it's OK to let a woman tell you what to do, but it isn't OK to smell in a way that somebody---anybody--might just perceive as being girly. Even so, the user can play it off as his way of either appealing to the opposite sex or of humoring them. Regardless, I think that if you follow this kind of thing all the way down, there's an anxiety about one's masculinity at the root of it. In other words, if you are confident about who you are, you couldn't possibly think that wearing a fragrance that you like is going to change you in some negative way, and you wouldn't care about the opinions of people who would evaluate you on that narrow basis alone.

That is a profound observation Nid. Well said.

(Veg still smells like cat pee, though.)

 

[Kenno]

A man should never project a fragrance or smell, that's for a woman. A smell on a man should only be noticed when preferably a woman gets very close, man shouldn't leave trails of fragrance wherever he goes. A man should be understated in this sense, a woman not so, that's why women dress up, put on makeup and want men to follow them after catching a glance and then a trailing smell. Women are not meant to follow mens trailing fragrance, it's the other way around!

This is what a man really means when he says man that's too strong, men are subconsciously saying to men you are not a woman.

 

[BCatl]

Here's another thing that can happen.

Some guys get married or establish a relationship and it's the role of the mate to pick out the clothes and otherwise act as "mama" for the male half.

Then all the sudden the guy starts taking an interest in his OWN clothes and personal care which might include a new interest in colognes.

This can be perceived as a threat by the female half who feels that her role, and hence her identity is threatened by the change in the relationship. Ergo: nothing the husband or boyfriend picks out is good enough. The clothes don't match, the cologne is "too strong" and so on.

These things usually calm down as long as the male (peacefully) stands his ground.

 

[justinp]

A man should never project a fragrance or smell, that's for a woman. A smell on a man should only be noticed when preferably a woman gets very close, man shouldn't leave trails of fragrance wherever he goes. A man should be understated in this sense, a woman not so, that's why women dress up, put on makeup and want men to follow them after catching a glance and then a trailing smell. Women are not meant to follow mens trailing fragrance, it's the other way around!

This is what a man really means when he says man that's too strong, men are subconsciously saying to men you are not a woman.

I find this theory unpersuasive.

 

[StylinLA]

I find this theory unpersuasive.

Make it two of us. But there are a lot of men who endorse this theory.

 

[Geordon]

People's thresholds for different scents or odorants could be dramatically different.

Al raz.

This. Whenever I put on my Alt-Innsbruck, SWMBO comments on how strong (specifically not unpleasant, but the intensity) it is. After some experimentation, I think it comes down to her being very sensitive specifically to tobacco flower. There was something else that I had worn a couple of times (Can't remember what, off hand) that she commented on, as well. That had tobacco flower in it as well.

Amusingly, she doesn't even comment on The Veg and likes it when I slap on a handful of VIBR. Who knew!

 

[Edward 1689er]

While this is not a blanket statement explaining everyone who makes a negative comment about one's cologne, some people are just frangrance haters. (Some, perhaps because of allergies, but I think that is way over played.) They never wear any frangrance and find it offensive if they get a whiff of anyone's cologne. They see people who wear frangrance as sleazy or uncouth. I have encountered such people personally. People like this really annoy me.