People have their own individual scent, why is that?

good question: we just do…my dog died a few months ago…this is crazy, but loved her so much that i still pick up her blanket and smell her scent. She was one in a zillion. Really miss her so much.

Hormones, bacteria and food= personal scent. yummy!

It’s because we sweat and excrete hormones and stuff.
I smell like a gentle summer breeze flowing over the mountain tops….......... more or less.

pheromones.

i love gemiwings answer lol

@scotsbloke My son says he smells like roses and ice cream.

I think it’s the pheromones too.

Sorry to hear about your dog, Bobo1946.

I think our scent is our own personal DNA perfume.

These are the most common volatile organic compounds that constitute most human scent:
2-Furanmethanol
6,10-Dimethyl-5,9-undecadien-2-one
7-Hexadecenoic acid–methyl ester
Decanal
Decanoic acid–methyl ester
10-Methyl dodecanoic acid–methyl ester
Dodecanoic acid–methyl ester
Heptadecane
Hexadecane
Hexadecanoic acid–methyl ester
Nonanal
Nonanoic acid–methyl ester
Octanoic acid–methyl ester
Pentadecanoic acid–methyl ester
Phenol
Propanedioic acid–dimethyl ester
Tetradecanal
Tetradecane
Tetradecanoic acid–methyl ester
Toluene
Tridecane
Tridecanoic acid–methyl ester
Undecanal

Individual difference in scent comes down to the exact recipe of these basic ingredients that’s wafting off that person. The proportions of each component are relatively stable for each person over time, and vary much more from individual to individual than for a single person from day to day.

(from this study)

Consider this. If we didn’t each have our own personal scent, we’d have to sniff each other’s butts on greeting like dogs do.

I want some Spanish fly.

According to my girlfriend:

“It’s mostly a light and soft smell, sometimes if it’s after you’ve spent the night and you sweat it’s stronger… I really like that (I’m not weird, lol). It’s kinda hard to describe, but I love the way you smell”

Personal scent to some extent represents the setup of your immune system. A study was done where women were given unwashed undershirts men had slept in and asked to give an attractiveness rating to the odor (lacking any other information about the wearer). They found that the greater the difference in the DNA markers they were tracking between the man and the woman, the higher the woman tended to rate the odor. (Interestingly, the opposite occurred when the woman was on birth control.)

If your dog could speak you could ask him. Some months ago my daughter returned from a sea bath and left her towel draped over a basket to dry. It was there for days, and every time our dog saw that towel, she would sniff all over it, from end to end, with deep concentration.

I just love harp

There must be something to it we still need because when I think of the two relationships I’ve had that have been most compatible for me then I can say I liked the way my partner smelled, even when unwashed and “stinky”. With my current partner, I often snuggle my face into his hair which is something I rarely do because I generally don’t like the way people’s hair and heads smell after being in the sun, same with the dried sweat on his clothes- it doesn’t smell rank or mildewy.

ummm..cut and paste seems to popular here!

@BoBo1946 Where are you seeing cut and paste?

Evolution. Natural selection favors complementing immune systems.

Erma, on the scents or smell of housework! Kind of off the subject, but amusing!

“My theory on housework is, if the item doesn’t multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?”
Erma Bombeck quotes

I just know this. The scent of woman—not talking chemical laden, who-knows-what’s-in-em perfumes here, but the natural scent of woman, is the most incredibly powerful aphrodisiac I have ever encountered. I even like her underarm odor.

Now mind you, a little goes a VERY long way. When people don’t bathe or maintian decent hygiene for a few days, that pleasant scent quickly transmogrifies to an unbearable reek. But the natural scent of a reasonably clean body after exercise is VERY attractive to me. Way more so than any perfume known to man.