London - If online or speed dating isn’t getting you anywhere, a whiffy new type of match-making could help you sniff out love.
Hugely popular in the US and touted to come here soon, so-called “pheromone parties” have arisen thanks to research that suggests that, like animals, humans are subliminally drawn to pheromones (hormones we exude through our skin) given out by the people with whom we’re most compatible.
Paying singletons are given a plain white T-shirt that they sleep in for three consecutive nights (it’s recommended they don’t use deodorant to let their “true smell” shine through, and avoid eating garlic or onions).
The T-shirt is then put in a zip-lock bag and placed on a table at the party. Guests sniff the T-shirts and once they find one they like, a photographer snaps them holding the bag and projects it on to a screen so the shirt’s owner can meet their odour’s admirer, then flirt in the normal manner.
Unsurprisingly, drinks are also provided.
One participant at a Los Angeles party, 25-year-old neuroscientist Konstantin Bakhurin, said he bypassed bags that smelled like detergent in search of something more unique: the owner of a T-shirt whose fragrance he described as “spicy”.
“I think it’s probably a bit of pseudoscience,” said Bakhurin. “I just came here to see what would happen.”
Founder Judith Prays claims half-a-dozen couples saw one another again and one pair formed a lasting relationship following a party.
Will sniffing a stranger’s clothing really find your Mr Right? Or does the whole enterprise have a distinct whiff of desperation? - Daily Mail