A long time ago, in our parents’ salad days, some young, lusty man said that anything worth doing was worth overdoing. And this logic has stuck with the teenage male, particularly when it comes to matters of fragrance. Throughout the land, there are both anecdotal reports and news dispatches that young men are overspraying their scents.
A study commissioned by Old Spice has found that it is not simply the grumps and the super-smellers and the asthmatics and the wet blankets who oppose the vapor clouds. It is, in fact, the wide majority of teenagers who believe that overspraying is an issue. A research firm surveyed 2,000 girls and boys (ages 13 to 25), as well as 1,000 mothers of teenage boys. The researchers discovered that 75 percent of boys, 83 percent of girls, and 72 percent of mothers believe that overspraying is a problem among young men.
The study also reported that boys overspray because they believe the scent willl fade too quickly unless they fog it on. Indeed, poignant though it may be, scent — like love and dreams and innocence — fades. Time marches on, young men. And scented or not, so will you.
