Smells like love is in the air — at least that’s the goal of a new dating service that promises to match you with your soul mate based on your scent compatibility. Seriously.
Smell Dating (we appreciate a name that gets straight to the point) is a new NYC-based start-up that relies on the power of body odor to facilitate love matches.
For $25, the olfactory experts at Smell Dating send you a T-shirt that you wear for three days and three nights — sans deodorant or perfume, since (duh) it masks your natural musk. The tee is then returned to the service in a prepaid envelope, where they cut it up into pieces that are sent out to potential matches. In turn, you receive swatches from T-shirts worn by potential matches. If you and someone in your pool of potential mates are both into each other’s stenches, you get their contact info so sparks can fly in person.
Sign up for Women’s Health’s new newsletter, So This Happened, to get the day’s trending stories and health studies.
The idea is based on the principle that when it comes to mating, we’re driven by a molecular intuition and a preference for pheromones. In other words, your cavewoman self is still led by instinctual cues, which can be a real primal turn-on.
The idea sort of explains why you can be super into someone while you’re chatting on Tinder but end up just not feeling it when you meet up for drinks.
The really interesting thing about meeting your mate through the sole use of scent is that Smell Dating doesn’t ask its participants about gender or orientation. According to their FAQ page, you can tell all that from smell. “A growing body of research suggests that a person’s genetic compatibility, gender, age, and predisposition to illness are reflected in their ‘smell signature,’” they claim.
Smell Dating is currently only open to NYC residents and is limited to an initial pool of 100 daters.