Polarising scent of Lynx Africa debated by Australians

There is one distinct aroma most Australians can detect in a split second, and now its generalised hatred is being contested.

The source of a distinct pong smelt most commonly in high school classrooms highly populated by pubescent boys has become the subject of hot debate.

Lynx Africa – a body spray marketed to men – has divided opinion online after the suggestion was made that it actually “smells good” and the hate it attracted was unjustified.

“Why do people hate this? It smells good in my opinion,” a post to Reddit read, with the person adding that it “lasts a long time too” while “most deodorants just wear off on me in 10 minutes”.

Hundreds responded revealing the traumatic memories they associated with the scent, most often involving boys who tried to cover up the fact they didn’t shower after exercising.

“I don’t want to remember my high school PE class and people using it as a replacement for showering,” the top response read.

Among the reactions were dozens of people who agreed while the scent itself was inoffensive, the same couldn’t be said for the people who wore it.

A Reddit user suggested this actually ‘smells good’. Picture: Reddit

“We don’t hate the scent. We hate the accompanying memories of pubescent boys bathing in it and using it as a replacement for antiperspirant,” one wrote.

“I don’t think anyone hates lynx Africa. It's the go to ‘wet’ deodorant for a lot of dudes,” another said.

“Combine it with cheap cigarettes and you have get the scent of the back corner of my high school,” someone else wrote.

Some thought critics were just climbing aboard a “hate bandwagon”.

“Probably the same reason so many people say they hate Nickleback or hate the word moist. It’s a popular hate bandwagon to get on. I would bet that a tonne of people who claim they hate it wouldn’t even pick the scent out if they never wore it,” a popular comment suggested.

Another person proposed Lynx Africa was associated with “fragile male egos”.

“It’s also super distinctive, like you’re not convincing anyone you have a good taste in scent or that your clean even, everyone knows it’s $5 deodorant that teenagers wear,” they wrote, adding, “it also never did anything to stop the source of the smell, it just gradually gets weaker while the body odour gets stronger as the day progresses”.

The scent reminded most people of sweaty pubescent boys who hadn’t showered. Picture: Canva

While statistics on Lynx use in Australia were not available, the latest figures from Great Britain revealed that of all products the brand sold, its most popular category was “antiperspirants and body spray products for men”.

According to Statista, there were more than 7.2 million users across the nation in 2021. Bath products were the next most popular with just over 6.5 million users.

Aftershave had 1.4 million users, antiperspirants for women had just over a million, and shaving foam and gel was the least popular with 633,000 users.