Renowned for their stench, teen boys are now experts on designer fragrances

When it comes to raising tween and teen boys, there are some universal truths: first, they grow at a rate impossible to keep up with. Second, they stink.

While not much can be done about the first, the second is, mercifully, somewhat manageable.

Smellmaxxing has become the latest TikTok trend among teenage boys. Credit: Artwork: Bethany Rae

It used to be that the pungent and distinct waft of a teen’s body odour would be covered by overly generous sprays of Impulse (for girls) or Lynx (for boys). Now though, tween boys as young as 10 are shaking their heads in disgust at supermarket body sprays and are instead turning to Dior and Tom Ford to mask their B.O.

Much like the Sephora tweens and teens trend that’s seen Gen Z girls spending hundreds of dollars (usually via their parents) on designer skincare and make-up products, the craze for designer cologne – known as smellmaxxing on social media – is also being widely documented by boys and men searching for the perfect scent.

Collectively, the tags for “smellmaxxing” and its alternatives “scentmaxxing” and “fragrancemaxxing” have racked up millions of likes and bred a new generation of teen content creators. The 17-year-old Jimmy Sniffs has almost 200,000 followers, with his videos on sniffing the necks of his fans and guessing their colognes have acquired over 12 million likes. The Cologne Boy, also 17, posts videos to his 1.4 million followers and discusses fragrances that will make you feel “sexy”. Having racked up nearly 50 million likes, he’s clearly struck a chord.

A 2024 survey from Piper Sandler shows that spending on fragrances had skyrocketed by 26 per cent among teenage boys in the US over the past year. Fragrances from Dior and Valentino are leading the charge and have the market share with males under age 18.

According to my sources in the know – other parents, school teachers, and my daughter in grade 6 – this trend has well and truly made its way to Australia, too.

My daughter regularly witnesses her male classmates bringing bottles of designer cologne to school and excessively spraying it over themselves like fake tan on an Oompa Loompa. When I asked her why they do this, she said it’s “to improve their scent”.

Professor Susan Sawyer, director of the Centre for Adolescent Health at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, explains that body odour occurs when the adrenal glands are activated, and is “the earliest feature of puberty” in boys.

In addition to being responsible for later aspects of puberty like secondary sexual characteristics, the adrenal glands also produce sweat and body odour. While some researchers have likened teenage odours to goats, urine and cheese, Sawyer says cologne – even when doused in layers – is not the solution to overcoming the stinky years.

“Basic hygiene is all that is required. Expensive colognes will hit the hip pocket, but are no more effective than a daily shower and soap. Antiperspirants help reduce the amount of underarm sweat produced that can also help reduce body odour,” Sawyer says, noting many colognes don’t contain antiperspirant properties.

A more serious aspect to this trend is the ingredients list. Many major label perfumes and colognes contain fragrance chemicals, which have been found to increase the risk of health problems like headaches and respiratory problems, and can act as hormone disruptors and carcinogens.

Another habit keenly adopted by smellmaxxers, my daughter tells me, is their eagerness to develop sophisticated scent palettes. “They spray each other’s cologne and compare notes. They talk about which scent they prefer and why,” she says.

Reporting from the New York Times suggests the same thing, with one piece describing Gen Z boys as more like “sommeliers than middle schoolers”.

A 14-year-old interviewed by the publication, Luke Benson, described Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier as having “a really good honey note.” Another junior fragrance aficionado, content creator KidsSmellFragrance, describes his scent of the day as having “notes of cardamom, saffron, and cedar”.

While I’m grateful that my own teen fragrance discussions were comparatively limited, usually revolving around what my go-to Impulse scent said about my personality based upon the results of a magazine quiz, what I take the most solace in is the fact that even after I’d carefully selected and purchased my fragrance of choice from the local chemist, I still had most of my pocket money left over to spend on the truly important things - Sun In, chewing gum, and Dolly magazine (rest in peace).

Puberty offers teenagers enough trials and tribulations as is. Setting another expensive benchmark only makes a tricky time even harder. Instead of giving them $200 for cologne next time they ask, hand over a bar of soap and direct them to the shower.

Shona Hendley is a freelance writer based in Victoria.

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