Smellmaxxing: Of Course It Has a Name!

Our teen cologne hunch was right!

Well, well, well. Looks like How To Be Less Old scooped the Old Gray Lady!

Earlier this month (May 3rd to be exact) we reported that tween/teen boys had upped their sniff game. Friend slash subscriber (aka best kind of friend), Elizabeth Keener, dropped a hot tip our way: something was happening with teen boys and cologne. She shared that her 13-year-old son had been shaking her down for a fragrance. He chipped away at her and her husband until he scored a bottle of Valentino - Born In Roma cologne. Valentino did not seem like typical 13-year-old fair -- he went for the good stuff. Elizabeth suspected this new development was widespread.

Then on May 19th - 16 days AFTER our post - The New York Times dropped a piece called Smellmaxing, Explained - Some teenage boys have grown obsessed with designer fragrances that cost hundreds of dollars.

He displays bottles from Valentino and Emporio Armani proudly, in front of his lava lamp, and considers his nearly $300 bottle of Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille to be his signature scent. Ask a teenager why he wants a $200 bottle of cologne, and he might tell you he’s “smellmaxxing,” a term for enhancing one’s musk that is spreading on social media.

The kid profiled in the Times article was also flexing the Valentino - Born In Roma cologne (bottom right)! When Elizabeth disclosed that her son ultimately chose the Valentino scent we imagined him feverishly spraying testers until, like Goldilocks, he found the fragrance that was — just right. But the Times article revealed the young fellas are being influenced on TikTok (what else is new) into coveting higher-end fragrance.

Evan Jenkins for The New York Times

"TikTok influencers appear to be motivating even younger boys to seek out more expensive scents. “Social media and TikTok make people want to be more grown up,” Luke said.

@jimmy.sniffs @jimmy.sniffs ♬ 9am in Calabasas - Adrian

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And we thought our “maxxing” days were behind us. We covered Looksmaxxing and Hardmaxxing in the fall. A brief refresh: Looksmaxxing is simply maximizing one’s physical appearance. It’s essentially the boy version of self-care. Trimming eyebrows, moisturizing, exfoliating, eating right, going to the gym etc. Hardmaxxing is marching yourself in for some botox and filler or if you are really going for it — plastic surgery.

So what exactly is Smellmaxxing?