Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Man Fragrance

Man Fragrance, yum.

I first heard about this on some wacky TV show. I didn't believe it. But then I kept hearing about it, from the news, from my son, from the little old women who gather around the daikons at the local supermarket.

It's a gum that promises the chewer sweat and/or body odor that smells of roses. No really. It does. And for a long while it was sold out everywhere. I finally found a pack and bought it.

Here you go.


I found someone who did more homework than I did. She writes about the gum containing geraniol and linalool which are found in essential oils and plants respectively. I'm guessing they are the magic ingredients.

Below on the directions it states that if you chew too much in a short period of time you might get the runs. It goes on to say, don't worry, it won't last too long.

Which I suppose is why you can't find geraniol and linalool in bottles at your local drugstore.

So I did a test.

Here is the subject, J. Chewing.

And here, an hour later, sniffing.



The outcome was a little iffy at best. For one, I forgot to pre-sniff so I had nothing to compare my results too.

But I have a plan. Later this week I'm going to gather my son's cronies together, smell 'em, give them each a stick of gum and make them go outside and run around. An hour later I'll call them all back and re-sniff. Not exactly the scientific method, but close enough for me. I wonder if this is how Tesla got started?

10 comments:

MDK said...

Oh, cool! How does your son feel being a "labrat"? The second picture where he's sniffing his arm is good. Hey, post some pictures when you repeat the test with your son's friends.

Kappa no He said...

MDK: He loves being the lab rat, ha ha. He's sorta been an alchemist from day one. The weirder the better. And yea, I'll have to do that with the pictures.

Terrie

jean said...

So, let me get this straight: you want to forcefeed diarrhea-inducing gum to your son and his male friends, have them exercise, and see what happens? And you want to do this at your place?? :)

What's the man bit about anyway? I'm not quite sure why a guy would want to smell like roses or why a gal would want to smell like a guy. And the warning on the package sounds pretty scary. Who in the world would have thought this product would be a hit?? And yet it's sold out everywhere... Guess I'll never be a successful marketer in Japan... :)

Kappa no He said...

Jean: I must have been too close to the project...I did not foresee that...um, problem. Thank goodness I read this before I put my plan into action.

As for rose-smelling sweat. Hey, half the young men who ride on the train with me are prettier than I ever was. Plucked eyebrows, shaved legs, faces nicely exfoliated...

Anonymous said...

I followed the trail of breadcrumbs from poetinahat. Now I have to keep checking back to see if it really works. That's ingenious. I want it to be true...

Kappa no He said...

I'm thinking...Perks...here? If so, I'm gonna write you (myspace) real soon! I promise.

Me too. Everyone swears by it. But the 'loose stomach' warning has me a bit spooked. Ha ha.

Matt said...

That's so awesome I don't even have words for it. We need to get this here, pronto.

And who's the bass player? A man (girl?) after my own heart.

Kappa no He said...

Matt: Wow, missed you. That bass is the crappy one (mine from high school) that I gave to Julyan a year or so ago. It sat gathering dust until we went to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers a few weeks ago. The kid has been Flea-asized and practices at least an hour every night. He's got a better ear than I ever did.

Anonymous said...

I've heard that eating a lot of grapefruit will change the way you smell. I have no idea whether or not this is true... though I guess eating massive amounts of anything (like carrots) is sure to affect you in some way.

So here's my question: Does the gum taste at all like roses? (If not, what does it taste like?)

Kappa no He said...

Nancy, good question! It does taste, um, good/fruity (like gum?) but has what I think is an almost peppery flavor. Not so much roses or rose water though.

I guess kids here eat a lot of mikan (tangerine?) in the winter and their skin turns orange. Grapefruit though. That sounds nice actually.