Smells

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I know this may seem weird and I hate when people try to link every little thing to AS, but I couldn't help but to think of this. I tend to notice smells on people that others do not and am more repulsed by 'minor' odors than most people.

But when it comes to smells on people, I remember a girl I had a crush on in high school. We became good friends, and looking back I think she wanted to date me but I never saw it. I was always too nervous to ask her out, but her dad was really strict anyway so even if it did happen we'd have had to hide our relationship. But anyway I remember telling my best friend, Allen, "Man I really like her ... but she smells weird!" No one else noticed it, just me.

I have a female coworker who, anytime she comes over to my desk for help or asks me to go over to her desk to help her, I can smell her perfume but I can also smell a slight odor under it and I have no idea what that is all about. No one else seems to notice it (even though I'm not about to ask) and there is a guy who comes in here and hugs on her because he's a huge flirt ... but he doesn't seem to smell it either. She also has a fiance, and obviously he doesn't notice it or else he probably wouldn't be with her.

There was another thread recently where a girl mentioned a guy with AS told her she smelled funny and this is what made me think of this.

I can also smell natural body odours (as in not BO) coming off people underneath perfumes etc. Some people, IMO, smell nice whereas others smell horrible. I once liked this guy but I couldn't get past his natural body smell as I, personally, didn't particularly like it. I didn't then want to kiss him or get too close to him because ewwww!! ! No-one else noticed it other than me. The guy who I am currently seeing has a very nice body smell though, which is beneficial considering I have been with him now for nearly three years. The fact that he smells nice isn't the only reason I am seeing him though (obviously), but it helps I suppose doesn't it?

Yep. Same here.

I always used to think that people who wore loads of perfumes, body sprays etc were particularly dirty as I find the more artificial smells people wear, the more their 'real' smell seems to come though. I suppose it's because these artificial smells are designed to mask, rather than compliment, and so the clash of natural and artificial odours becomes more apparent.

I cannot wear any artificial smells on my body as I cannot abide them. To me I can smell strong chemicals and it's just awful.

fwiw, my partner, who doesn't have Aspergers, cannot abide fake smells and perfumes on people either.

All people have a scent, I can tell you whether a man was in a room or a woman just from the smell that gets left. I happen to find my partner's scent divine and I like to snuffle her neck to get a blast of her scent.

You may be pre-disposed to a little bit of hypersensitivity of the senses as a result of AS, but that's not to say that people in general cannot do this. To a certain degree, smells are how we seek out mates.

They did an interesting study a few years back where they had a group of men and a group of women wear one shirt for 24 hours. Then they gave the group of men's shirts to the women and the group of women's shirts to the men. Supposedly there was a positive correlation between what the people perceived as good smelling shirts and a better genetic match for offspring. Obviously that's one study, so take that with a grain of salt, but to a certain degree the theory that we are naturally attracted to people that would make good genetic pairs for offspring makes a lot of sense.

The moral of the story: don't cover up your natural smell or you will end up picking the wrong mate.