A new dating trend swaps soap and cologne for unwashed shirts and unfiltered body odor — and the science behind it is far shakier than believers think.

The Trend Explained

A curious new dating ritual is spreading across TikTok, and it asks daters to do the opposite of what their mothers taught them. Dubbed “pheromone-maxxing,” the trend — popular mainly among teenage boys and young men — encourages skipping showers, deodorant, and even clean laundry before a date, all in the name of amplifying natural body scent. According to reporting from VICE, some enthusiasts take it further, wearing shirts for days on end or drinking their own urine in an attempt to “sweat out toxins” before meeting a potential partner.

The logic driving the movement is simple, if unproven: the stronger a man’s natural musk, the more magnetic he becomes.

The Real Science of Pheromones

Pheromones are chemical signals that animals and insects use to communicate with members of their own species, and researchers have confirmed their existence extensively in the animal kingdom. Whether humans produce and detect them the same way is a far murkier question. Scientific American has reported that although human body odor and secretions can trigger physiological or psychological reactions in others, no consistent behavioral response tied to a specific human chemical cue has ever been proven. Despite decades of research, scientists have yet to isolate a single confirmed human pheromone.

That gap between folklore and biology hasn’t stopped the trend from taking off, especially as it folds into the larger “looksmaxxing” subculture, where users chase perceived attractiveness through everything from skincare overhauls to extreme dieting and cosmetic tweaks.

The Sweaty T-Shirt Study Behind the Hype

Believers in pheromone-maxxing often point to a well-known 1995 experiment nicknamed the “sweaty T-shirt study” as scientific backing. In it, male participants slept in the same shirt for two nights running, and female participants were later asked to rank the shirts by scent appeal. Women tended to prefer the odor of men whose immune-related genes — specifically their major histocompatibility complex, or MHC — differed most from their own. Interestingly, women on oral contraceptives showed the opposite preference, gravitating toward genetically similar scents instead.

Mixed Results, Real Doubts

Subsequent research has complicated that tidy narrative. A 2019 study spanning 883 couples found that people in the Netherlands and other parts of Northern Europe were more inclined to pair off with partners whose MHC genes diverged from their own, but the same pattern didn’t hold among Israeli couples — a difference researchers linked to cultural histories that include arranged marriages. Then, in 2020, a broader review of existing studies found no compelling evidence that people actually prefer partners with different MHC genes or find their scent more appealing overall.

In other words, the biology pheromone-maxxing leans on is still, at best, an open question.

Online reaction has skewed toward disbelief. A 2024 discussion thread on the r/TikTokCringe subreddit was largely unimpressed, with commenters questioning how the practice could possibly help in everyday social situations, expressing confusion over the idea that showering somehow halts pheromone production, and arguing that basic hygiene shouldn’t be optional for anyone, let alone someone hoping to make a good impression.

What Experts — and TV Hosts — Recommend

Not everyone is convinced skipping the shower is a smart move. On Fox News’ The Five, co-host Jesse Watters pushed back against the trend, expressing his own aversion to heavy cologne while endorsing a straightforward pre-date routine built around bar soap and shampoo. Fellow panelist Tyrus echoed the sentiment, advising men to stick with unscented deodorant rather than natural odor or heavy fragrance. Both agreed that overdoing cologne sends the wrong signal just as easily as skipping hygiene altogether — the goal, they suggested, is landing somewhere between smelling like a locker room and smelling like an expensive department store.

For now, pheromone-maxxing remains more viral experiment than verified science, leaving daters to decide whether the risk of an unwashed shirt is really worth the reward.

Source: FOX News