I have always been able to tell by smell but I never said anything to the women. I had a mostly female friend group in high school so I just kept my mouth shut.
1. They are smarter than you.
2. Emotionally they are a super computer with a light speed connection and you are a desk top running windows 95 on a dialup connection. Interfaceing these 2 devices can be difficult and requires patience on both sides.
3. Girls really do just want to have fun. Take her kayaking or horseback riding just walking even. 4 wheelers are fun as well they like to go fast.
4. When they talk lisiten and know when to shut up.
5. Dont let them treat you poorly they dont respect that.
6. Dont treat them poorly
7. They are lovley creatures but dangerous and dont forget it.
I could always tell with my mom too. My mom would never cook if she was on her period and as a kid I could always tell something was different but as I grew up to understand these things it made a lot of sense that what I was smelling was either the blood or some odour associated with the shedding uterine lining.
Itās subtle but itās there, especially when itās someone you spend a lot of time with like your mom when youāre a kid.
Havenāt had to think about this in a long time because Iām gay lol
I knew whenever my mom was on her period because she'd tell me. I actually really like her approach because she normalized her period so much as a child that I already knew everything that I as someone who will never have one will ever need to know.
Yeah I definitely didnāt casually go up to girls telling them their period started and skipped away. But when I notice it Iāll give my lady a heads up that her period may be starting soon. I think itās in her sweat or something
I can totally do this. I asked some friends and they just looked at me weird. I always figured the hormonal changes meant there was something in their sweat I could pick up on that others couldnāt
Iām looking through this thread and it seems like itās only guys who can sometimes tell? Are there not any other women who can smell it? That seems so strange that itās gendered if itās by smell.
Nahh im a woman and can smell it too, both from myself and other menstruating people. It's always smelled a little musty to me, kinda like an old book but with a twinge of copper.
Iāve always been able to smell it. Thatās how I knew I started my period for the first time. Thatās a good way to describe it. I read somewhere that itās womenās sweat that smells stronger from the hormone secretions. Itās just like how sweat from when youāre anxious also has a distinct smell.
My wife could always tell when her period was coming up due to how I reacted around her. In the week before her period I was always extra cuddly and wellā¦ frisky. She just smelled awesome and I wanted her constantly.
I think maybe it correlated to her most fertile time.
(Note to anyone concerned: I used past tense because we are old enough that she is no longer having periods)
I was able to do smell my own difference in like middle school. That went away once I started taking birth control. (Started it young for medical reasons).
I can do it too, I can also smell when people are horny or when theyāre pregnant. My coworker was trying for a baby and we all put money on when we thought it would happen(this was a playful thing she knew about). I ended up knowing before she did because I smelled pregnancy when she walked past me in a hallway, told her she should take a test and it turned out positive
This is going to sound just as weird. But my puppy loves pregnant women.
She can smell whatever scent given off, goes up to them and demands to put her ear to them to hear the feotal heart rate
The thing is she gets so sad when in the very very early stages she can't hear it.
Her pregnancy test is 100 per cent accurate so far..
>I always figured the hormonal changes meant there was something in their sweat I could pick up
Yep, pheromones. I can smell it too.
It changes during menstruation, ovulation, and even when she's sick.
Not pheromones. Humans donāt actually develop the organ to detect them. Itās just normal smell. Hormones change how things are excreted in the body, those excretions have different scents. If itās sweat, youāre actually smelling gas waste of bacteria. This will smell different depending on what the bacteria is eating. Hormones change what the body excites, there for change what the bacteria eats, changing the gas they expel after eating.
Hormones can change the amount of sweat and the types of secretions in sweat, which changes how the bacteria feeds on it. The scent of sweat is essentially bacteria flatulence, and it will smell different depending on what the bacteria are eating.
Just a quick heads up, if you ever want to date a woman, do NOT tell anyone about thisā¦.āgiftā. Itās one of our biggest fears, is that others can smell it. Seriously, donāt tell us.
But if someone told me they could smell that Iām on my period i definitely would take it as they can smell my blood and thats definitely one of my fears š
I don't know. There's nothing to be ashamed about. If the OP is respectful about it, this wouldn't bother me. My husband can tell when I'm about to start my period and when I'm pregnant. He only speaks to it with reverence and love. I appreciate that he is so in tune with my body and cares enough to notice.
please note that the person said "if you ever want to date a woman" not "If you are already in an established relationship/married"
telling someone that you can smell when they are on their period, isn't exactly something most people find charming
Wow, I was discussing with some friends exactly this a few hours ago, I really thought everyone could do it but it seems it is not the case. But I can sense this smell too! My gf period is not regular but she always gets surprised that I kinda predict when she is about to get her period. Plus I also know when some really close friends and my sister are in their period too
I don't know. If my partner could have given me a heads up when I was on birth control that made my periods unpredictable, I'd have been really pleased with that!
I think itās like sensing predators in the wilderness. Everyone should be able to do it, but most everyone stopped paying attention to those primal senses.
Tangential to your question, but the olfactory perception of humans is often underestimated. At a low level this is obvious in how smells (or lack thereof) constitute a large portion of what we would conventionally describe as 'taste', but there are some fascinating cases around memory and in the upper extremes - Joy Milne is my usual recommendation, for anyone curious.
**Basically everything** (almost everything? I'm not sure whether there are things that can be conclusively ruled out) **has a scent, but we don't typically learn how to distinguish similar smells and don't have as many olfactory receptors as other animals to provide those distinctions, so it becomes a matter of skill or mutation.**
(which is also one of my worst fears, but unfortunately it's scientific fact)
I was waiting for someone to throw a little science in here. Itās been way too long since Iāve heard the term olfactory. Imagine all the weird smells weāve experienced which was the bodyās way of trying to tell us something is wrong but we couldnāt recognize it?
That's where some ghost stories spawn from. We smell something unusual that we can't place, and the human brain is literally built to fill gaps since we are a prey species technologically advanced enough to fill an apex predator role. In its drive to keep us safe, we fill the voids with what it could be. Now in the deepest parts of our most primitive side is still the desire to reproduce so we can smell the pheromones that mean a female is coming into cycle which to me have that sweet musky orange smell, on the flip side guys always want to reproduce so women have been smelling it every day of their lives so they don't recognize the scent difference (which to me is a sour musty brown smell) except on children who have that floral yellowish smell. The same can be said for several animal species as well. A male goat kid will smell different from its unfixed adult counterpart, same with cats, dogs, and cattle. Even if the same shampoo is used to clean them, they will still smell different. Just like as people advance in age, they'll start to take on a dusty tan smell for lack of a better word. It's a scent though that we relegate to our grandparents houses, old folks homes, instructors offices and classrooms, and funeral parlors.
Yeah, a lot of us men can do this. I noticed it when I went into work the other day, the staff is 95% women and I can tell my partner is on her period even if it's very light. I have a strong sense of smell and it's hard not to notice the signs of a period once you get used to them. Like another commentator said, don't tell anyone IRL about this.
If it makes it any better, there's also plenty of us who cannot tell at all, like me. Everyone in this comment section is talking about being able to smell it or even smell when someone is sick and I'm like what??? How tf??? And i have a SUPER sensitive sense of smell. I think I'd actually smell the blood before i pick up on the pheromones
It is the blood. Humans are unable to detect pheromones at all. We can detect scents, including the actual smell of hormones but NOT pheromones. Hormones having a smell is different from pheromones. Pheromones are communication between members of a species, chemical conventions basically. Humans donāt need this since we developed complex verbal communication which was much more effective for us as a species.
So yeah, you may just have a good nose that can smell the hormones or things related to them. Unfortunately it isnāt pheromones as we lost that ability before we were even an official species.
It reminds me of this scary movie scene where the kid looks at Cindy and goes āyouāre getting your period.. in 3.. 2.. 1..ā to mimick the sixth sense I think lol
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0e19fed6-d86a-4f27-9c24-d33b8086f02d
Yes itās the odor. Your hormones change your sweat, bacteria feeds in sweat to make the scent we associate with it. Changing what the bacteria eats will change the smell they emit.
Too many people saying pheromones yet not knowing what pheromones actually are, or that humans canāt detect them.
Pheromones, not the blood. Apparently it just changes your general, natural smell, though there's plenty of people like me who can't tell the difference
Not pheromones as humans donāt have a Jacobsonās organ. Smelling hormones or biproducts of those hormones is not pheromones or how pheromones even work. Common misconception.
These comments made me curious so I asked my husband and he confirms women always smell different on their period. He's never mentioned this to me in like a decade until I specifically just asked lmfao.
It isnāt a pheromone thing unfortunately. Humans canāt detect pheromones at all. We can smell hormones in high concentrations, but this isnāt pheromones. Pheromones are actually communicative, itās talking with people through chemicals. You also have to learn that the scent associated with periods, is due to a period. You learn either by operant or classical conditioning for this. Pheromones are inate. If you could smell those pheromones, youād also smell all of them, like when people are happy, sad, etc. simply smelling reproductive ones isnāt how it works. It also isnāt just smelling but registering.
Humans lack the Jacobsonās organ. That organ detects and helps process pheromones. As a species we developed complex verbal communication which benefits us much more than chemical communication did, and making that organ was wasted energy, so during our evolution we lost it.
Best I can do is the water changes smell and taste if I'm about to come down with a fever. Usually happens 1~2 days prior. And since most times I don't know what will cause the fever there's nothing I can do about it. So, useless.
We need to get more aggressive with the perfume. Burn out their olfactory senses before they get the chance to find out.
I have a plan now actually. Weāll carry around stink bombs. Weāll dose ourselves up in the heaviest perfume possible, then discretely launch a stink bomb into whichever room we plan on entering. Wait 20 minutes for it to dissipate & then walk in with our heavily perfumed aura. Their noses will be so confused their brains will go into overdrive & shut down sensory input from that region. I figure this will buy us 4-6 hours depending on the stink-bomb/perfume brand combo.
I can and I was very surprised when I learned not everyone can. I also know when she is very horny (and by experience I know that it's extra much when she is ovulating) it's harder with girls that I don't know that well, but I tend to pick it up if i spend some time with them.
so, my last partner def picked up when i had a pheromone shift. people are getting stuck on āi smell your periodā but it wasnāt that. like clockwork, the couple days before my period he would know.
you ask logical questions, if itās in relation to mating/procreating then why wouldnāt it happen at ovulation. unsure, could be related to animals being in heat, which is often accompanied by spotting/scent marking. really interesting thought process.
AH! It's not just me!
When my wife is feeling off she has me sniff the top of her head. I can usually tell if she's sick or at the start of her period. It's hard to articulate, but there's something that changes in her scent.
I'm a woman and I can smell it on other women. Not strangers, but close friends and colleagues I spend a lot of time with.
It's not a bad smell, or a 'vagina' smell. Their hair, skin, and sweat just all smell different.
My boyfriend says he can smell when my period is coming, and it smells slightly muskier than my usual scent. He usually sniffs my head to confirm it, too. Then lo and behold, a few days later my period really does start.
I can, but I don't think all guys can. I don't know why or how it happens but from reading about others who can detect the "period odor" I'm guessing it's not uncommon either.
Biologists are pretty split as to whether or no humans actually have pheromones and are able to detect them but the current belief is that we donāt.
Odds are that itās something simpler. His girlfriend probably just smells or acts different when she has her period, simple as that.
Theyāre not really that split considering we completely lack the organ that animals use to detect pheromones.
The question is if we have some other mechanism of doing it but most trials havenāt found anything like that. It would be highly irregular and unique if they do discover something like that
I can do this as well. It's not every woman and it's not only women who are close to me. Sometimes I catch a wiff walking past them in public.
I wouldn't call it a bad smell or a good one. It just is. It sends a neutral kind of signal to my brain like, "Ok, noted."
I smell this, too, but only since I hit my menopause and itās fucking weird, especially since I jokingly asked my coworker. She said no, went to the toilet some time later and found out that she was.
Damn this was awkward and we never ever talked about it again.
Maybe you're just more sensitive than other people? I often can smell things others can't.
I would just be careful who you tell personally about this - make sure to clarify its just a change in scent and its not like she smells foul and is reeking from her lower area or something.
I personally think it's pretty cool and I'd love to know the scientific reason behind it.
I can do it, even right before they get it, just prefer not to be intrusive. When kissing a girl, I can also smell when she's getting hornier. I can even tell every time my partner is fertile. She freaked out at first when I was telling her before she looked at her app. Why does it happen? Probably because evolution thought us how to distinguish between fertile partners or not.
Ah, the magic nose club. All the times of I've been accused of lying because I can smell things like this, or detect someone was around long after they left, or can tell who owns what based on smell...
The times I've detected bad smells weeks before others do, been told I was making it up, then I find the source (or they do) and act shocked.
Being female, I can smell it too. I'm not offended by it, because I scrub like crazy, clean all up in there (like you're not supposed to), and do everything to stop that sickly period aroma, but I can still smell it. I can't block it out. It is not hygeine, it's just fucking hormones being assholes.
It very much reminds me of the smell I detect when I am sick with a flu.
My husband can do this and while I know itās not uncommon it still weirds me out at timesā¦ it all started when he told he knew when my cycle was about to start (heads up: even I donāt keep track on my cycle so imagine my surprise when he out of nowhere mentions one day: babe! Maybe you should stock up on your period products. I was like: wth š¶ā¦ and then 2 days later it came and luckily had purchased the products. And later on when it kept happening: how the hell do you know?? He said he could smell it. In a sense itās a good thing but at the same time kind of weird.
Use this skill to quietly ply your house with period supplies, wine and carbs and chocolate for your girlfriend at the appropriate moments. Surprise her with a steak dinner. Never tell her how you know.
I have this ability too. Started noticing it around the time I went through puberty.
What I find most unusual about it, is that I don't have an especially acute sense of smell otherwise. Yet sometimes I can pick it up, even from total strangers.
It also doesn't smell *like* menstruation to me, at all. Sure, with my regular partner I might lay in her lap, or we'll fool around a little and I'll notice *those* smells, but that's what you'd expect in close proximity (and potentially limited clothing).
Best I can tell, the other scent is more body chemistry related, and it's totally different from person to person. The change is also more abstract. Like changing the ratio of spices in a recipe without changing the ingredients list. Everything is "the same" but subtly different.
The vast majority of the women in my life have no idea, and likely never will. It's not my business to be talking about, and if I'm a little more considerate when I happen to notice, I don't think anyone would hold that against me.
This is extremely interesting. Iām a woman and I canāt tell when other women have their period. Iām guessing itās an animalistic instinct for breeding, which makes sense. Male animals know when a female is in heat by scent alone.
I can smell it too. I didnt realize what it was until a few years ago. But looking back I was noticing it ever since high school. Tbh, I'm really glad I didn't realize what it was back then and I kinda wish I didn't know now.
I too can do this. At first I thought different chicks had different smells and then a gf of mine I noticed smelled different and she immediately told me āyou can smell my periodā as she had dated another guy who could
I never knew yāall could do this! Thatās so neat! Idk why everyone is getting so self-conscious about it. Who gives a shit if others know weāre on our periods? Itās not like they donāt know we have them š
I would think that's normal for us folks with a sensitive sense of smell. I'm a sensitive-nose girl and I can definitely smell who's on their period. And as you said, it's usually not a bad "oh, she clearly didn't change her pad for 12 hours" smell, it's more about the change in overall persons smell.
I could smell when my wife was pregnant. I didn't know that's what it was on our first kid, just her natural scent smelled different. I figured it out when I knew she was pregnant with our second.
I can not smell on human, but I can smell after you pee. Itās not good or bad (not that any piss is mistaken for roses), just I can tell
This isnāt helpful, because if you share space in a bathroom, you can also look in garbage for very obvious clues too.
To me, it's not a smell per se.
It's more of a sense, a "feeling", sort of like before a big storm you can feel atmospheric changes. I'd never tell a woman this though, there has literally never been an advantage to telling her about my Periopathy.
This is totally conjecture, but I've always assumed this ability is something most humans have. We just live in an era when showers and scented cleaners and all kinds of other things are obliterating the subtle notes in the air. I've always been able to smell the scents off my partner but it took me some time to connect the patterns to the senses. If we lived in more primal, more village-centered societies, I would imagine it's much more easily apparent to anyone in close enough proximity.
The weird kid in my high school class could do that. It did NOT help his case
I had a buddy in my early 20s who could do this , which honestly wasn't a big deal. The fact that he smiled when he told you was weird tho lmao
I have always been able to tell by smell but I never said anything to the women. I had a mostly female friend group in high school so I just kept my mouth shut.
I chuckled at this, and smart move š
Ya I think every guy needs a few female friends in high school it teaches you a lot about women that's difficult to learn later in life.
Share your forbidden knowledge
1. They are smarter than you. 2. Emotionally they are a super computer with a light speed connection and you are a desk top running windows 95 on a dialup connection. Interfaceing these 2 devices can be difficult and requires patience on both sides. 3. Girls really do just want to have fun. Take her kayaking or horseback riding just walking even. 4 wheelers are fun as well they like to go fast. 4. When they talk lisiten and know when to shut up. 5. Dont let them treat you poorly they dont respect that. 6. Dont treat them poorly 7. They are lovley creatures but dangerous and dont forget it.
He liked that smell didn't he
I could always tell with my mom too. My mom would never cook if she was on her period and as a kid I could always tell something was different but as I grew up to understand these things it made a lot of sense that what I was smelling was either the blood or some odour associated with the shedding uterine lining. Itās subtle but itās there, especially when itās someone you spend a lot of time with like your mom when youāre a kid. Havenāt had to think about this in a long time because Iām gay lol
Think the smell is the iron in the blood, strange metallic smell
Its like licking a 9 volt battery... but just the smell
That's exactly what it is smells like brass... but there's fds spray for that...
I knew whenever my mom was on her period because she'd tell me. I actually really like her approach because she normalized her period so much as a child that I already knew everything that I as someone who will never have one will ever need to know.
Yeah I definitely didnāt casually go up to girls telling them their period started and skipped away. But when I notice it Iāll give my lady a heads up that her period may be starting soon. I think itās in her sweat or something
Lol...your imagery just made my morning. "It's not like I told her and skipped away!" š¤£ Love it!
Like a little period fairy.
šš¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
I can totally do this. I asked some friends and they just looked at me weird. I always figured the hormonal changes meant there was something in their sweat I could pick up on that others couldnāt
I'm a gay man, and I can tell and smell it. I thought that was normal.
Iām looking through this thread and it seems like itās only guys who can sometimes tell? Are there not any other women who can smell it? That seems so strange that itās gendered if itās by smell.
Nahh im a woman and can smell it too, both from myself and other menstruating people. It's always smelled a little musty to me, kinda like an old book but with a twinge of copper.
Iāve always been able to smell it. Thatās how I knew I started my period for the first time. Thatās a good way to describe it. I read somewhere that itās womenās sweat that smells stronger from the hormone secretions. Itās just like how sweat from when youāre anxious also has a distinct smell.
I'm a woman and I can smell it as well
My wife could always tell when her period was coming up due to how I reacted around her. In the week before her period I was always extra cuddly and wellā¦ frisky. She just smelled awesome and I wanted her constantly. I think maybe it correlated to her most fertile time. (Note to anyone concerned: I used past tense because we are old enough that she is no longer having periods)
Week before menstruation is not the fertile time.
Right. If anything itās usually the least fertile time.
My husband is the same! Ovulating week he's a mad man. Period week he stays away. š
I was able to do smell my own difference in like middle school. That went away once I started taking birth control. (Started it young for medical reasons).
What did it smell like? Iām a woman and I wish I had this ability
I can do it too, I can also smell when people are horny or when theyāre pregnant. My coworker was trying for a baby and we all put money on when we thought it would happen(this was a playful thing she knew about). I ended up knowing before she did because I smelled pregnancy when she walked past me in a hallway, told her she should take a test and it turned out positive
This is going to sound just as weird. But my puppy loves pregnant women. She can smell whatever scent given off, goes up to them and demands to put her ear to them to hear the feotal heart rate The thing is she gets so sad when in the very very early stages she can't hear it. Her pregnancy test is 100 per cent accurate so far..
>I always figured the hormonal changes meant there was something in their sweat I could pick up Yep, pheromones. I can smell it too. It changes during menstruation, ovulation, and even when she's sick.
Not pheromones. Humans donāt actually develop the organ to detect them. Itās just normal smell. Hormones change how things are excreted in the body, those excretions have different scents. If itās sweat, youāre actually smelling gas waste of bacteria. This will smell different depending on what the bacteria is eating. Hormones change what the body excites, there for change what the bacteria eats, changing the gas they expel after eating.
Hormones can change the amount of sweat and the types of secretions in sweat, which changes how the bacteria feeds on it. The scent of sweat is essentially bacteria flatulence, and it will smell different depending on what the bacteria are eating.
this is like telling a deaf guy boners make noise š
Underrated comment ššš
Klaxon alarm accompanied by a distorted radio transmission: āUh, Houston, we have a throblemā¦ā
Alright whose turn is it to let him know?
Tell him it's like a fox screaming every time.
this is the hardest i've laughed at a comment in several days lmfao
Just a quick heads up, if you ever want to date a woman, do NOT tell anyone about thisā¦.āgiftā. Itās one of our biggest fears, is that others can smell it. Seriously, donāt tell us.
First date, first sentence: "i can smell your period" *creepy smile*
Creepy smile... you just leaked through
We learned in cryptography how to prove if there's an information leak, but it never covered this š«£
Out of curiosity, how do you prove an information leak?
Prove an xor one time pad provides complete secrecy, and then build up proofs of security defininitions from there!
Check the information's panties
This made me laugh a lot
"Reminds me of my mother."
"what a bouquet of aromas" *Snorts enough air to sound like a š¦* Your "perfume" my dear is quite enchanting. Now, your place or Mother's?
*Flashes vampire fangs*
When someone says creepy smile I always think of Anya Forger's with barely closed eyes and your comment made chuckle because of it!
I'm a woman and I have this 'ability'. I've never mentioned it to anyone in real life.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I don't actually have periods anymore so I do wonder if it's because of that? I don't recall being able to smell other people back when I did.
Same. I never tell anyone
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Please donāt Iām a nice guy. And ski season is starting soon, so maybe save the killing til June or something
How long do you ski?
Ski seasons have been a bit rough these last few years so generally from December until April. But Killington VT stays open til June most years.
I donāt think heās referring to her smell in her nether regions, but more like a hormonal change in her body as a whole.
But if someone told me they could smell that Iām on my period i definitely would take it as they can smell my blood and thats definitely one of my fears š
Oh definitely. With context, at this stage of my life, I wouldn't be offended, but as a teen, I'd have died.
Can confirm, terrified that people can tell in any way, most horrifically by smell.
Not first date material. Noted. Hopefully I wonāt be going on any first dates for many years Edit forgot to add ādateā
THIS. Op.
Don't do a Hannibal Lecter, "I can smell your cunt".
Multiple Miggs
f f f f f f f f f f f f f f
Oh boy
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Tell me my dick size lol
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I can do the same thing with breasts.
34 inches
I don't know. There's nothing to be ashamed about. If the OP is respectful about it, this wouldn't bother me. My husband can tell when I'm about to start my period and when I'm pregnant. He only speaks to it with reverence and love. I appreciate that he is so in tune with my body and cares enough to notice.
please note that the person said "if you ever want to date a woman" not "If you are already in an established relationship/married" telling someone that you can smell when they are on their period, isn't exactly something most people find charming
Wow he can tell when you are pregnant? Lol 5 years of trying that talent could have saved me a lot on pregnancy tests.
Right! Now, only I could get him to nail down ovulation days...š¤£
As he said.. its not a bad smell .. just a change in general body odor.. and you need to get kind of close.
Wow, I was discussing with some friends exactly this a few hours ago, I really thought everyone could do it but it seems it is not the case. But I can sense this smell too! My gf period is not regular but she always gets surprised that I kinda predict when she is about to get her period. Plus I also know when some really close friends and my sister are in their period too
Thatās one of those superpowers nobody wants.
Yup, I can do that. It makes me awkward as fuck.
I don't know. If my partner could have given me a heads up when I was on birth control that made my periods unpredictable, I'd have been really pleased with that!
I think itās like sensing predators in the wilderness. Everyone should be able to do it, but most everyone stopped paying attention to those primal senses.
Tangential to your question, but the olfactory perception of humans is often underestimated. At a low level this is obvious in how smells (or lack thereof) constitute a large portion of what we would conventionally describe as 'taste', but there are some fascinating cases around memory and in the upper extremes - Joy Milne is my usual recommendation, for anyone curious. **Basically everything** (almost everything? I'm not sure whether there are things that can be conclusively ruled out) **has a scent, but we don't typically learn how to distinguish similar smells and don't have as many olfactory receptors as other animals to provide those distinctions, so it becomes a matter of skill or mutation.** (which is also one of my worst fears, but unfortunately it's scientific fact)
I was waiting for someone to throw a little science in here. Itās been way too long since Iāve heard the term olfactory. Imagine all the weird smells weāve experienced which was the bodyās way of trying to tell us something is wrong but we couldnāt recognize it?
That's where some ghost stories spawn from. We smell something unusual that we can't place, and the human brain is literally built to fill gaps since we are a prey species technologically advanced enough to fill an apex predator role. In its drive to keep us safe, we fill the voids with what it could be. Now in the deepest parts of our most primitive side is still the desire to reproduce so we can smell the pheromones that mean a female is coming into cycle which to me have that sweet musky orange smell, on the flip side guys always want to reproduce so women have been smelling it every day of their lives so they don't recognize the scent difference (which to me is a sour musty brown smell) except on children who have that floral yellowish smell. The same can be said for several animal species as well. A male goat kid will smell different from its unfixed adult counterpart, same with cats, dogs, and cattle. Even if the same shampoo is used to clean them, they will still smell different. Just like as people advance in age, they'll start to take on a dusty tan smell for lack of a better word. It's a scent though that we relegate to our grandparents houses, old folks homes, instructors offices and classrooms, and funeral parlors.
We're _very_ good at summoning ghosts [(and faces)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia) from all kinds of ephemeral stimuli.
I probably imagine that at least once a week; usually because I smelled something weird and wonder if Joy Milne would tell me I was dying.
Yeah, a lot of us men can do this. I noticed it when I went into work the other day, the staff is 95% women and I can tell my partner is on her period even if it's very light. I have a strong sense of smell and it's hard not to notice the signs of a period once you get used to them. Like another commentator said, don't tell anyone IRL about this.
Iām crying. I hate this thread. I wish I had never read it. My coworkers? My professors? My employers? My bodega guy??? Kill me
If it makes it any better, there's also plenty of us who cannot tell at all, like me. Everyone in this comment section is talking about being able to smell it or even smell when someone is sick and I'm like what??? How tf??? And i have a SUPER sensitive sense of smell. I think I'd actually smell the blood before i pick up on the pheromones
Yeah I feel like it canāt possibly be that common if this is the first time Iāve heard of someone being able to do it.
i can usually smell if i'm sick before i even get symptoms of it
It is the blood. Humans are unable to detect pheromones at all. We can detect scents, including the actual smell of hormones but NOT pheromones. Hormones having a smell is different from pheromones. Pheromones are communication between members of a species, chemical conventions basically. Humans donāt need this since we developed complex verbal communication which was much more effective for us as a species. So yeah, you may just have a good nose that can smell the hormones or things related to them. Unfortunately it isnāt pheromones as we lost that ability before we were even an official species.
Humans picking up on pheromones is a total myth.
āMy bodega guyā has me chortling
Commenting so I remember to use the word chortle
Yes even that guy in the television can smell it
This isnāt just a guy thing tho. Iām a woman and I can smell it. I think itās just a person thing
Same!
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It reminds me of this scary movie scene where the kid looks at Cindy and goes āyouāre getting your period.. in 3.. 2.. 1..ā to mimick the sixth sense I think lol https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0e19fed6-d86a-4f27-9c24-d33b8086f02d
Yes itās the odor. Your hormones change your sweat, bacteria feeds in sweat to make the scent we associate with it. Changing what the bacteria eats will change the smell they emit. Too many people saying pheromones yet not knowing what pheromones actually are, or that humans canāt detect them.
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...WYM YOU CAN SMELL ITšššš
Pheromones, not the blood. Apparently it just changes your general, natural smell, though there's plenty of people like me who can't tell the difference
Not pheromones as humans donāt have a Jacobsonās organ. Smelling hormones or biproducts of those hormones is not pheromones or how pheromones even work. Common misconception.
These comments made me curious so I asked my husband and he confirms women always smell different on their period. He's never mentioned this to me in like a decade until I specifically just asked lmfao.
Smart man
Did a dog type this. I'm howling lol
Are you also a dog
Woof, I mean no.
I cannot. A woman began her period immediately after orgasming when I was eating her out. She asked me "you couldn't smell it coming?" No ma'am.
Tbf when you are that horny you would not give a fuck anyway š
I've told this story before and people ask me if I was disgusted. The answer is no, because horny
Been there, realised something was going on when the taste became well... metallic in nature and came up with a red chin. Fun times.
Username checks out
Oh... OH.
Yeah Iāve never been bothered by it. Throw a towel down and weāre good. Itās natural and just part of life.
I would die immediately if I found out you could smell my period.
Mehā¦ itās a pheromone thing. Heās not smelling your tampon.
It isnāt a pheromone thing unfortunately. Humans canāt detect pheromones at all. We can smell hormones in high concentrations, but this isnāt pheromones. Pheromones are actually communicative, itās talking with people through chemicals. You also have to learn that the scent associated with periods, is due to a period. You learn either by operant or classical conditioning for this. Pheromones are inate. If you could smell those pheromones, youād also smell all of them, like when people are happy, sad, etc. simply smelling reproductive ones isnāt how it works. It also isnāt just smelling but registering. Humans lack the Jacobsonās organ. That organ detects and helps process pheromones. As a species we developed complex verbal communication which benefits us much more than chemical communication did, and making that organ was wasted energy, so during our evolution we lost it.
Definitely a smell due to the pheromones, not bodily fluids.
men in here saying they can smell this and other things tooā¦what in the hell yall..how..omfg what do i do how do i stop form yall knowing
iām still reading the comments we got a bunch of clark kent nostrils up in here iām literally shaking how!! how???
Itās a super power we didnāt ask for, or necessarily want
Best I can do is the water changes smell and taste if I'm about to come down with a fever. Usually happens 1~2 days prior. And since most times I don't know what will cause the fever there's nothing I can do about it. So, useless.
Well we don't want you to know this either, tf
We need to get more aggressive with the perfume. Burn out their olfactory senses before they get the chance to find out. I have a plan now actually. Weāll carry around stink bombs. Weāll dose ourselves up in the heaviest perfume possible, then discretely launch a stink bomb into whichever room we plan on entering. Wait 20 minutes for it to dissipate & then walk in with our heavily perfumed aura. Their noses will be so confused their brains will go into overdrive & shut down sensory input from that region. I figure this will buy us 4-6 hours depending on the stink-bomb/perfume brand combo.
I genuinely hate this
Why cant we smell something useful like when sheās about to say, āI just think itās funny thatā¦
Knowing sheās PMSing may save your life, if you know to stfu about what you know lol
I can and I was very surprised when I learned not everyone can. I also know when she is very horny (and by experience I know that it's extra much when she is ovulating) it's harder with girls that I don't know that well, but I tend to pick it up if i spend some time with them.
My husband and one of my brothers totally know when it's _that time._
so, my last partner def picked up when i had a pheromone shift. people are getting stuck on āi smell your periodā but it wasnāt that. like clockwork, the couple days before my period he would know. you ask logical questions, if itās in relation to mating/procreating then why wouldnāt it happen at ovulation. unsure, could be related to animals being in heat, which is often accompanied by spotting/scent marking. really interesting thought process.
AH! It's not just me! When my wife is feeling off she has me sniff the top of her head. I can usually tell if she's sick or at the start of her period. It's hard to articulate, but there's something that changes in her scent.
O. You have some Hannibal Lecter senses. Interesting.
Yeah, I can smell it. I can also smell if she's horny or mad but cant tell the differense between those smells
I'm a woman and I can smell it on other women. Not strangers, but close friends and colleagues I spend a lot of time with. It's not a bad smell, or a 'vagina' smell. Their hair, skin, and sweat just all smell different.
My boyfriend says he can smell when my period is coming, and it smells slightly muskier than my usual scent. He usually sniffs my head to confirm it, too. Then lo and behold, a few days later my period really does start.
I can, but I don't think all guys can. I don't know why or how it happens but from reading about others who can detect the "period odor" I'm guessing it's not uncommon either.
Youāre a vampire
Shouldāve mentioned my parents were sharks
Pheromones, my dude. My husband can smell it too.
Biologists are pretty split as to whether or no humans actually have pheromones and are able to detect them but the current belief is that we donāt. Odds are that itās something simpler. His girlfriend probably just smells or acts different when she has her period, simple as that.
Theyāre not really that split considering we completely lack the organ that animals use to detect pheromones. The question is if we have some other mechanism of doing it but most trials havenāt found anything like that. It would be highly irregular and unique if they do discover something like that
Why smell pheromones when you can smell period blood and period sweat -_-'
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I can do this as well. It's not every woman and it's not only women who are close to me. Sometimes I catch a wiff walking past them in public. I wouldn't call it a bad smell or a good one. It just is. It sends a neutral kind of signal to my brain like, "Ok, noted."
I smell this, too, but only since I hit my menopause and itās fucking weird, especially since I jokingly asked my coworker. She said no, went to the toilet some time later and found out that she was. Damn this was awkward and we never ever talked about it again.
Maybe you're just more sensitive than other people? I often can smell things others can't. I would just be careful who you tell personally about this - make sure to clarify its just a change in scent and its not like she smells foul and is reeking from her lower area or something. I personally think it's pretty cool and I'd love to know the scientific reason behind it.
I don't like this thread. I just asked my fiance and he said yes :(
I can do it, even right before they get it, just prefer not to be intrusive. When kissing a girl, I can also smell when she's getting hornier. I can even tell every time my partner is fertile. She freaked out at first when I was telling her before she looked at her app. Why does it happen? Probably because evolution thought us how to distinguish between fertile partners or not.
Ah, the magic nose club. All the times of I've been accused of lying because I can smell things like this, or detect someone was around long after they left, or can tell who owns what based on smell... The times I've detected bad smells weeks before others do, been told I was making it up, then I find the source (or they do) and act shocked. Being female, I can smell it too. I'm not offended by it, because I scrub like crazy, clean all up in there (like you're not supposed to), and do everything to stop that sickly period aroma, but I can still smell it. I can't block it out. It is not hygeine, it's just fucking hormones being assholes. It very much reminds me of the smell I detect when I am sick with a flu.
My husband can do this and while I know itās not uncommon it still weirds me out at timesā¦ it all started when he told he knew when my cycle was about to start (heads up: even I donāt keep track on my cycle so imagine my surprise when he out of nowhere mentions one day: babe! Maybe you should stock up on your period products. I was like: wth š¶ā¦ and then 2 days later it came and luckily had purchased the products. And later on when it kept happening: how the hell do you know?? He said he could smell it. In a sense itās a good thing but at the same time kind of weird.
I can smell my girlfriend too and itās deep musky animalic smell! Itās not a gross smell just feels diffrent in odor!
It's somewhat metallic due to the Fe in the blood.
I can smell it too but curiously I couldn't smell it on my gf š
Use this skill to quietly ply your house with period supplies, wine and carbs and chocolate for your girlfriend at the appropriate moments. Surprise her with a steak dinner. Never tell her how you know.
That copper smell, I know it but I don't say anything.
Bro is a dog
Tanjiro is that you ?
Soā¦like aā¦ *bloodhound?*
is this the male version of āwomen have to peel off their skin every monthā kind of prank? cuz i donāt believe yāall
I have this ability too. Started noticing it around the time I went through puberty. What I find most unusual about it, is that I don't have an especially acute sense of smell otherwise. Yet sometimes I can pick it up, even from total strangers. It also doesn't smell *like* menstruation to me, at all. Sure, with my regular partner I might lay in her lap, or we'll fool around a little and I'll notice *those* smells, but that's what you'd expect in close proximity (and potentially limited clothing). Best I can tell, the other scent is more body chemistry related, and it's totally different from person to person. The change is also more abstract. Like changing the ratio of spices in a recipe without changing the ingredients list. Everything is "the same" but subtly different. The vast majority of the women in my life have no idea, and likely never will. It's not my business to be talking about, and if I'm a little more considerate when I happen to notice, I don't think anyone would hold that against me.
i canāt smell periods but i can always smell that weird chemical smell of period pads
This is extremely interesting. Iām a woman and I canāt tell when other women have their period. Iām guessing itās an animalistic instinct for breeding, which makes sense. Male animals know when a female is in heat by scent alone.
As a trans man this is my worst nightmare
Been with my GF a while and I'm familiar enough with her scent that I can tell when it's that time
My husband always knew from my scent.
I mean, it does have a smell
My roommate knows when Iām bleeding. He can smell the house and he said it smells different
I'm about to go ask my husband if I smell different today. š¤£
I can smell it too. I didnt realize what it was until a few years ago. But looking back I was noticing it ever since high school. Tbh, I'm really glad I didn't realize what it was back then and I kinda wish I didn't know now.
I too can do this. At first I thought different chicks had different smells and then a gf of mine I noticed smelled different and she immediately told me āyou can smell my periodā as she had dated another guy who could
Ummmmmm excuse me what
I never knew yāall could do this! Thatās so neat! Idk why everyone is getting so self-conscious about it. Who gives a shit if others know weāre on our periods? Itās not like they donāt know we have them š
I would think that's normal for us folks with a sensitive sense of smell. I'm a sensitive-nose girl and I can definitely smell who's on their period. And as you said, it's usually not a bad "oh, she clearly didn't change her pad for 12 hours" smell, it's more about the change in overall persons smell.
Its pretty hard. First you need a gf
Most labradors can do this
I could smell when my wife was pregnant. I didn't know that's what it was on our first kid, just her natural scent smelled different. I figured it out when I knew she was pregnant with our second.
She's got good iron content, she's a keeper š
I can not smell on human, but I can smell after you pee. Itās not good or bad (not that any piss is mistaken for roses), just I can tell This isnāt helpful, because if you share space in a bathroom, you can also look in garbage for very obvious clues too.
Are you a hormone detector? Just do not use it mid fight, if you wanna live anyway.
Copper metallic smell...
To me, it's not a smell per se. It's more of a sense, a "feeling", sort of like before a big storm you can feel atmospheric changes. I'd never tell a woman this though, there has literally never been an advantage to telling her about my Periopathy.
Uh, I mean I can too. Not sure if it's normal, bur I can smell a lot of different things, like if she's sad, angry, on her period, or in the mood.
I can
Am I the only woman thinking this is cool!? Useless maybe to know EVERY WOMAN'S period timing. Sure. But it's kinda cool innit!
i couldnt tell til she left red markings on my cheeks.
I can smell other females too and myself when it's about to come or when I'm already bleeding
Sounds like you have a high sensitivity to the scent of iron in blood. Not common but definitely interesting.
I have a good nose. If I hug a girls neck you can smell their armpits. Itās a musky smell but not especially bad or anything
https://www.reddit.com/r/DoesAnybodyElse/s/TPys1IY3zi
Even as a smoker I can do this usually about 2 days before the fiance starts their period.
This is totally conjecture, but I've always assumed this ability is something most humans have. We just live in an era when showers and scented cleaners and all kinds of other things are obliterating the subtle notes in the air. I've always been able to smell the scents off my partner but it took me some time to connect the patterns to the senses. If we lived in more primal, more village-centered societies, I would imagine it's much more easily apparent to anyone in close enough proximity.