Everyone likes soaps, shampoos, and lotions that smell yummy. I know that, otherwise The Body Shop, Bath & Body Works, Lush, Sabon, L'Occitane and a million other boutique soap shops would not exist. (OK, there was one super tiny fancy soap shop, Soap in the City, around the corner from my apartment that went out of business, so maybe not everyone loves special overpriced soap, or maybe they only like buying it from boutique chains. I swear that new chain soap stores appear every other day in Manhattan.) However, when even I like these things, I think it is fair to say that almost everyone likes them since I do not like most “girly” products. I never actually buy boutique soap, though, because I am too cheap. Why spend that kind of money on soap when I can get regular stuff (like Dial) for less then a third of the cost? (That is why I think fancy smelly soaps make good gifts – they are semi-affordable luxury items that people can make good use of.)
The other reason that I don’t buy yummy smelling soap is precisely because it smells yummy. I just have the weirdest temptation to start eating whatever I am using, be it body gel, bar soap, or shampoo. (I never use lotion unless I absolutely must because my skin is so dry that it is cracking off my body, so I am safe when it comes to yummy smelling lotions. I hate lotion.) Intellectually, I know that if I do eat the soap or shampoo, it will obviously not taste good. Yet the urge will not go away. Does anyone else have this problem?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I do,too. One of my colleagues provides fruity soap from Bath and Body Works (?), and I always comment that I want to drink it, esp. the mango-something-or-other.
ReplyDeleteMust be genetic,huh?
Uh, I don't want to eat them. I like them, though! My shower looks like a fridge - warm vanilla sugar, hot chocolate, grapefruit, white tea and ginger, red currant and thyme tea . . . Believe it or not, my husband LOVES the smelly soaps. I try to buy him ones with a light scent or ones that could be mistaken for manly, like bay laurel, banana, lemon verbena, rosemary mint . . . I've bought him more smelly bar soaps than I've bought myself!
ReplyDeleteWhy pay more for fancy soap when you can get the regular stuff like Dial? Well, depending on the fancy stuff in question, paying more can often mean paying for fair wages, paying for sustainable production, supporting local business and generally keeping your hard-earn dollar out of the pocket of a corporate conglomerate.
ReplyDeleteBut to your original question, yes, I too find that if presented with food-smelling body products, I often I want eat them.
Quick comment to Anonymous from CA: You raise a very good point, about why some fancy soap is more expensive. In those cases, I would be willing to pay more because of the good behind the product. (The fruity scent would still make me want to eat it, though.) I would also be willing to pay more for basic soap if they adopted these practices. My principle is that I don't want to pay more for fancy soap that uses shitty labor methods than I do for plain soap that uses shitty labor methods.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, you can buy fancy non-corporate fragrance-free soaps too. There's a whole market for those of us who must use hypo-allergenic stuff and are suckers for fancy homemade soap. :-)
ReplyDeleteI've never gotten tempted by scented body products, but I did always find it funny that women wear vanilla-scented perfumes. Is anyone else reminded of rice kripsie treats? Not very sexy.
D, studies show (and I'm talking out of my ass here, because I don't feel like looking it up) that the most arousing fragrances to men are something like cucumber and Good N Plentys. So there's a precedent set . . .
ReplyDeleteInteresting! What do Good n' Plentys smell/taste like anyhow? I honestly can't remember - they're licorice, yes? I guess cucumber and licorice smells have been around as long as human being have been - is there some sort of fertility association that would make the scents arousing? I know, I know, pseudo evolutionary biology b.s. :-) But it's hard not to resist...hmm.
ReplyDelete