While I've been a little preoccupied with these questions in my mind lately, low and behold... The Los Angeles Times ran two consecutive articles that gave a little boost to my mood. On July 12, Rosie Miestel relates some information printed in the New Scientist Magazine, that researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia have found that smells from elderly women elevate people's spirits. Then on July 14, The Times runs an article that begins on the front page titled "It Stinks: The Smell of Aging," written by Mark Magnier. He tells us that Shoji Nakamura, chief perfumer with Japan's exclusive cosmetics firm, Shiseido, has spent the past ten years researching why middle-aged and older men have a more distinctive smell. Shiseido describes this newly isolated old-age smell as an "unpleasant and greasy odor with a grassy nuance." When young women were polled with samples of this odor some likened it to fertilizer, dead leaves, "squished aphids" and "a cheap, sleazy hotel." HAHAHAHA
To make a long story short, Shiseido, a $5.2 billion company is now marketing a new line of products aimed at the over 40 age range for men to combat this odor problem. Hmm, I'd say this is pretty sober proof that it is a matter for very serious consideration here. We don't need to discuss how samples were taken or go into all the technology and details of research. Let's just accept the fact that scientific research is involved and facts are facts. Older women not only smell good, their natural body odor can elevate the spirits of anyone who comes in close contact; conversely, elderly men, well, they dont' smell so good and if anything, can repel those who come in close proximity. Let us consider the implications here.
Can you imagine if these two scientific facts became so widely acknowledged on such a level that elderly women's attraction meter went up several points and elderly men's attraction meter plummeted down? I mean could Hollywood possibly begin to take these factors into more consideration? NO? "Get real!" Okay, you're probably right but there has to be a way that we can use this little bit of information for our greater benefit. I mean, it IS a beginning and does give a bit of a boost to our cause.
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