Can you sniff your way to love? Singles who have participated in so-called pheromone parties aren’t completely dismissing the idea.
These gatherings – which have taken place in New York and Los Angeles, with plans for additional cities – invite attendees to provide a T-shirt they’ve worn to bed, which will then be sniffed by other participants.
Then, voilà! You choose your partner based on their scent…so the theory suggests.
Originally conceived as an experimental matchmaking event by a California woman fatigued by online dating, these parties also have a scientific basis. Researchers indicate that humans can detect scents to differentiate genetic combinations that may yield weaker offspring.
At a dimly-lit art gallery in Los Angeles one recent night, attendees gathered around tables laden with plastic freezer bags filled with shirts and an index card marked with a number. Upon discovering a shirt they found appealing, a photographer captured a photo of them holding the bag and projected it on a wall, allowing the shirt’s owner to approach and meet their admirer.
Konstantin Bakhurin, a 25-year-old neuroscience graduate student, revealed he ignored bags that bore the scents of baby powder, laundry detergent, or perfume, instead seeking something more distinctive: the owner of a unique yellow T-shirt whose aroma he described as ‘spicy’.
‘I think it’s probably a bit more pseudoscience,’ Bakhurin remarked, having attended with two fellow graduate students from the University of California, Los Angeles. ‘I just came here for kicks to see what would happen.’
Compared to the extensive personal details required by online dating sites, these parties represent a return to the most primal aspects of romance.
Judith Prays, a web developer presently residing in Atlanta, conceived the concept of pheromone parties after struggling to find a 
match online. Prays recounted dating men for about a month before things turned sour until she began seeing someone who wasn’t her type and ended up in a two-year relationship.
What stayed with her was his scent.
‘Even when he objectively smelled bad, I found him really appealing,’ the 25-year-old shared. ‘And so I thought, perhaps I should try dating based on smell.’
Initially, it was just an experiment. Prays invited 40 friends to her New York gathering, instructing them to sleep in a T-shirt for three nights, place it in a plastic bag and freeze it, then bring it along. Bags were labeled with blue cards for men and pink ones for women, numbered so the shirt owners could identify their admirers.
The evening was a success, according to Prays, who noted that several couples connected, and one couple even began a relationship. Since then, she has organized similar events in New York and Los Angeles, with plans for gatherings in Atlanta, San Francisco, and possibly other locations.
Many participants laughed at the notion of finding a soulmate through a smelly T-shirt. However, that’s not to imply there isn’t some scientific support for the concept.
Research utilizing comparable T-shirt experiments has demonstrated that people have preferences for various human scents. Yet, the preference for a particular scent is influenced by a specific set of genes that regulate our immune responses—this is thought to be nature’s method of preventing inbreeding and maintaining the genetic adaptations cultivated over time.
‘Humans have the ability to detect this incredibly small… “People can differentiate chemicals using their noses,” remarked Martha McClintock, the founder of the Institute for Mind and Biology at the University of Chicago. “It acts like an initial screening process.”
In a related study, McClintock and her team had participants sniff from a covered box, unaware that they were, in some instances, inhaling scents from worn T-shirts. Their findings revealed that individuals were more attracted to the odors of people with genetic makeups different from their own, albeit not drastically so.
In Los Angeles, a group of twenty-somethings gathered at the gallery one evening in search of romance or simply out of curiosity. They playfully posed for the photographer while wearing shirts they fancied, hoping someone might approach them with a friendly greeting.
However, only a few made the move. Some confessed to having seen their number displayed on the wall but felt too shy to come forward.
Yet, lively conversations ensued as beer-sipping singles wrinkled their noses at bags that reeked of hiker’s sweat and the scent of an aunt’s old carpet, while also taking a second whiff of sweet and musky fragrances that intrigued them, though they couldn’t quite identify—this playful activity helped break the ice at what might have otherwise been an awkward gathering of unfamiliar faces.
Karen Arellano laughed heartily after sampling a variety of bags that smelled of sweat, coffee, and even cannabis, but she mentioned that she didn’t attend the event in search of romance.
“I doubt I’ll find anything beyond a simple ‘Hi, how are you?’ In terms of conversation, that’s sufficient,” the 29-year-old baker expressed.
Prays noted that her participation taught her that while scent holds significant power, it’s insufficient for identifying a compatible match.
“Animals reproduce and move on, and that encapsulates the essence of the pheromone party,” Prays stated. She suggested that she might start including additional relevant details on the index cards, like an individual’s relationship expectations. “The greatest success of this event lies in its ability to spark conversation.”
