Men's Cologne: Do's and Don'ts

There is nothing more beautiful than passing by a pleasant smelling person.  Good scents bring back good old memories from the past.  Men and women adorn their body with succulent scents to attract each other.  However, many men mistakenly fall on the wrong selection of cologne.  Maybe they don’t have the slightest idea on what to do and what to avoid when using cologne.  There are proper ways of selecting, keeping and using colognes.  To avoid falling into the pitfalls of shame, here are some helpful tips.

Cologne do's:

• The best way to tell how a scent really smells is to actually try it on.  You should not trust those fragrances laden pages of a magazine.  Self-testing the scent is surely the safest way to know how the scent smells on you.  Plus, you get to know if you’re not allergic to the cologne.
• Know your skin type.  It is the most critical part in choosing your cologne.  If you have a dry skin, you need to re-apply the cologne once in a while.  For those oily skinned you won’t have to put too many colognes because your skin can retain the scent for a longer time.
• The key factor in choosing your cologne is your body chemistry.  Your body’s chemistry is not constant, and it keeps changing depending on what you eat and what you do.  You should now when to wear cologne and when not to wear it.  If you plan to gorge on spicy foods better skip it for the night, or you’ll end up smelling funny.
• Like most things in life, timing is everything. So, naturally, there is a prime time for applying fragrance -- like after a hot shower or bath. The water temperature and steam assist in prying pores open, which in turn, sop up scent. And while attempting to scent unshowered skin isn’t the worst cologne crime in the world. You do run the risk of instigating a nasty cover-up.

Cologne don'ts:

• Never exaggerate your smell by dousing your cologne. It can be very offensive to other people.  The smell of you from a mile away will make everyone cringed and wrinkle their nose.  Instead of putting your life in jeopardy just put a little dab in key areas of your body such as the back of the ears, wrists and the base of the throat.
• Skip those heavily fragrance bath soaps to avoid mixing up the scent with your cologne.  Some bath soaps alter the way the scent smells.  Go for bath soaps with minimal fragrance.
• Use the cologne appropriately.  You should know when to use the cologne season-wise.  If it’s summer, you don’t have to use that heavy fragrance cologne.
• Remember that all colognes and perfumes have a shelf life.  Don’t buy too many perfumes than you can wear.

Cologne is a crucial part of being a man. The whole scent thing plays into our primal need to mark their territory. And now, they’ll be able to mark that territory right.