Smell Dating: Choose Your Next Date By Sniffing His Dirty T-Shirt

Forget meeting potential dates in bars, or flipping through endless profiles on OKCupid. There’s a new kind of speed dating in town that doesn’t require you to brush your hair, pick out a great outfit, or even pose for a profile picture, according to The Daily. All you have to do is be willing to air your dirty laundry. Literally.

25 year-old Atlanta-based artist Judith Prays is the mind behind this smell-based dating trend, and she made it official in 2010 when she threw her first Pheromone Party in New York City. Pheromone Parties let your sense of scent do the choosing when it comes to finding a perfect match. Pheromones are the chemical responsible for sexual attraction in mammals. Everyone emits a different smell, and at Pray’s first Pheromone Party, attendees were required to wear the same shirt to bed three nights in a row (no perfume or deodorant allowed), put it in a Ziploc bag, and bring it to the party.

40 guests showed up, with well worn in t-shirts in hand, and each shirt was labeled with a pink or blue post-it (depending on the owner’s sex) and a number. While the potential daters mingled with each other, they took breaks to smell the different bags. If they liked what they smelled, a photo was taken of them holding the bag with the dirty t-shirt they were attracted to. At the end of the party the photos were projected onto a wall and everyone was able to see which other guests liked the smell of their sweat.

Despite the obvious gross-factor, Pheromone Parties seem to work: Prays reports that 12 of the 40 guests hooked-up, and 6 of those couples ended up dating for a significant amount of time.

Pheromones have been the driving force behind animal hook-ups since the beginning of time, so maybe it’s time we take a hint from our furry friends and let our noses guide us towards relationship-bliss. I’ve certainly tried everything else…

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