Newsflash: there is poo in some of your favourite perfumes.
Well, not literally – that’s probably illegal – but a naturally occurring chemical that can smell both floral and faecal. And the freakiest thing? The poo scent is supposed to make your fragrance smell better.
Indole is the organically occurring compound found in white flowers such as jasmine, gardenia and orange blossom. The oils of these flowers are the powerhouse scents behind many a famous fragrance, and a mere whiff of a white floral can immediately conjure up memories of sultry summer nights.
And yet, indole is also found in some damn stinky things like coal tar and, yes, poo. As with many of nature’s gifts, indole can also be replicated synthetically in a chemist’s lab.
According to HMDB (Human Metabolome Database), which is like IMDB for chemicals, indole “occurs naturally in human feces and has an intense fecal smell. At very low concentrations, however, it has a flowery smell, and is a constituent of many flower scents (such as orange blossoms) and perfumes.”
In non-scientific terms, indole is like that mysterious, sexy person you met on a dating app.
They send you witty texts, and they seem to really care about you. Yet when you meet them IRL, after an hour too long in their company you realise that they have the charm of a turd and probably had their copywriter friend concoct those texts. Indole! Such a trickster!
The presence of indole in a fragrance, whether from a white floral or a synthetic compound, can lend the fragrance a human, sexual edge.
Alienor Massenet, a perfumer who has created fragrances for luxury brands such as Chloe, Giorgio Armani and John Galliano, describes indole as “a very powerful molecule, both in masculine and feminine fragrances… it’s very animalic.” And we all know what “animalic” means: SEX!
Top Comments
What a confused article - not sure what the point is.
Like us humans, perfume can be the bridge between the animal and the divine.
You're simply using far too much fragrance - don't forget your nose switches off to a fragrance after a few minutes (because it is only interested in CHANGING smells).
Good luck with the master perfumer versions of Jasmin - that's a great way to go. They know how to control the lift of their compositions.
And don't forget to wipe your butt daily to prevent a buildup of nasty indole.
This is just... what? It’s not poo, what the hell are you talking about? This is possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve read here. Just because they both contain the same chemical, it doesn’t make them the same thing! This is like those clickbait articles about ‘the hidden ingredient in your bread that’s also used to make yoga mats and industrial cleaners!!1!’. SMH.
I was wondering why my bread was getting chewier
For me, I think the award for "most ridiculous thing I've read on Mamamia" still goes to that woman banging on about how great it was to not have furniture...but this comes pretty close.
I’d forgotten about that one!
It's the chicken feathers again.