What is 'smellmaxxing'? A new fad involves mostly men trying to maximize or improve their body scent
- Fragrance TikTokers have started using the phrase "smellmaxxing" to describe improving one's scent.
- The term has been previously used in the looksmaxxing community for years, but it's gaining traction online.
The internet is full of beautification advice, from TikTokers specializing in perfume hauls to YouTube makeup gurus to looksmaxxers, a controversial community of mostly young men who rate each other's facial features and share advice for self-improvement.
The newest offshoot of the looksmaxxing subcuture is smellmaxxing, which involves mostly men trying to improve their smell with different colognes among other hygiene tips. The craze has existed in looksmaxxer circles for years, but it's gone viral on TikTok in the last few weeks after a meme about the animated villain Megamind from the 2010 superhero film wearing a John Paul Gaultier cologne gained traction.
In the meme, the character Minion asks Megamind if he's wearing the cologne, and he responds with a nonchalance that the scent is just his "natural musk."
"Megamind caught smellmaxxing," on-screen text said in a TikTok from December, which amassed over 3.5 million views.
In the 'smellmaxxing' subculture, users share advice and cologne collections
One of the biggest videos last month about smellmaxxing features the fragrance influencer @TheCologneBoy offering a slew of tips for being "the best smelling man in any room."
He recommended people use deodorant (like Dove Men's Fresh), take baths after exercise, and lotion their skin with moisturizer so it holds cologne better. He suggested a few colognes for winter and summer seasons, and urged people to also take care of their dental health.
"Get an electric toothbrush, get a tongue scraper, and get Therabreath mouthwash," he said, adding that people should remember to floss.
Other creators have jumped on the trend with jokes: One urged others to "start smellmaxxing bro" while shooting cologne mists into the night sky.
"That atomizer is heavenly," one viewer commented.
Many smellmaxxers idolize Jeremy Fragrance, a German influencer known for his reviews of colognes and perfumes. Some of the most-viewed smellmaxxing memes reference him.
On another popular video tagged #smellmaxxing, a poster showed their massive cologne collection: "Once you start.. you can't stop," they wrote on-screen. One fragrance reviewer's collection spanned three shelves on a wall. "When you took scentmaxxing too far," @lordoffragrances wrote on-screen with a skull emoji.
In a smellmaxxing video created by brand to promote its own cologne, a man defined smellmaxxing as "the process of enhancing one's scent or maxing their smell."
Some TikTokers have also used the tags "scentmaxxing" and "fragrancemaxxing" interchangeably to talk about similar subcultures. One of the biggest clips tagged #fragrancemaxxing, with over 1.5 million views, showed a creator spinning a cologne filter and then reviewing the one it landed on.
While looksmaxxing has a reputation for pushing toxic and harmful self-improvement tactics, smellmaxxing seems to be a largely positive community. In the comments of these videos, people talk about their favorite products and even make self-deprecating jokes about submitting to fragrance culture.
As a result of the popularity of looksmaxxing, the "maxxing" suffix has become a popular addition to terms people use for a variety of new fads and trends online. Internet users have made videos about musclemaxxing, or trying to get as jacked as possible at the gym, and healthmaxxing, or optimally improving ones health and wellness, among other terms.