A bizarre TikTok trend called "pheromone maxxing" is prompting users to skip showers, avoid deodorant, wear sweaty shirts, and even drink their own urine before dates. The belief is that these actions maximize natural "sex pheromones" to make one biologically irresistible. However, scientific consensus strongly refutes this, stating there's no clear evidence humans secrete or can detect pheromones, unlike many animals. Human vomeronasal organs are largely underdeveloped for such detection. This unhygienic practice only accumulates general dirt, not selective attractive scents, and consuming urine poses serious health risks. Experts advise against this unscientific and unsanitary trend, emphasizing personality as a more effective dating strategy.
Bruce Y. Lee is a Senior Contributor at Forbes. He covers a diverse range of topics including health, medicine, wellness, and science, often focusing on consumer health, mental health, and relationships. His work has been featured in prominent publications such as MedPage Today, Psychology Today, and The Lancet.
