the smell of skin

This morning my 4 year old was giving me a hug, and she said, "You smell good."

Well, I hadn't showered, and I wasn't wearing perfume... Then she smelled my arm and said, "It's the same."

"Skin smells good." I said. And I really do think so. I love the smell of skin. Of course, everyone smells different. Once I briefly dated a guy that I knew immediately I could never have a long-term relationship with - for many reasons- but one of them was that the smell of his skin made me feel like I was choking. And I don't mean that he had stinky sweat. I like sweat. I actually think my husband's sweat smells amazing. (I'm sure there are those who wouldn't think so, but there it is.)

I suspect that smell is a strange sort of chemical indication of compatibility - and nothing is better than the skin smell of certain people you're close to. Think of the smell of the top of your kid's head when you kiss them - or the smell of your own mom - or the smell of someone you're really in love with - or really attracted to (it can be especially hard to break up with someone when you're addicted to their smell)...

I just like the way the smell of skin seems to describe a person, and to share a bit of them with you. I think that's why I've never had much of an appreciation for men's cologne. I like to smell the person - not a fragrance. It's not that I don't like certain perfumes - some women seem as accurately defined by their perfume as by their skin smell - and I do like when someone steps onto the subway wearing a cologne that smells clean and masculine - I just don't want to be around it for too long... The exceptions to this rule are two deodorants (Old Spice and Brut) and one perfume (Kai) that I'm happy to smell any time.