Man's Extravagant Cologne Hacks For Always Smelling Good Have Some Women Gasping For Air
Are these fragrance tips going overboard?
Pavel Danilyuk Via Pexels, Sensvector, ragamara / CanvaPicture it: you're rushing towards a crowded elevator trying to make it on before the doors close. You make it, take a deep breath, and then immediately regret all your life choices. Someone in that elevator has bathed in cologne, and if you just waited, your lungs would be thanking you instead of trying to force themselves out of your body.
While practicing good hygiene and smelling fresh are wonderful attributes, not everyone is a pro at moderating their scented product applications. Case in point, TikToker Warren Tafah — he's taken cologne application to extremes that even tween boys with an abundance of Axe Body Spray couldn't fathom.
Tafah has some extreme cologne application hacks that he claims will keep you smelling good.
Tafah has dedicated much of his TikTok platform to content surrounding men's hygiene, so it's only natural that cologne falls into that category. His hacks are decidedly out-of-the-box, however.
While the idea of using fragrance to your advantage seems innocent enough on the surface, suggestions like spraying your favorite scent directly on light bulbs so the heat from the bulb will keep the fragrance lingering throughout your home seem a bit... dangerous. Many comments expressed fears of Tafah accidentally setting his whole house on fire!
But he doesn't stop there. Tafah regularly adds his favorite cologne, diluted with water, into his iron so the scent will permeate his clothes.
On the surface, Tafah's hacks seem almost unbelievable, to the point of ridiculous, but dig a little deeper and it seems his hygiene habits come from some trauma in his youth. In a caption on one of his popular videos, he explained, "Good hygiene wasn’t in my vocabulary when I was 18 years old and it cost me a lottt. So please take heed."
Cologne isn't meant to be sprayed on everything.
Some of Tafah's hacks definitely have weight to them, like putting your favorite scent in a diffuser for your car, which can beat using the air fresheners that never seem to last long enough; adding cologne or perfume to unscented drugstore lotion seems like the perfect hack for saving money on expensive designer scents.
But spraying perfume on toilet paper isn't a good idea. For women, especially, it can be a recipe for disaster. Scented items should not go anywhere near your privates or they could disrupt your delicate pH balance.
Additionally, many perfumes have dangerous chemicals that are often not mentioned in the ingredients. Common chemicals called phthalates, which help perfume stay on the skin, can have harmful health effects like disrupting hormones, which is especially dangerous if you're pregnant.
The safety regulation of colognes and perfumes leaves much to be desired as the fragrance industry is self-regulated, which allows companies to make blanket statements on their products about the ingredients, not offering specifics as to what people are spraying themselves with.
It’s important to be mindful of what products you are using by looking at the labels on the products and doing your research.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to smell good, and Tafah should embrace his 'scent-sational' persona, but he should also be safe doing it.
Is it safe to put perfume on light bulbs or in products like an iron? The quick answer is no, it's not safe. Common sense dictates it's best to not put any products in items like an iron if they are not meant to be used in that way.
If you want to keep your house smelling amazing, skip the light bulb trick and heat up a pot of water with orange slices, a small handful of cloves, and cinnamon sticks instead. You can even create your own perfume without using any essential oils.
Having good hygiene and smelling good can be directly linked to confidence and happiness, so embrace your favorite scent or scents. Just be mindful of others around you, and stick to spritzing perfume and cologne on your wrist and neck.
Amani Semper is a writer for YourTango on the Entertainment & News team. She focuses on pop culture and lifestyle topics.