Smelling Red…

so, last week Howie tells me that his friend can smell redheads.
i know what you’re thinking. what the heck does this mean, he can smell redheads???

Apparently, he claims that redheads (not the auburn ones…but the super white- skinned, freckly ones) have a musty, dank-basement-like smell. He thought he was crazy. Until he met someone else who claimed the EXACT SAME THING. so, he began to investigate. could there be some truth to this phenomenon? are there others out there who can smell the red?

after some extensive research, i realized that it’s not fabricated. there may be some validity to this absurdity.

Alain Corbin, in The Foul and The Fragrant (1986), writes of nineteenth century France:
“Oddly, medical discourse concerned itself little with the specific relation of smell to temperament, the color of hair, or complexion. The odor peculiar to irascible personalities and the smell of redheads were noted, but without emphasis, as if they were self evident.”
He later adds, “redheads were always pungent, both putrid and fascinating, as if their cycle had broken down and put them in a continuous state of menstruation.”

Also, there’s a movie out there called The Distinct Smell of Red.
In the movie, the character Vernon states, “Normally I don’t go for women with red hair. They tend to have a peculiar smell, you know? It’s hard to define, but in the back of your mind you know something’s not right. I don’t want to say it’s a bad odor, just different.”

anyone out there who can smell redheads? or know anyone who can? anyone who has ever heard about this? i’m curious…