B.O. is the new perfume

Two trends are converging right now:

1. Decreased perfume sales as a result of market oversaturation and the growing social unacceptableness of wearing perfume
2. Increased scientific knowledge about and popular interest in the role of natural human scent in sexual attraction

The outcome, I predict, will be that fashion-forward people will start wearing their own body odor as perfume.  It's the easiest and cheapest way to wear fragrance: just wash with unscented soap, wear no deodorant, and let your happy glands do the work of cranking out some naturally-attractive-to-the-opposite-sex smells.

Note that I say "fashion-forward" people.  The taboo against body odor in America is strong.  So, were the trend to become mainstream at all, I'm sure that most adopters would go with unscented deodorant instead of none at all.  Arguably that's what everyone trying this out ought to do in the summer.  Consumer products companies can cash in on this trend by offering new or expanded lines of unscented deodorant.  Or perhaps the midday armpit-wash will become a new ritual.

This trend would make sense in the context of the trend toward an increasingly "natural"/"animal" dynamic in sexual relationships that I'm predicting and think I will call "New Humanism."  (Basically I think people are getting interested in "humans as animals" again and that this will manifest itself in culture in myriad ways, one of them this trend in scent, another in romantic/sexual relationships.)

The "B.O. as perfume" trend also fits with the trend of the growing prominence of non-American and especially developing countries.  Americans have long made fun of Europeans for their more relaxed attitude toward hygiene and body odor, but the street goes both ways and they make fun of us for being so uptight about keeping squeaky-clean, too.  If the euro continues to dominate the dollar, maybe The French & Friends will start smelling better to us.  People in developing non-European countries have even less interest in, history of using, ability to afford, and possibly need for deodorant than Europeans do.  The increasing importance of these countries is an argument for America to try out their beauty traditions for a change.

The trend might also be more palatable if B.O.-wearers would Eat to Live, as vegans supposedly perspire less and smell better than meat/dairy-eaters.