Smellmaxxing

When I was in elementary school, I remember pulling a stool up to the medicine cabinet in my grandparent’s bathroom in order to grab my grandfather’s old spice decanter, from which I would splash on a healthy dose of the cologne. Of course, I never got away with it due to everyone smelling the evidence of what I had done. In today’s world, Old Spice and other cheaper cologne brands like it are now frowned upon by our kids. Thanks to a new viral TikTok trend, what’s called smellmaxxing has boys as young as ten spending large amounts of money on designer colognes. Piper Sandler reports that teen boys’ annual spending on fragrances jumped twenty-six percent last year. The trend is being fueled by people like the young TikTok influencer known as the cologne boy who has well over a million followers. And once some kids buy in, peer influence leads others to follow. This new trend offers parents an opportunity to talk about identity, financial stewardship, and the trap of coolness.