The good news is that even moderate applications of men's _or_ women's fragrance are enough to suffocate me.

A coworker thought I was joking when I said their lotion was making it hard for me to breathe.

Walking behind someone outdoors yesterday and I started to choke up.

No, I don't have asthma; there's just something about perfumes and colognes that I can't hand.

I have a very mild deodorant I can tolerate but that's about it; everything else I use is fragrance free.

that works both ways:

i have it on good evidence that many women prefer men's underarm deodorant/ antiperspirant

some because they say it works better

others because they resent floral scents, that it clashes with natural odors

the grass is always greener on the other side

but yes: degender the entire fragrance product category

@Gargron, 100%!

One of my favorite fragrances is DS & Durga's Rose Atlantic. I find great personal joy when I wear it for meetings in the male-dominated industry I work in. You can see the gears grinding as they try to process what they're experiencing. The look of, "I want to ask, but it would be weird" is what gets me through some of those meetings.

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I think it's often what does the other people like to smell if they are standing close to a person.

Also just wear what you like why should a shop be able to tell you what you are allowed to.

Maybe if more people do so the men/female categories vanish over time.
I mean in history we had also a switch for heel sizes on shoes. As far as the Internet told me.

Ugh. As an agender trans person I definitely agree on the silliness of gendering things.

(FWIW, I strongly prefer unscented products, whereas my genderqueer spouse loves fruity flowery scented everything.)

It gets even worse with that. I remember first seeing Hummer cologne at the mall with my then boyfriend, who's an Army vet. He was like, "What TF does it smell like, axle grease?"

And Hummer is STILL coming out with colognes that help women know which guys to avoid. I suppose I should be grateful.

fragrantica.com/perfume/Hummer…

I am really not "into" fragrances, much to the chagrin of my wife, I'm sure, but the one aftershave I currently have in my cupboard is for men, from a big brand (YSL) yet it does actually smell quite sweet and fruity. I like it because it reminds me of cherries and marzipan.

Edit to mention that one of the reasons I generally refuse to pay stupid money for these things is because my dad used to work for l'Oreal so I knew from an early age that the basic product costs nothing - all that premium you pay goes to packaging and advertising. There is fundamentally almost no difference in manufacturing cost between the no-name supermarket scent and the typical high-end highly advertised fancy-bottled stuff with the celebrity endorsement and stupid name.

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just buy the fragrances that smell nice to you. Doesn't matter if it's gendered, you can choose to live beyond that limitation imposed on you by some corporate execs at big fragrance.

Be free!

Edit: Should I have called it big fragrance or big stink? 😂

Male fashion in general is like this.

Women have all manner of clothes and accessories. Walk by 10 women on the street, and you will see 10 outfits.

Walk by 10 men on the street, on the other hand, and you will see 1 outfit: pants, a T-shirt, and maybe some kind of jacket. On rare occasions you'll see a business suit. And if you see more than one business suit, all of them will look exactly the same. Not a single accessory between the lot of them, unless earbuds count.

Boring!

Males in the wild also seem to more frequently use overtly offensive fragrances in quantities that would kill a small horse.

Must be the same dynamic that motivates them to drive loud, oversized vehicles.

Maybe this is gay thing but leather and campfire scents sound nice & hot, I wouldn't want my man smelling like artificial flowers and discount fruit juice. Or maybe it's the association where I find camping fun (smell of smoke) vs grocery store scents (I don't like masses of people) and pollen allergies (flowers).

No parfyme is always best though, people with good hygiene and natural (unique) scent is unmatched.

But in the end, nobody else has say in which shelf you buy stuff from.

I'm torn, initially I wanted to but at a leaked $99 it's a tad more than I'd want to.

I've actually started to use my Dualsense a tad more now too as finding more and more games support the haptic triggers which I do like.

Secret fourth option:

Maybe when my DS4s crap out because I'm very happy with those otherwise

Kinda waiting on reviews tho, I guess. I have a pair of the old Steam Controller and it was a pretty mixed experience with them. The new one seems to address some of my gripes but a big one was that the build quality on the old controller was not great. It just doesn't feel super good to hold etc...

Optimistic, still, really want these to be great

My "good" controller seems to have gone missing in the last month, so it's a well-timed replacement.

In the long run, I expect to have two, as the Steam Machine is also supposed to come with one - which is ok, I like some two-player games. But if I can get one now and they offer the Steam machine without, I'll likely go without.

My PC gaming is 99.99% RetroArch, and at the moment, my old PS3 controller works fine. I know it won't last forever though, so when I need a new one I'll likely be mulling it over between a Steam controller or something from 8bitdo.

Edit: forgot to say "reviews will play into that decision" 📊

It definitely costs more than I would like, but it really looks to be the ultimate controller for the steam deck, especially with the dual touch pads.

I usually use an Xbox controller but occasionally have to swap to a PS4 controller due to it having a touchpad.

I really think the steam controller will take the place of them both.