Wait, Should We Not Be Rubbing Perfume Into Our Wrists?

You're just about ready for a big night out, but before you go, you reach for your signature fragrance. When you spray your wrists with perfume, you usually rub them together to spread the scent around, right? Ever since you first started wearing perfume, you've probably heard countless times to rub it in after spraying for one reason or another. We've seen our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and people in movies do it, so it makes sense to follow suit. But believe it or not, this actually doesn't offer any benefit to our perfume. 

There are a few perfume mistakes we all tend to make, and unfortunately, rubbing it in is one of them. Experts in the world of perfume actually advise against this age-old practice, as it causes the perfume to fade faster. Perfume does not often come cheap, so you want to make each spray count. Let's look into what you should really be doing with your perfume.

Chief commercial officer at The Fragrance Shop Natalia Ortiz explained to My Imperfect Life, "Rubbing your wrists together breaks down the chemicals and causes top notes to break down faster." The top notes of a perfume are the scents that you smell first — the smells that draw you to the perfume, like citrus or floral, according to FragranceX. When you rub your wrists together after spraying, you're missing out on why you probably bought the perfume in the first place. 

To Ortiz's point, award-winning perfumer Francis Kurkdjian agrees and tells Vogue that rubbing your perfume in is "very bad." The rubbing, he says, "heats up the skin, which produces natural enzymes that change the course of the scent." By creating friction and adding heat to the skin, the perfume isn't able to perform the way it's supposed to on your skin. Rubbing doesn't necessarily ruin the perfume, but it can dull the scent and make it fade more quickly. 

To allow your perfume to have its star moment and experience its full effect, the solution is simple. You don't have to do anything except spray and let it dry on the skin. This not only applies to the wrists but to other areas where perfume is sprayed, whether it's the neck, behind your ears, the back of your knees, or your belly. Let the perfume do its thing so everyone around you can experience the top notes, heart notes, and base notes. 

According to Osmoz, you should also avoid shaking your perfume before using it. Shaking can lead to air bubbles in the perfume, as well as harming the "kinetic energy of the moving molecules."

Don't feel silly if you've been rubbing your perfume in for ages; we've all gotten in the habit of doing so. But now, you may have an explanation for why your perfume hasn't lasted as long as you wanted it to.