Teen girls are not the only adolescents raiding the aisles of stores that once seemed firmly reserved for adults. While tween and teen girls are“Cologne has become a very big thing that I have no shame being into,” 15-year-old Clive, a fan of Le Labo’s ANOTHER 13, enthuses in the latest conversation of SheKnows’ “Be a Man” series. “I love cologne.”
My own 15-year-old son, Coby, frequently devotes entire paychecks from his part-time job at a local pizza joint to the purchase of luxury fragrances. He has them all meticulously arranged and prominently displayed in a clear plastic bin . He’s also bought himself a membership to Scentbird, a monthly cologne subscription service that delivers cologne samples in 8 mL vials .
According to Bruno, it’s not that far removed from the days of Axe Body Spray or Davidoff Cool Water, “but now there’s more brand awareness, particularly around higher-end, luxury brands,” she says. “In the past, young men were limited to the drugstore or department store and there weren’t many outlets through which to discover new scents. You could talk to your friends, scratch and sniff magazine ads, or walk around spritzing yourself in the store.
From a psychological perspective, the cologne trend isn’t surprising. Teenagers typically behave in ways that make them feel older and more mature. In an interview with, Dr. Kim Alexander, clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, noted that wearing cologne helps teens feel more like adults. “We all can recognize moments in our youth where we really longed for adulthood or really longed for that agency and autonomy.