Kimonos

I wish there was an excuse for wearing a kimono in public. They're so feminine and elegant!  However, wearing one in Tennessee or New Orleans (my two venues) is hardly practical.

Many people would misinterpret my wearing one as appearing in public in a bathrobe!  If I were to do that back home in New Orleans, I would qualify as a bona fide New Orleans eccentric, like Ignatius Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces or Blanche Du Bois, from A Streetcar Named Desire.

I don't make the age requirement to be a New Orleans eccentric for a while yet. But there is a reservation for one more in my family!  Anyway, there's always room for high-maintenance eccentrics in New Orleans. And we always depend on the kindness of strangers!

Another nagging thought: If I were to wear a kimono, would that be committing the grievous sin of cultural appropriation? Oh well, maybe I should just wear a beach jacket instead! Maybe the lesser sin is to appear the slob!

How To Dress Like a Skank

There's a dreaded description that women should avoid: being called a 'skank'! But just exactly do you avoid this dreaded description? I've done an internet search, so you won't need to; and here are some gentle hints, gentle reader, in case you might have been cast in that particular role in a Little Theatre production. You can style it convincingly if you keep in mind these things:

1.  You wear no normal blouses; all of your tops are crop tops.
2.  People tend to raise their eyebrows before telling you that your style is "daring."
3.  You have to borrow clothes from your sister or girl friend when you have a job interview.
4.  Your first date dress is long and conservative but somehow sheer.
5.  You wear fishnets to job interviews.

6.  None of your clothes are really daytime appropriate.
7.  The only difference between your lingerie and your Halloween costume is ears.
8.  You never wear flats; you always wear f-m shoes, (Or, for the polite, "I desire coitus shoes.')
9.  You put your clean clothes in the dryer so they shrink a little before you wear them.
10.  You sport Australian cleavage on campus or when clubbing.

11.  People always ask you if you're "cold."
12.  You feel like you're out of place in the grocery store or at the bank.
13.  When you dress in office clothes, you somehow come across like you are wearing fetish wear.
14.  Your clothes emphasize your tramp stamp.
15.  Wives shield their husbands from you.

16.  You insist on wearing that black bra only when you are wearing a thin fabric white t-shirt.
17.  No one mistakes you for a Young Republican.
18.  Clients grin at your boss and give him a thumbs up when they see you at work.
19.  The only difference between your winter and summer wardrobes is that you additionally wear tights in the winter.
20.  If you're a Southern girl, and you wouldn't wear it to a SEC football game, maybe you should question its appropriateness.

21.  What you wear is inappropriate for church or office wear in most settings.
22.  Your navel is displayed 24/7.
23.  Your skirt is so short that you have to make sitting into a major production.
24.  You view panties as inconvenient.
25.  You flaunt a whale tail.

26.  If you dare, if it's warm enough, and local laws allow, you can wear body paint or glitter instead of a top.
27.  You sport décolleté that makes it risky to bend over.
28.  Despite this, find an excuse to show that you can touch your toes or do downward facing dog.
29.  Wear a t-shirt with a provocative message, as "I wish these were brains."  
30.  Your navel piercing has dangling jewelry.

31.  You can use a scarf loosely tied around your breasts for a top.
32.  You consider brushing your hair to be optional.
33.  Likewise, shaving your legs is surely optional.  

These tenets are often tried by a certain class of turista in New Orleans. Here's some more advice on this.
       

A Demoralizing Form of Clickbait

Life can be hard at times; and most of us are not Home on the Range. We get discouraging words. Sometimes they're in the guise of what seems to be wise advice. But there's a cost. This so-called advice makes us question ourselves and doubt unnecessarily.

There's the point: There is a cheap and easy approach to writing an internet article: Compile an arbitrary list of things that people of a specific age (usually 30 or 40) should not wear or do. And be as bitchy as possible about it!

The moral for waste of time articles is: 'If it is bitchy, they will read it.'

Choices of women's clothes or accessories are often taken to task in these articles. Here's the usual suspects: yoga pants, miniskirts, bikinis, Uggs, F-M shoes, knee socks, scrunchies, large hoop earrings. and the like. Here's a representative list of fashion no-nos for women over thirty.  But guys are not immune: here's an article about what guys over 30 should not wear. These articles are simply subjective opinions; there is no hard and fast real life rule.

Well, guys: you might not emulate Johnny Depp in your sartorial choices.

But in general, I'll channel the Second Amendment purists on this one: They can take away my scrunchie when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

The Eyes Don't Have It

What do men fixate on when looking at a woman's face?

Research by Dr. Geoff Beattie of the University of Manchester found that men, upon first encountering a woman, would spend about half of the first 10 seconds looking at her lips upon first meeting her provided she's wearing red lipstick.

Men fixated on lips wearing pink lipstick for 6.7 seconds on average; and 7.3 for those with red lipstick. Unfortunately for Goth girls like Dethany in the comic strip On the Fast Track, he did not collect data on dark lipstick. 

If women were wearing lipstick, then men spent only about 0.95 seconds looking at her eyes and 0.85 seconds looking at her hair.

If the woman being viewed was not wearing lipstick, then the guys focused on her lips only for about 2.2 seconds. The moral of the story is to wear a little lipstick! Maybe they might pay less attention to what's below the neck too!

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/red-lips-hold-mens-gaze-longer-than-nude-ones-2150543.html

What Guys Think About Women's Swimwear

I won't pretend otherwise: young women's choices in swimwear are partly determined by how attractive or even how sexy they look in them. But what kinds of swimsuits do men really like?

As is my wont, I did research. I found an article in Marie Claire which reported on what 100 randomly selected men felt about different styles of women's swimsuits. Here's some findings regarding specific examples of swimwear:

String bikini: 74% of the guys like them; 26% feel they are too revealing or they make observers feel uncomfortable. Maybe it's the string. Are they more comfortable when they're double knot-tied? Maybe seeing the top tied with a single bow can be anxiety-invoking for some fellows! One told me so directly!

Standard bikini: 93% like them; and only 7% find them too revealing. This one seems to get the highest approval ratings and is a safe bet, in most cases. And this type of suit seems to be compatible with moderate exercise.

Bandeau top bikini: 89% of guys like them; 11% don't. This is also a safe bet.

Monokini: only 22% of guys like them. These are seen as kind of weird. 

Standard one piece: 61% of guys like them; but they don't like retro styles so much. Ditch the 1940's look.

High fashion bikinis just did not thrill guys at all. Plus I wonder about the bizarre tan lines that go with some.

Unfortunately, the Marie Claire article did not go into details about their sample of 100 guys: their ages, marital or parental status, or other dimensions that could bring a bearing on their responses. As a researcher, I like those little details.

With this in mind, I thought it would be sweet to ask my fiancé his opinion regarding the type of swimsuit he would prefer me to wear shortly after we we got engaged,  I figured that if we were to be a couple, then he definitely deserved to have input into what I wear.

A nice hybrid bikini style

A safe swimsuit style that can be worn for heavy exercise.

Garbage Can Gal

Mindy had one of those jobs where she was often overlooked. She was a teller at a bank. And to make it worse, she was assigned to handle the drive-through window. The work was tedious; mainly checking accounts, filing checks, and doubly counting the amounts of money to give to each customer.

Frankly, it bothered her that no one really noticed her. She decided to change her game through a walk on the wild side by going clubbing alone. (Not a prudent thing to do.)

But, she thought: "Suppose I get lucky, and hook up with somebody special and nice." It would be more convenient if I were to go alone. So she wore her alluring green-and-white microskirt, a halter top with a push-up bra for support, a red thong, and f-m boots.

As she was leaving her apartment, she remembered that it was time to put her garbage can by the curb and didn't want to miss getting it taken away. So, she diligently lugged the can to the curb while dressed in her daring finery.

Mindy noticed that guys from neighboring apartments were staring at her; and some even pulled out folding chairs in front of their apartments to watch her progression.

Well, discretion keeps me from the details of Mindy's night later on, but Mindy enjoyed the attention her sanitation duty provided before the evening started.

And the following week Mindy staged an encore performance with her garbage can prop. And this was for the audience already sitting in their folding chairs!

Mindy found her niche.

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Down in NO for a wedding. Worrying about weather and the pumps.

The Modern Fashion of Beards

The hirsute look is making a comeback on guys, after a long night since the late 1800's. Actually, the bearded look became really big during the Civil War; and sort of petered out in the early 1900's And definitely by the beginning of World War I.

From whence did this come? Is it a sign of the incipient rise of sectionalist strife; or did the price of razor blades reach critical mass? Or possibly there are a lot of latent hipsters out there that are lurking behind the camouflage of being accountants or attorneys? Or do hillbillies have a lot of secret admirers?

One reason that has not been raised much before is that some guys favor beards as a blatant sign promising virility on the part of the bewhiskered. In other words, "Have sex with me and I'll ring your chimes every time!" Now that can be as obvious as carrying a sign! And that might explain why lumberjacks are so popular. 

And some Freudian might equate a shave of the whiskers as the guy equivalent to bikini waxing. Do the bearded also prefer the au naturel look for women too? Someone should look into this, because bikini waxing is darn painful! Now that's a 2017 quid pro quo for you!

In the meantime sports figures tend to grow whiskers in profusion. Even the Mariners and other also-ran teams.

Do you think that William Thomson, Lord Kelvin was sexy? You might be susceptible to the lure of the beard! Or perhaps the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics! Entropy, anyone?

Modern Reassessments of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs has been around for over 75 years and is still a basic tenet in motivational theory and humanistic psychology. While it can be critiqued in various ways, it is also helpful to remember that it has served as a springboard for conceiving of different hierarchies. So let us start off at Ground Zero for this kind of thinking.

At the apex of the pyramid are the self-actualization needs. The need to realize all of your potential. Some lucky souls get to be this way. The rest of us just plod along.

Immediately below actualization needs are the psychological needs for esteem and love and belongingness.

Ad in the lowest levels are the safety needs and the physiological needs. These cannot be downplayed!

The introduction of the internet has added a few more needs below that. Like WIFI and a functioning battery. Preferably a secure WIFI connection, if I might be choosy.

The internet itself has spawned a new set of demands and needs. These can be arranged in a hierarchy of needs

. 

That important California area, Silicon Valley, has its own hierarchy of needs.

To consider a particular, shopping for a bra requires effort and concentration. It should be supportive, comfortable, and make a good appearance under your clothes. It should keep its contents stable and not jiggling much. Lastly, it should feel good on your skin. Is it too extreme to talk about Boob-actualization? Try wearing an ill-fitting bra for an hour or so before you answer. 

I guess it can be tough being a guy sometimes. They even have their own social hierarchy of needs to worry about:

Let's not forget other needs in any self-actualization that might be going on:

Rhinestone-Studded Bikini Tops for Mardi Gras

Ahh, Mardi Gras! It's that special time in New Orleans when you can play dress up in outlandish costumes, and drink on the streets while watching parades. It occurs on the day before Lent, when we are supposed to repent our doings of the weeks before plus the hangovers. 

I found these cute tops on sale at Etsy. These are in case you want to go as a samba dancer or showgirl, and still be decent, at least by New Orleans Mardi Gras standards.  The first one is available in the normal range of different sizes!

Guys are not likely to cop a feel on the street if you wear this one:

This one is nice:

The next one, alas, comes only in D-DD. So you have to be a big girl for this one. Still, it's pretty. 

Actually, any of these would rock the grocery store on a Wednesday morning. Of course, February 28th is the real Mardi Gras where these tops are likely to find favor. March 1st Ash Wednesday also, anyone?

What Does the Color of Your Bikini Say About You?

Simplistic measures of personality abound in the pseudo-psychology world; and occasionally those based on colors occasionally appear. The old Lüscher Color Test was one of these.

Recently, an article appeared in Bikini.com proposed that someone's personality would influence what color bikini she would choose to wear. Now this is nothing more than a quasi-typology; namely, that there is a type of personality who would wear a red bikini while others might choose a yellow one or a violet one, or so on. There are several presumptions in play; namely that personality is a primary determinant of swimsuit color choice and that.

But is it that simple? There are a number of things that might come into play: skin tone, fashion, availability, cost, the elusive 'different' look, boyfriends' preferences, and just plain desire for variety. Like an outfit in your school's colors, even. Not to mention patterned ones! And sometimes momentary whim enters into consumer behavior, within monetary constraints.

I guess there's a moral here, if I may be granted the plenary indulgence of trying to extract a moral from bikini choice. (Usually morals and bikinis are combined in a different, more censorious context.) The moral is, don't assume simple answers are available.

"The truth is seldom pure and never simple."
                                        -- Oscar Wilde

I'm afraid that we're living in a time when people are looking for simple, all-inclusive solutions to national and social problems; and this tendency has make a mess of our political, social, and cultural life. Some of it is intellectual laziness and the desire for panaceas. (Panacea is on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and nowhere else.)

I guess I made too much from a fun sales article. But I'm loosely free-associating about something that kind of stuck in my craw of late. Pardon my running off the rails.

Besides, what does a white bikini signify?

The "Ugliest Color" in a Fashion Statement

Recent research has revealed that Pantone 448 C (opaque couché) has been rated by over 1,000 people as the world's ugliest color. Here's a color square of this much-maligned color from which you may draw your own conclusions:

To me, the color does resemble that of cat poop; hardly one to paint a bedroom in; but maybe a cell for ISIS terrorists or serious masochists. 

Given those kinds of associations, it it surprising that opaque couché can serve as a fashion statement:

Risk-taking and edginess have always been in the world of couture; but this is certainly a bold move! Wearing red or yellow is regarded as a bold statement, not without risks. But the woman who wears an opaque couché garment radiates a confident message: "I'm so beautiful and charismatic that I can dare to wear a dress that is the color of cat or baby poop!"

Chastity Belts for Guys

I think we're seeing the end times possibly. The end cannot hold. Some rough beast or other is plodding down to Bethlehem to be born.

No, it's not some Yeatsian cataclysm; just an everyday news item from Tennessee. Now I thought that New Orleans was odd; and Southern Mississippi had its moments. And North Carolina is capable of its moments. And, truly, California comes up with surprises now and then. But Tennessee takes the prize!

At least no one here still thinks that they are in Kansas any more.

I'll get on track. A few days ago, the Knox News reported that in Anderson County, Tennessee the Highway Patrol stopped a guy on suspicion of D.U.I. The man was outlandishly dressed wearing "red mesh see-through hose" and "a little skirt." Later it was identified as a tutu. Furthermore, he was wearing a locked chastity belt! A key was worn around the neck of his passenger, who was also intoxicated!

Unreported is where they came from or were going.

She was not arrested. He makes his appearance in court on July 12th. I wonder if he will wear his tutu to court. I will follow this one up.

Do things get stranger than this? Where, pay tell, did these desperadoes find a chastity belt for guys? Hey, I was so curious that I looked it up for you. You can get this from Amazon, among other places:

It doesn't look very comfortable.

Incredible! I had led such a sheltered life. Catholic school will do that to you.

Adding Diversity to Barbie Dolls

That old standby Barbie, much maligned by some feminists, recently underwent additional alternatives to its varieties, including Normal-Sizes Barbie and others with diverse skin tones and others.

But Barbie comes with different occupations and lifestyles, too. Why not Barbies going on the wild side of life? Artist Sarah Haney arranged several photographs of Barbie going on the dark side. Some of those are NSFW-ish, so be forewarned!

The pastel world of Barbie has not been immune from local satirization, also. Several years ago Big Sky Heidi shared some of these alternatives according to the northwest Alabama region called The Shoals. Definitely a non-PC commentary on local lifestyle stereotypes! 

Some Barbies have generated controversy. Most strongly, Tattoo Barbie!

On the other hand, Barbie made the 50th Anniversary of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Not too shabby!

So what? Barbie has become something of a litmus test for what is acceptable or not in terms of behaviors. Her swimsuit for the 'cover' was quite modest, by Swimsuit Issue standards. And disappointing for beach gawkers.

Vacation Breasts

As bizarre as the idea might seem, Dr, Norman Rowe, a plastic surgeon, is proposing the idea of "vacation breasts" for women who might want temporarily to upgrade their profile. Specifically, these are temporary breast enlargements that result from saline injections in the bosoms that are projected to last about two weeks or so before the saline solution is absorbed away. The procedure at the present time doesn't last that long; but the doctor claims that tweaking the procedure will result in positive results for the full two weeks.

The cost? About $2500 per time; and the procedure takes only about 20 minutes to complete. For most of us, this is a vacation luxury that we cannot afford. After all, why not adopt permanent ones for $6000? (I may buy a new swimsuit and sun blocker to prepare for summer; but that's about it with my limited budget.)

Anyway, the absorption process does begin eventually; and there's no guarantee that absorption will occur with both at the same rate. Imagine having unbalanced boobs!

But while vacation breasts might be an expensive self-indulgence for some ladies, perhaps job interview breasts might be a strategically financial strategy! However, if you're wearing a power suit to an interview, strategically employing bra inserts would work just as well with a fraction of the costs!

Research on Breast Size Preferences

It is well-known that men (and teen boys) have this fascination with female breasts, as can be seen with the popularity of Playboy-type magazines, breastaurants, and television programs. Undeniably, this is a factor in mate selection; but it's no simple equation: larger = better! Fortunately, psychologists in institutions with research funds to burn and permissive human subjects committees have attempted to discern some major truths in this matter. 

There are practical considerations to go with this interest: (1) the average bra size of an adult woman has dramatically increased from 34B to 34DD in the past 20 years or so; (2) more than 250,000 women per year receive breast augmentation procedures. Clearly, there is a significant trend going on.

So what do we know about men who prefer them large, as opposed to those who have more modest preferences? Lots of things:

(1) Hungry men prefer larger breasts, according to Malaysian researchers Swami and Tovée. This may relate to food supply insecurity. They are most strongly fixated on bigger hooters before meals, and less so later. (This could be exploited by television programming.)

(2) Sexist men prefer larger breasted women. This translates into traits as preferring traditional femininity, hostility towards women, and benevolent sexism. We can infer, therefore, that less well-endowed women might draw fewer jerks!

(3) Men who more strongly want to become fathers prefer larger breasts on women; men who are not as inclined prefer smaller breasts on their ladies.

(4) Financially more secure men tend to prefer smaller breasts on women, while those less secure tend to prefer them bigger. Is this a form of compensation?

Interestingly, a woman's breast size had no effect on the amount of time males' eyes tracked her chest. In other words: whether you're large or small, the eyes of Texas are upon (your boobs)! 

Ladies, the fact that you have breasts that might be stared at by guys might confer certain health benefits to them. Therefore, you might consider yourself a gratis health care provider!

Here is another health care provider taking advantage of this technique of alternative medicine:

Finally, research on breast implant size chosen for augmentation surgery indicated that size chosen was affected by current breast volume, goals, body habits, and possible breast sagging. In the warmer states like Texas, Florida, and California, average implant size ranges from 300 cc. to 425 cc. In the Midwest and Northeast, breast implant size ranges from 250 cc. to 350 cc. In Europe and Asia, the average breast implant size ranges from 200 cc. to 300 cc.

In the United States, most women who choose breast augmentation surgery aspire to C-cup breasts.

Equality in Spring Break / Swimsuit Coverage

It's almost an annual thing for the media; much like those end-of-the-year lists or light items during the silly season. Each Spring it's time for them to avail themselves in that for sure readership or viewership elevation: pictures of college students relaxing, partying, or sunbathing on the beaches of warmer places. (Do they do Spring Break on Lake Huron or Cape Cod?) And 80% - 85% of the scenes feature girls in bikinis.

But I think it's high time to give us ladies equal viewing pleasure. How about at least parity by having at least half of the pictures featuring hot guys? Now that is something that a lot of us could go for.

Strangely enough, al.com seems to be doing its part with their guy/gal quotient. But come on, other media forms, do your part too! Is this some kind of sex bias in editorial decisions that makes this unequivocal bias taking place? It seems that there is some sex bias even in the so-called progressive newspapers and staid conservative outlets. Both types do like to sugar coat their coverage of Spring Break by mimicking sounds of disapproval to satisfy the essential puritanism of their audiences, but we know where their hearts and minds are, don't we?

Maybe the ancestor of all of this emphasis on female bodies to the non-coverage of males' bods, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, should be persuaded into a swimsuit issue featuring both women and men wearing skimpy swimsuits or body paint. That would be a real giant step on the path to sexual equality! 

This is my 1000th post. It took me six years to do it!

Senator Heflin's Press Release

Senator Howell Heflin used to represent Alabama in Washington years ago, in addition to having been a Justice on the Alabama Supreme Court.

This press release was issued by then-Senator Howell Heflin's office on July 19, 1994. That morning, the Senator had been dining in the Capitol with some Alabama reporters, and suddenly felt a sniffle coming on. The reporters were astonished when the Senator reached into his pocket, pulled out a bit of fabric and began to wipe his nose with ... a pair of ladies underwear.

However, the Senator handled it well.

Here's  a press release he issued:


STATEMENT OF SEN. HOWELL HEFLIN

HANDKERCHIEF

JULY 19, 1994

I mistakenly picked up a pair of my wife's white panties and put them in my pocket while I was rushing out the door to go to work.

Rather than take a chance on being embarrassed again, I'm going to start buying colored handkerchiefs.


GOOD SAVE, SENATOR!

A Possible Failure of the Anita Loos Effect

Years ago, author and screenwriter Anita Loos wrote Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which was made into a Marilyn Monroe movie years ago. This effect was later used to  explain why blondes disproportionately appear on magazine covers and on Fox News; and the fear of which may be a contributing factor to some of the anti-blonde sentiment.

Anyway, D. I. Kyle asked 136 college students to rate a job application resumé featuring a picture of a 40-year old blonde woman applying for an accounting position. Some of the applications featured the woman with her natural hair coloring, while others had her hair tinted brunette or red-headed.

In general, subjects who were given pictures of the woman as a brunette tended to rate her as more competent and be inclined to offer a larger salary than if her photograph depicted her as a blonde or redhead. I guess college students playing potential employment assessors tend not to live up to the Anita Loos Effect.

Kyle also found that the woman in the picture tended to be rated higher if she was not wearing make-up. Apparently, this was interpreted as a sign of more seriousness or competence.

Several things I'm considering:

1.   Which cues the women participating as raters used in rating the person; and whether they showed a different pattern from the men? This might impact hiring practices, particularly if women predict employment success better than men.

2.  Would this result be replicated using a younger woman as the possible test stimulus?

3.  Should I tint my hair a chestnut color?

The Flaunting of Navels

Something I never reckoned with before: apparently the flaunting of feminine navels is a recent trend that was once considered controversial. Having lived most of my life in the Britney Spears Epoch, I was not aware of this historical omphalophobia (fear of belly buttons).  But it apparently was once the case; actresses in old movies when wearing two-piece outfits were careful to cover their offending navels with high-riding bottoms or navel jewels. Yes, Kim Novak and Joan Collins demurely covered theirs with navel jewels; and some cast members of Gilligan's Island did likewise. Even the old beach movies like Gidget and Beach Blanket Bingo featured nary a belly button. Yes, even Walt Disney movies went to the tune, "Yes, We Have No Navels"; not until The Little Mermaid were they different.

Advice columnist Ann Landers came out against navel exposure as bad taste.

Even in these more open times, Taylor Swift generated some further curiosity and controversy by deliberately avoiding exposing her navel.  Apparently, if nowadays, people notice that they never saw it, they begin to wonder why. I think the astute Ms. Swift managed another publicity coup by doing a subtle mini-Garboesque move. (Taylor Swift has abundantly demonstrated that she is smarter than the average bear!) In short, she was messing with people.

A little factoid about navels (umbilicuses): about 90% have "innies," about 10% have "outies." Having an "outie" or an "innie" apparently is not an overwhelming handicap to an acting or modeling career; however, some women have opted for umbilicoplasty (navel surgery) for esthetic reasons. Researchers at the University of Missouri have found that a vertically ovoid umbilicus in a 54-46 ratio was the most pleasing.

So who was the first major navel flaunter? Apparently, it was Brigitte Bardot. Was that the less-cited reason why And God Created Woman achieved such notoriety, or was it from The Girl in the Bikini?

Now this omphalophobia seems to be restricted to feminine navels. Guys can display theirs without blame. Could the open display of feminine belly buttons nowadays be a by-product of the feminist movement? This is something to contemplate before the 2016 swimsuit season.

Who knows, maybe 2016 may be the last hurrah of the openly-displayed umbilicus. God knows what the new political landscape will allow.

Another Kind of Insect Repellant

 Researchers at New Mexico State University, trying out various substances' ability to repel mosquitos, found the usual DEET-based chemicals were effective in repelling those annoying pests. Non-DEET repellants did not work so well.

They also found that two other substances worked as well: Victoria's Secret Blockbuster and Avon Skin So Soft Bug Guard.

This has  particular significance because of one of the species effectively repelled was Aedes eygptii, the carrier of the yellow fever virus. Yellow fever occurred several times in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, particularly in New Orleans and Philadelphia. The Asian tiger mosquito was also effectively repelled. These species may also carry dengue fever and chikungunya.

It's very likely that other perfumes may have this effect. I am not scientifically dedicated enough to try this out with Poême.
                                               



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