Why cant you smell your own perfume or aftershave after a few minutes?

It's called olfactory fatigue. The receptors in your nose ';get used'; to smelling it, so your brain just shuts them off to the point that you don't smell that stuff any more. If you were to pull your wrist up to your nose, you'd smell it again for a bit.





It's a biological safety valve so your nose can be ready to smell more important things, like danger (or food!!).





It's the same reason we can't smell our own body odor or bad breath... or our own cigarette smell.Why cant you smell your own perfume or aftershave after a few minutes?
your brain starts blocking out stimuli that it encounters constantly or continuously. For example, most people don't notice any particular smell in their own homes, but when you go to a friend's house, you immediately notice its unique smell.


Same goes for noises. I have a clock in my home that chimes every 15 minutes, so I don't even hear it anymore. But, when I have friends over, they keep commenting on it.


Your brain just decides it must not be important after a while. Why cant you smell your own perfume or aftershave after a few minutes?
Because you get used to it.