Holyfreaks just made a post and I've decided I'm going to steal it for this week's because I also want to know the answer. What do you think Sam and Dean smell like? Either what they smell like in the real life way, or in the unrealistic fancy omegaverse way.
(Feel free to add other characters if you have other ideas and want extra credit)
@silver9mm has the best answers to this question but I will give it a shot based on a few headcanons I have
Obviously, first of all, they often smell like sweat. Unwashed roadtrip in a car with no AC sweat. hunting sweat mixed with mud and blood and god knows what. Haven’t washed these jeans in 2 weeks sweat. Et cetera. clean workout sweat, on occasion.
Then there’s the herbs and spells and oils and hex bags and what not. The on-purpose stuff to hide their natural scents or bless them and protect them. The accidental stuff, like a tipped over jar in the trunk that made the car and its occupants smell faintly like some half-rotted mix of earthy weird for years after the mess was cleaned up. Candle wax: usually they get unscented but one time Dean accidentally bought vanilla ones. Whatever holy oil smells like. I think Dean smells more like this stuff than Sam.
The smoke. So many things burned on the job, including rotting bones and bodies. That’s gotta be cloying. If the car is parked nearby with windows cracked and the wind changes direction? Oof. But on better days it’s just woodsmoke.
Dirt. Dust. Mud. Petrichor. All that.
The booze! Did you SEE all those beer cans around the motel room in DSOTM? There is a layer of sticky sweet barroom floor to the winchester family scent, okay.
Whatever they’re smoking. Weed. Cigarettes. I don’t headcanons that they smoke anything often but I am also a square who never picked up a habit of smoking anything in my life so my opinion on this isn’t particularly noteworthy.
Then there’s the weapons and gear. Guns, obviously. Gunpowder. But having grown up with a military parent who had an extensive amount of gear he just oops stole brought home and army surplus that he purchased? Let me tell you, that stuff has a distinct smell. It’s not a bad smell unless mildew gets to it but it’s distinct. I really don’t know how to describe it. Maybe it’s a waterproofing chemical. Maybe it was old cologne rubbed off on stuff, too, and whatever soap. Idk. The easy answer is it all smells like the inside of a running military helicopter, which is a surprisingly pleasant going-to-give-you-cancer kind of smell. It all smells like missing your dad…
The car herself. That greasy old car smell. The vinyl seats. The heat in the summer. The heater trying its best in the winter. Vintage cars smell like their people but they also make people smell like vintage cars.
And then lastly, what’s the difference between the brothers other than their diets? Sam supposedly has fancy shampoo but Dean likes to steal it. If one of them has a fragrance or deodorant or mouth wash, the other is going to end up borrowing it. They probably try to keep from smelling like monster food but when they do the FBI routine they like to clean up sharp, that probably includes aftershave or cologne yk.
I do headcanon that Jess bought Sam some Polo Blue as a Christmas gift or birthday gift. I doubt it survived the fire but maybe he bought it again. Maybe Dean bought him a refill eventually. In Whiskey Kisses, Dean thinks of Sam’s aftershave like: “[He] wore a fancy kind that smelled like someone shoved a humid summer evening into a jar of crushed melons and black tea.” That’s just Polo Blue, Dean, you can try some.
Oh. And BLOOD. Obviously. Depending on the era. Sam did not get through the demon blood arc smelling like Bath&Body Sweatpea Blossom body butter, I can tell you that much.
