For today's generation of teenage boys, fragrance is no longer an afterthought (or a stash of Axe box sets collated from last-minute Christmas presents gifted by distant relatives)—it's the password to an exclusive club that every adolescent male wants to be a part of. While girls as young as 12 are becoming self-proclaimed beauty experts and searching for the next best retinol certainly not suitable for their skin, young boys are leaving their mark (and scent) on the $62.11 billion global fragrance market, seeking high-end smells that define notes of their personalities.In 2024, fragrance was the fastest growing category across the beauty industry, with teenage boys driving 26% of this increase. In the US alone, 44% of boys ages 12 to 14 (Gen A) and 57% ages 15 to 17 (Gen Z) report using fragrance up to three times a week. For many of these young males, scent has become such a priority that they’re willing to splash the cash (beyond their parents wallets) to create saturated luxury scent collections, picking up part-time work to fund their fragrance feats.“My 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 (ironically, the only tidy spot on his desk),” explains beauty editor Ria Templeton.