London, Jun 2 (IANS): Want to appear more masculine? Wear a deodorant, says a new study suggesting that men who are perceived low in masculinity can significantly increase their standing by applying deodorant.

The findings showed that females are more sensitive or attentive to odour cues than males.

Men who were low in face masculinity significantly increased their odour masculinity by applying a deodorant.

However, for men who already had high levels of masculinity, wearing deodorant did not show an increase after deodorant application.

"This means that men are able to use deodorant to artificially raise their game so to speak, levelling the playing field by making themselves comparable, at least as far as odour is concerned, to more masculine men," said Caroline Allen, researcher at University of Stirling in Britain.

Also, all women who were wearing deodorant were rated as more feminine smelling by men compared to when they had no deodorant on.

"Our study found that when women apply a deodorant it does increase their rated body odour femininity," Allen added.

For the study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, the team analysed 130 female and male participants who rated facial masculinity and femininity using photographs.

Further, 239 men and women also rated odour samples of 40 opposite sex individuals.