My preteen nephew has just recently started to wear cologne and shopping for his upcoming birthday has sent me on a serious trip down memory lane. I started thinking about how scent is such an integral part of the human experience. Certain fragrances have the uncanny ability to change your mood or rekindle vivid memories of long ago. My father was big on wearing cologne. He always smelled good. In the 1970s, he always had a few bottles perched on the top of his dresser—Old Spice, English Leather, Brut, and Jovan Musk were forever in his personal rotation.
Naturally, Dad passed this habit on to my brother and me early on. I think I was all of eight or nine years old when “Santa” left me a small bottle of English Leather cologne in my Christmas stocking. And that was all it took. From then on, it became part of my daily routine to splash or spray on some kind of scent before leaving the house in the morning. I just don’t feel right without it.
When I started earning my own money as a teenager in the 1980s, my tastes got a little more bougie. I gravitated toward scents like Drakkar Noir, Quorum, and the original Polo cologne in the green bottle. These scents weren’t exactly top-tier men’s colognes back then, but to my friends and me, they were the height of luxury. A bottle of Drakkar costed quite a sizable chunk of our minimum wage salaries. But one or two compliments from the girls at school about how good we smelled? That was priceless. To be honest we would’ve probably sold our souls for that small bit of attention from the ladies.
To this day, the smell of Drakkar or Polo reminds me of warm summer nights out with friends—the drama of house parties, cigarette smoke and hormones in the air, learning how to hold my liquor, early rap music, and often regret.
By the early ’90s, with a proper salary in hand, I could afford to upgrade my fragrance game. Joop, Fahrenheit, Cool Water, and Eternity became part of my collection. Some people have that one signature scent, but I’ve never been a one-scent kind of guy. Those early ’90s years were just pure fun for me. They were the sweet spot in my life where I enjoyed the freedoms of adulthood without too many of the responsibilities. A different cologne for every mood just felt right.
In my forties there was Guerlain's Vetiver, Agua Lavanda, and a few others that are escaping my memory at the moment. I tend to have a conscious mental block on some of the memories from these years as they were some of my worst as a corporate employee.
Now that I’m in my fifties, my cologne rotation has leaned more to the mature side and includes Jermyn Street and Elite from the British house of Floris, and probably my favorite of all time, Tom Ford’s Oud Wood. I managed to snag a bottle of the latter when my brother worked for Saks Fifth Ave and got a generous employee discount. I use it sparingly now because, frankly, I won’t pay full price for it—it’s hella expensive.
Sadly, personal scents aren’t nearly as popular as they once were, especially here in America. It’s actually rare to catch a whiff of someone wearing perfume or cologne in public these days. Everyone here in the US seems to have some kind of allergy or aversion to personal fragrance. Yet, ironically, these same people think nothing of filling their homes with dozens of noxious Glade plug-ins or dousing their belongings with Febreze, which I’m convinced permeates your very soul with its toxicity. Don’t even get me started on Fabuloso.
Still, for me, cologne remains a small, indulgent ritual that anchors my day and ties me to memories of youth, family, and special moments. Personal fragrance might not be as trendy anymore, but for those of us who know how much it can "season" our lives, it feels just right.
What’s your favorite cologne or perfume and what memories do they hold for you?
Be well, make the most of this day. Thank you for reading!
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I looove perfume, for sure am not a gold or diamonds girl, but a gift of perfume is my absolute favourite! For Christmas, my youngest brother spoilt me with a Hermes collection of 5 different perfumes, heavenly!
I remember all those colognes, hubby also had some of them.
I used Revlon Charlie, my late uncle used to spoil me with more sophisticated perfumes. My favourite was Anais Anais.
I remember Charlie from my childhood! It was very popular. My Mom wore Chanel No. 5 when we were younger. Hermes is the good stuff! I think my favorite modern female scent is Le Labo's Santal 33, it's absolutely intoxicating.
I've not come across that, time to get back to that section in the big department stores and start trying out the samples. A good scent for sure makes my day!
Not only do I like to smell good, I also like guys to smell good. A man who smells good makes a difference. In our Caribbean countries it is normal for people to use colognes, perfumes, all kinds of lotions to smell good. I don't use only one perfume, I can use three at the same time. I love it when people stop me and ask me what cologne I use and they don't believe me when I tell them several. hahaha. Although I believe that everything is in the PH and that colognes are for certain times, moments. Right now I use a lot of Arabian fragrances, which have something sweet, floral, but also spicy. I can remember passages of my life, just by smelling some colognes and once, a student told me that he knew when I was somewhere, just by my smell. hahaha. I'm going to see what Tom Ford's Oud Wood smells like to get an idea of what you smell like. A hug, my friend (With cologne)
This is how it used to be in America too. Almost everyone wore some kind of fragrance up until about twenty or so years ago. When I go to Montreal I notice perfume and cologne is still in fashion (maybe because of the French influence?) and it's a nice change when I visit. You're so right about the PH! This is why certain scents smell better or worse on certain people. You'll have to let me know what you think of Oud Wood when you have a chance to try it! It smells much better on the skin than it does in the bottle. What kinds of perfume do you wear now? Thank you and I hope the week's going well!
great line. haha — often regret — yep.
My grandpa always used Brut. My dad never used anything. When I was a teenager I bought some sometimes, but I no longer remember the brands I tried. All the girls I knew in high school disliked cologne and complained about it whenever guys wore it, so I guess that combined with my dad not using it just kind of led me away from ever really getting into it.
I didn't know that personal scents aren’t nearly as popular these days in the US. Interesting. They have never been popular here, at least not for men. They give an image of yakuza or of a host bar, so most men won't wear it. Incidentally, Febreze, Glade, and all that stuff isn't popular here either. The Japanese would say it stinks of chemicals.
Thanks...I thought it summed up that phase of life for me. : ) Thankfully hangovers weren't too bad when our livers were still young and robust.
Brut was very popular! It was still very popular when I was in school (graduated in '89). I think the market has cooled off in the US a little more with each generation. It's good to know that home scents aren't as popular in Japan. They're extremely toxic. We've discovered they cause general inflammation throughout the body and put a heavy load on your liver.
Old Spice reminds me of my dad for sure. He doesn't wear it anymore, but he used to. I remember in the morning after he left for work the bathroom would just have this mixture of old spice and humidity from him taking his shower. I knew a girl who used to wear red and I remember I really like that. My wife wears Romance, so that will always be special for me. I have a bottle of Tommy that I only wear occasionally. I like Aqua Di Gio, but my wife's brother wears that, so she said I can't.
I remember the entire house (our house was small) smelling like cologne after my Dad got ready! I remember Red! Some of the girls in our H.S. wore Tatiana, Love's Baby Soft, and a few other drug store perfumes. We had a friend who wore Aqua Di Gio all the time. It's a good one.
My wife is a big fan of Tom Ford, but she sticks with Romance. If she passes before me I will likely keep a bottle of it around just to smell every now and then.
I also like to collect perfumes. And healthy usually have several bottles and from each bottle I usually fill around 10 ml and from each bottle I also take a different power
Scents and fragrances were part of my growing up too and I have grown to love them, making them a part of my outfit.
For me, they are often tied to specific memories, some remind me of happy times of childhood, especially Erato Cologne.
We have lemon, olive, tobacco and some other colognes. We offer to the guests; some men use it after shave :)
I really like the tobacco scents.
I've rarely worn a cologne but the ones my bothers wear smell really nice. Smelling nice can be a huge compliment to our dressing. It's good you enjoyed those days of your life and had a lot of fun that's why shopping with your preteen nephew brought back the memories. Happy birthday to him in advance.
Thank you!
My Dad was Old Spice, I do not think he wore anything else.
Old Spice was the "go-to" cologne for his generation. My great-uncle wore it too. From what I understand they've changed the formula now and are using less expensive/synthetic ingredients and people say it's not the same. People will pay big bucks for old bottles with the cologne still in them. I've seen them selling for hundreds of dollars online.
I could never look at a bottle without thinking of Dad. Now that it does not smell the same, it is sad, why can't they leave a good thing alone? never mind, I know the answer, money!!
Last month I saw a bottle at a yard sale when I was with my sister, I held it up and said what does this remind you of? Of course, she said Dad, and a couple of other ladies said their Dad, and we all laughed.
Now the laugh is on me, I might have left a hundred dollars there, she wanted 25 cents for it.
Now I know, thank you.
You're welcome! A lot of the big corporations just care about their bottom line now, sadly, and not as much about the product quality. The modern Old Spice smells decent for about five minutes then morphs into something else altogether. This Etsy link will give you a good idea of what the old bottles are going for now, some are on eBay too.
WOW, I will start watching for old spice items at yard sales. Thanks.
If parents do something special for their children on their birthday or other such event, then that time becomes more memorable for the girls, so parents should give some special surprise to the children.
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It is true that smells are part of our customs, traditions and bring back memories, especially from the time when we were teenagers because that good smell was an essential element to attract the girls we wanted to fall in love with.
When I eat, the memories of some smells bring my mother to my mind, and the same happens with other smells.
For me, my favorite cologne is still bebito, the one I used as a child and teenager because it reminds me of that time when I was tucked in by my mother. As an adult, I like the Cuban colognes Deportes and Diamante negro. I also like Antonio Banderas.
Happy day. Cheers and greetings.
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