A History Of Fragrance...

    I wear Old Spice and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The classic Old Spice after shave and deodorant, not the anti-perspirant,it's a little gummy and I don't sweat much. They finally came out with a body spray (I bought three in case they quit making it) in the classic fragrance, it's pretty good but you can't beat the original and they still don't have body wash. Recent developments at Proctor & Gamble include a line of deodorants and body sprays to attract the youths. With names like Mountain Rush, Pacific Surge, Smooth Blast, After Hours, Glacial Falls, Pure Sport, Aqua Reef, Arctic Force and Showtime they're sure to attract a younger crowd. I've tried a few of these, but they just seem second rate and they quickly end up in the trash.

   I really can't recall my first bottle of Old Spice (the first bottle of C.C. is another story) but it wasn't always the only scent I had around. I remember the late seventies Disco Era, I bought a spray bottle of Jovan Musk probably the same day I bought my first pair of Le Coulotier (?) jeans. The really tight ones with no pockets, God only knows what we did with our keys and wallets, but I do seem to remember stuffing something into my knee high, tan platform boots.

    That bottle of Jovan drove the dollies wild, I think I had more compliments on that cologne than any other I've owned since. After that they came out with one called Sex Appeal, a little too overt and it rarely had the same impact. I've bought a bottle of  Musk since that time, the chemistry must have changed, or my nose, but it never smelled the same.

    In the early eighties I was given a bottle of Prince Matchebelli cologne for Christmas. I don't know who Prince Matchebelli is or if he was a real prince but I don't think he's alive today. Around this time a girlfriend I had worked in the pharmacy department at Woolco. I was picking her up from work one day and her boss, an older lady with really high hair and horn-rimmed glasses on a chain around her neck, said to me, "Here try this, it's new." It was my first bottle of Stetson, an instant classic, my girlfriend loved it. She's no longer in the picture and nothing smells worse than the stale stench of Stetson.

    It probably would have been some time in this period of my life the first bottle of Old Spice  made an appearance. Possibly an impulse purchase at the drugstore, the bottle is timeless. I never bought it because my Dad wore it, he had a brief stint with Grey Flannel because my Mom liked it, but he was never a cologne kind of guy. My Grandpa had some under the bathroom sink but he usually wore Aqua Velva. I've tried that too but I find it makes a better mouthwash than a fragrance. Speaking of Grandpa, it says on the new classic body spray, "The original.If your Grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist." 

     This brings me to one of the strongest arguments to not wear Old Spice and probably the only one. Nobody wants to remind their wife or girlfriend of  Dad or Grandpa when it's business time. I've asked girlfriends about this and most seem to like it's well known, musky scent. A quick side note. My sister wore Lauren it the eighties and my girlfriend borrowed some one night... not good.  

    The girlfriend I just mentioned decided I needed to smell and dress better so a complete makeover was in order. This new look included another Musk cologne that came in a square black bottle, I can't recall the manufacturer. She also bought me a bottle of Chanel For Men that she said her Dad used to wear. I'll leave that one alone. 

    Along the way I experimented with a variety of colognes and after shave products. I remember Bjorn Borg had a scent out in the late eighties called 6-0(six-love, get it ?) I quite enjoyed that one but where is it today, I ask you. There was was Polo (stinky), Hugo Boss (pungent but I quite liked it), Azzaro, Drakkar and who could forget Blue Sratos ?

      The early nineties brought me to Escape (after shave balm though, not the cologne)and Red. I spent a good amount of time wearing Fahrenheit (still a fave) and Eternity For Men (seems sickly sweet now though and evokes some quite unpleasant memories). A girlfriend brought me back a bottle of Jean-Paul Gautier when she was on a trip to London. It wasn't even out here yet, what a hipster. Old Spice even came out with another cologne called Pure Sport. It came in a cool bottle (I'm a sucker for packaging) but the scent left me empty and alone.     

      Recently, an almost full bottle of Boucheron ( you have to pronounce that one with a French accent) made it's way into the trash, the second time that's happened. I've even committed  the ultimate transgression, in what I could only call now a fit of utter madness, I sent a vessel of Old Spice to Davey Jones locker.

      Even as this is being written, vague recollections of other toiletries come to mind but none with any real lasting impression. A few years ago they deemed it wise to change the logo, and although I found forgiveness in my heart for that mistake, under no circumstances should the bottle design ever be changed. I believe around this time Proctor & Gamble also came up with an Old Spice Cologne. I gave that one a big 'whatever'.

     Like the old saying, " If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Old Spice is the only fragrance in my house now. It's scent has always been there, even if it was only in deodorant form, over the last twenty five years. It's comforting aroma has been with me like an old friend, through good times and bad, and has endured the ever changing landscape of fragrance. 

   Old Spice has a cool website... It's the first time I've tried to paste a link, hope it shows... 

   And remember kids, if squirrels didn't have cute fluffy tails there'd be panic in the streets...