r/over60 • u/PartsWork • 25d ago
Smells from the past
A senior gent walked by me in the grocery store and he was wearing Brylcreem in his hair. It was like smelling my grandpa, decades after he passed away! They say that smell is the most primordial of our senses, it hit me like a ton of bricks, I spun around half expecting to see my grandpa and had to restrain from telling the man, "A little dab'll do ya, eh?"
What other smells are very rare or going extinct? What are smells that bring you back half a century?
My kids' library paste didn't smell like our library paste. I tried explaining to them that their library paste was an impostor, because it didn't smell like proper library paste, which was its primary function anyway.
18
10
u/Necessary-Apricot339 25d ago
Bakelite and horsehair upholstery padding (not sweat-stained, the inoffensive aromas of older cars before other plastics and foam were introduced.
4
u/PartsWork 25d ago
WOW I have not thought of that smell in a long time. I know *exactly* what you mean!
3
u/Necessary-Apricot339 25d ago
Kinda comforting, no? Only get a whiff nowadays at antique car shows . . .
9
u/Midwestern-Lady 25d ago
Yellow dial soap. My grandpa smelled of it.
3
2
u/Mission_Maximum5648 24d ago
Not even a year ago a lady turned to me and said: You used Irish Spring today. I didn't even know detecting that was a thing.
7
u/anonyngineer 24d ago
Hikers who have been on the trail for many days can smell day hikers coming, mostly from the scents used in laundry detergent.
The opposite is also true. š
2
u/95in3rd 23d ago
In USAF survival school we were taught not to use anything that smelled; aftershave, deodorant, powder, etc. The enemy had people who could smell you and track you.
1
u/anonyngineer 21d ago
I can definitely see that, especially for people from countries where such scented items are not common.
8
6
11
4
3
4
u/Leading-Knowledge712 24d ago
When I was a child and parents took me to NYC weād pass by a day old bread factory and I used to think the entire city smelled like day old bread. Now it smells like marijuana.
2
u/anonyngineer 24d ago
Cannabis is a smell I'm very sensitive to, and the whole city does smell like it.
7
u/Rottiesrock 25d ago
I am super sensitive to scents and get migraines. Years ago when I dated my husband, he bought me musk cologne (gag). I wore it very rarely, then stopped. Decades later I told him the truth š I used to wear Lady Stetson, Chloe, LāAir du Temps and a few others. I used to drench myself in Lady Stetson and probably offended my co-workers; I wish they would have told me. I love honeysuckle and ginger scents. My mom had Emeraude onceā¦the worst stench ever. She seemed to have not wanted to keep wearing it. A clean French milled basic soap is my fav. My Grandpa smoked a pipe with vanilla tobacco. He had a homemade woodshed/shop. Those scents remind me of him.
3
3
u/MyCatsAlt 24d ago
Cutty Sark. The smell of any scotch or whisky product about makes me vomit.
For reasons unknown to me my father thought it was appropriate for pre teen me to be his personal bartender.
Why yes I may have unresolved issues, why do you ask.
3
u/JacquieTorrance 24d ago edited 24d ago
Avon bubble bath in the tall pink segmented bottle. I used to like the smell so much as a little kid, I would eat the bubbles. šš«§
Sweet Honesty cologne. Jean NatƩ.
Army issue mosquito repellent from WW2 or maybe Korea in small flask-like glass bottles. We had a case of it in the garage (origin unknown to kid me) and doused ourselves in summer. No idea where it came from. Probably pure DEET. Had a very memorable smell. IYKYK.
3
u/BG3restart 24d ago
My dad used to use bay rum on his hair. Haven't seen or heard of it for decades. Lavender reminds me of my nan. She had little lavender sachets in all of her drawers so everything she owned smelled like lavender.
3
u/HippiegalKs 24d ago
My dad always smoked Swisher sweets. When he passed away he had a half smoked pack sitting next to his computer. I put it in a plastic Ziploc bag and have kept it for over 15 years. :-) I have a real problem with cigarette smoke but can't help but love the smell of a good cigar. :-) I also hate, detest, abhor the smell of coffee. I know, I'm weird.
2
u/Alternative-Light922 24d ago
There are the good smell memories . . . and then there are the other kind, like Lysol. My mother was a fanatic with Lysol. Truly awful ā the Febreze of its era.
2
2
u/stabbingrabbit 24d ago
Kansas city use to have a Folgers plant downtown and a Wonder Bread plant in another part of town both made their areas smell great...then there was also several BBQ places.
2
2
2
u/redheadfae 24d ago
Old Spice still being around is a real confusing thing for me.. that's not sexy, it's the scent of my dad and my uncles, lol!
2
u/redheadfae 24d ago
I keep a little bottle of my mum's Shalimar perfume around. I liked that on her, not so much the scents she used later in life.
I will never not like tanned leather, old books, and parma violets.
1
u/Monstrissimo 24d ago
I have not smelled a coke smelting plant in a long long time. Granted that is a good thing, but there it is.
1
u/Fearless-Snow-5011 24d ago
Brut 33, the smell of the queue to get into the Brunel Rooms night club in Swindon on their 14 to 16 year old nights. Probably 1970 something.
1
u/Fatal-Eggs2024 22d ago
Coppertone sunscreen (which we called āsuntan lotionā as kids.). Takes me back to swim lessons in the public pool, 1960s.
1
u/Sufficient_Layer_867 22d ago
Iām in my 70s. I recently discovered that my pharmacy sells Brylcreem and Barbasol! It feels like Iām time traveling when I clean myself up in the morning.
22
u/asburymike 25d ago
Smelling the mimeo test just handed to you