Men's Fragrances over The Decades - A Personal History Thread

[MineralMan]

High school boys seem to have an affinity for AXE scents these days, despite pretty much every woman I know saying that they loathe the stuff. I don't know that I've ever smelled it, since I'm almost never voluntarily in the vicinity of adolescent boys. But it made me wonder about the trends in men's after-shaves, colognes and other fragrances over the decades. So, this thread is for people to identify the scents of their own youthful adolescent days, when almost any fragrance was superior to "Eau de Stinky Boy."

My high school years ran from 1959 to 1963. When I shaved, I always splashed on some Mennen Skin Bracer as an antidote to other aromas emanating from my skinny. disgusting self. That was my fragrance of choice, and I didn't hear any complaints from the girls I dated. Still, I smelled it the other day in the local Walgreen's and can't imagine putting such a thing on my skin at age 71.

So, what were the manly scents of your youth? Just a switch from nonstop threads about Donald Trump...

And, if you're of the female persuasion, please add your comments about what those high school boys splashed on their skin in your high school days.

[CentralMass]

1. Im in my mid-fifties but have used Old Spice for many years.

[MineralMan]

6. Yeah, Old Spice was around in my day, too.

I was trying to remember what scents the girls wore, too. I know that one girlfriend wore White Shoulders sometimes, because I asked. But I don't really remember any others. from the early 60s.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I remember Old Spice, which I rather liked in small doses,

but a bit later there was also something called Hai Karate, which was apparently applied by the gallon and smelled like a combination of patchouli oil and bug spray. English Leather was also kind of nasty, as I recall. I knew a guy in college who used one called 4711, which I liked. I think it had a lot to do with the amount used, which is true of women's fragrances as well. If you bathe in it you'll smell like an accident at the refinery.

[MineralMan]

7. 4711 is still around, too.

Hai Karate was after my time, as was Brut. By then, I had stopped shaving and never used anything again.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. 4711 is very old, first created in 1799.

Hai Karate and Brut came out in the '70s, by which time I'd graduated from college, but I do recall the stench of Hai Karate from having to share an elevator at work with someone who had marinated himself in it.

[MineralMan]

15. Wow! If it has survived that long, it must be OK.

Interesting.

[yallerdawg]

3. Remember 'Hai Karate'?

I've got Mennen Skin Bracer in my cabinet right now, and the ladies still don't mind!

[MineralMan]

8. Yeah, I was surprised to see it still available at Walgreen's.

My wife likes Red, so I was looking for that there. She doesn't wear scents very often, though, so I decided to check. She still has some. I bought something else.

Glad to hear that women still like it OK.

[Dave Starsky]

58. Walgreen's has Hai Karate?!

Where are my car keys? That stuff was awesome!

[haele]

4. When I was going to High School, the boys liked Brut and Hi-Karate.

Unfortunately, both turned into Eau de Wet, Angry Polecat with the slightest bit of exertion made by stinky teenage boys. Particularly bad when part of the marching band...

(Luckily, I was in Orchestra, but Marching Band practiced in the morning the period before Orchestra, and those guys in both would come in without showers...)

Haele

[MineralMan]

12. Yes. Stinky boy sweat did battle with many scents.

And I remember marching band practice, too. However, my next class after band was PE, so I got a shower.

[leftyladyfrommo]

56. I hate Brute.

Too strong. Gives me a horrible headache.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. When I was in high school the boys that wore aftershave usually used

what their dad used, Old Spice or Aqua Velva.

[MineralMan]

9. Say, I remember Aqua Velva. Never used it, though.

I have no earthly idea why I picked Mennen Skin Bracer. Maybe someone gave me a bottle to mask other aromas. I don't know. Probably my mom.

[DawgHouse]

10. I love Old Spice but only on my Dad. It smells weird on everyone else!

When I was a little girl, I'd buy my dad a bar of Old Spice shave soap for his shave mug every Christmas. He dutifully used it and I used to like to sit in the bathroom on a stool while he shaved. Whatever they are selling today is not the same, though. They've altered it.

But my sweetheart in HS wore Pierre Cardin and I thought he was the best smelling guy in the world.

[Caliman73]

13. Different upbrining

I was in high school from 1987 to 1991. I was also born to a mother who loved clothes and beauty products. Therefore, my fragrance experience has been extensive. Manly I don't know, but they were fragrances for men.

Polo Classic (the Green Bottle) was a major hit in the year before and first year of high school

I became more of a Calvin Klein man myself choosing to wear Obsession for Men, then Eternity with others thrown in.

My Senior year to be different from most of the guys who were wearing Eternity, I actually went for an odd choice and used Fahrenheit by Christian Dior. It was an interesting scent.

[drmeow]

48. I have been known

to turn around an follow men who walked by me wearing the original (presumably classic) Polo (OK, not really but boy was I tempted sometimes!) Something about the way that smells makes me go YUM.

[stopbush]

14. Brut was widely used by students when I was in HS. It smelled like penguin piss.

True story: somone once gave me Brut as a gift. I put it on my dresser, never used it. But because it was on my dresser, my family assumed I liked it, so every birthday and Xmas, someone got me another vial of the wretched stuff until I had half a dozen of them on my dresser. I finally chucked them out en masse, which ended the perception problem.

IIRC my cologne/aftershave of choice in hs was something called British Sterling.

[MineralMan]

16. I have to wonder where you smelled penguin piss.

I don't believe I'm familiar with that aroma.

You're right, though, about people giving you the same thing again and again. But, hey, it's the though that counts, right?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. I'd guess it's kind of fishy-smelling. I don't remember any men's fragrances

that smelled fishy - Brut and Hai Karate and those other popular but horrible colognes tended to smell more like somebody used jet fuel to start a fire at the Yankee Candle factory.

[MineralMan]

20. And that stuff changes with body chemistry, too.

I remember one horribly embarrassing time. I was playing in an honor band, and was all dressed up for the concert. For some reason, the detergent my mother had used on my shirt reacted with nervous sweat under my arms and created a combination of noxious aromas I had never before experienced. It was truly vile. The other oboist, unfortunately, was really cute, but she kept leaning away from me during the concert. I was mortified, to say the least.

The questionable joys of the teen years...

[BeyondGeography]

27. That's why they called it Brut, by Faberge

French penguin piss was more marketable.

[TheBlackAdder]

34. Brut! Yeah, I remember that in my parent's medicine cabinet too.

[leftyladyfrommo]

57. I remember British Sterling.

I liked the way it smelled

[jcboon]

18. Sam Malone's cologne

In Cheers episode 4, season 11 Sam Malone reveals his signature cologne, "It's a special blend: Old Spice, Hai Karate, and something that takes spots out."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hai_Karate

[pipi_k]

36. Hahahha...

and something that takes spots out."

Sort of an embarrassing (for me) story...

my last job I worked in a small office. One day our photocopier was on the fritz. A guy came in to fix it.

As I passed him in the hallway on my way to the kitchen, I remarked on how great he smelled and asked him the name of the cologne he was wearing.

And...story of my life...he said he wasn't wearing cologne and what I was smelling was the cleaning fluid.

oops.




Oh, and in a time long ago my then-sister in law used "Emeraude" I loved it on her, so I bought some and used it all the time.

Well.

Some people's skin doesn't mix well with certain scents, and mine didn't like Emeraude. Some guy said it smelled like bug spray on me.

But...even some of the expensive stuff stinks on me. I hate the smell of "Shalimar", and "Joy" positively REEKS on my skin.

[skypilot]

19. In high school...

...there was a guy in one of my classes who wore a cologne that, to me, smelled like cheap cologne mixed with piss. And he wore a LOT of it. One day I asked him what the cologne was and he told it was Lagerfeld. I swore I'd never touch the stuff. Years later, I smelled a cologne on someone and I thought it was a very masculine and sexy smell. I asked the guy what it was and he said Lagerfeld. Apparently, the smell of that particular cologne seems to go a bit "off" if you put on too much of it. It doesn't simply smell too strong, it smells different. "Cheap cologne mixed with piss" different. I encountered another person who wore too much of it and it smelled exactly the way it smelled on the guy in school. If worn in moderation--as all fragrances should be--it's the sexiest cologne I've ever smelled.

[MineralMan]

21. Could be a body chemistry reaction, too.

I think different scents smell different on different people, maybe.

[pipi_k]

38. They do...

as I remarked above.

Some of the expensive stuff really does smell putrid on me, which is why I stick to my three most favorites that get lots of compliments.

[Brother Buzz]

22. Lectric Shave

Not really a fragrance per say, but enough residual scent remained after shaving to leave a pleasant smell to last all evening. I can't even begin to describe the smell, but I have fond memories of it. I stopped using it when I was forced to switch to a double edge razor when I was drafted into the service.

If it wasn't for those damned 'safety seals' I'd go visit a drug store and open a bottle of it to jog my smell memory.

[MineralMan]

23. I think I remember that smell.

But, as you say, I'd have to actually sniff it to be sure.

I stopped shaving for good in 1969, so there are no shaving products in my house for men. Just the pink disposable razors my wife uses. We have a lifetime supply of those, thanks to Costco. Buy a big bag of them and you'll never need to buy them again.

[Brother Buzz]

43. I stopped shaving eleven years ago when I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer

Six years ago my oncologist got to say something he rarely says, "You're cured", but using pigeon logic, growing a beard cured me so I refuse to shave.

But wearing a full beard does have its drawbacks during the holidays because everyone wants to rope me into playing Santa, "Bah Humbug!".

[pipi_k]

40. Well what the hell...

buy yourself a bottle and splash a little bit on your pillow at night.

I like putting different scents on my pillow from time to time.

[Paladin]

24. Hai Karate and English Leather.

Pretty rank stuff, late 60's-early 70's.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. Probably came from a mixture of the Avon Lady's unsold products

made "manlier" by mixing in some hydraulic fluid and just a soupçon of cat pee.

[pipi_k]

26. Back in the olden days

the boys just rubbed some dinosaur funk on themselves...

Just kidding...born in 1952.

The two man scents I remember best are Aqua Velva and Old Spice.

In fact, Old Spice was the one that was a staple in my dad's family every Christmas. All the men got it from each other...kind of funny, really.

But yeah, from my early childhood.

Later on in my early teens there was the Hai Karate and Jade East. Oh, and Brut. All of it stunk. Then there was the Avon stuff.

After that, mid teens, I went out with a guy who used Aramis and English Leather (not together, of course). Now we're talking!

Late 30s I lived with a guy who mixed his scents. He wore Stetson mixed with patchouli. OK, sounds weird, and one time when I praised it, some guy commented that Stetson was cheapass stuff. Well, it just might have been (or still is), but!!! A disturbing number of women found it to be almost an aphrodisiac, I'm not kidding. Women all the time commented on how GREAT he smelled.

I also recall being totally taken away by Polo at one time. The real stuff, I mean.

And when I first met Mr Pipi over 21 years ago, he wore Drakkar Noir, which still remains one of my favorites. I got him some for Christmas since he ran out some time ago.

Most of the newer colognes are awful. I don't know what's in them, but they all have the same first note scent. Freesia? I don't know, but it stinks.

Not to leave out the women though...

The very first ladies scent I remember was "Evening In Paris", which I hated. My mother had tons of the stuff. Haven't smelled it in years, so I'm wondering if my nose has changed over the years.

My perennial favorites that I wear are

Poison, Red Door, L'air du Temps, and I have some Nag Champa essential oil that smells great.

[MineralMan]

32. Women's fragrances are a whole other thing.

As I said, my main high school girlfriend liked White Shoulders, so that was my favorite at the time, of course. Then, one time on a flight from somewhere to somewhere a flight attendant walked past and I caught a scent that really intrigued me. That was back when I was in my 30s. I flagged her down as she came by again and asked what scent she was wearing. I guess she thought it was a pickup line or something, so she smiled really big and said "Red." I said thanks, and her smile went away. I was married at the time. But I loved that scent. So I got my wife some at the next suitable occasion. She liked it too. "Red" by Giorgio of Beverly Hills. Not Red2. Just "Red." Don't know why, but it remains my favorite scent for women. It's not horribly expensive, even as real perfume, but it's just really nice. Always makes me smile.

[ProfessorGAC]

41. Oh, I Forgot English Leather

In my post below i mentioned what i used, but i forgot about that. Yeah, i'm guilty of using that for a short time. But, Brut: NEVER!

I mentioned Drakkar below. I still like that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Paco Rabanne is another one I just remembered,

but as I recall it wasn't bad - didn't have those toxic waste undertones.

[MineralMan]

37. Back when I worked as an auto mechanic, my signature scent was "Garage."

It came free at the place I worked. A base tone of motor oil with top notes of gasoline and rubber. It was impossible to get rid of, really.

[Hoyt]

29. Dad used Old Spice. 55 years later, I use OSpice Antiperspirant, but haven't used Cologne in decades

In high school Canoe was my favorite. Again, haven't touched the stuff in decades, mostly because so many folks are allergic to it.

[TheBlackAdder]

33. Canoe Canoe?

[DashOneBravo]

62. I'd forgotten that one.

[TheBlackAdder]

30. Using my dad's Aqua Velva, Lagerfeld, Drakar Noir, Paco Rabanne, a pine tree & a citrus scented one.

[HassleCat]

31. Brut

In the late 1960s, I was in Junior High School not too far from you (Hudson WI) and we all had Brut to cover up the sweaty odor of our Bumpers, which were the sneakers we all wore. I guess Brut was advertised as sort of the Playboy lifestyle or James Bond thing. Not sure why smelling like... uh... whatever... made us Hugh Hefner or a secret agent.

[Else You Are Mad]

35. Back in high school.

I wore an Abercrombie cologne (which actually smelled pretty good all things considered and it was my girlfriend at the time's favorite scent) in 2000-2001 then I downgraded to the disgusting Axe.

Nowadays, I wear Nautica Voyage.

[ProfessorGAC]

39. I Was Sort of High End Right Away

I never did High Karate or Old Spice or any of that stuff.

I didn't use it much anyway, except if i was getting dressed up, but i did that a lot as i used to be quite the fashionista. (Moonlighted in a high end clothing store for the discount and spent every dollar i made there on clothes and shoes. I had a thing for italian loafers.)

In my early 20's i discovered Gray Flannel and pretty much stuck with that until i found a knock off of that and Drakkar Noir that were awfully close to the original.

My wife got me Channel for Men once, but i found it too sweet smelling. She also got me the Paloma Picasso for men once and i used that a little. The bottle lasted over 5 years.

But, i never used Skin Bracer, although i sure remember it. I'm not quite your age yet, (i'm 60), but i sure remember that. That and "Lectric Shave.

[Adsos Letter]

42. Jade East and Virgin Islands Bay Rum.

Also, Hai Karate.

1970-73.

[jberryhill]

44. British Sterling

I don't know if that stuff is around anymore.

[MineralMan]

45. It is. You'll find it in any good drugstore, or even Walmart.

I've never used it.

[CTyankee]

46. my husband uses soap, water and Edge shave cream. I think he smells divine...

[csziggy]

47. As a woman with a hyper sensitive nose I stay away from frangrances

Either in the bottles or on humans. Nearly all of them, especially sweet scents, will make me start sneezing and/or give me a headache.

Despite this, over the years people have given me fragrances - all of which end up in the garbage, often before the wrapping goes in the garbage since I cannot take them home with me or even ride in the same car as an unopened bottle of fragrance.

One of the things I think attracted me to my now husband is that he never wears scents and does not use any products with scents. He has a strange body chemistry and his sweat doesn't smell so he never felt the need to apply smelly stuff to his non-smelly body.

[politicat]

49. I was in HS in the late 80s-early 90s. Drakkar Noir + Knockoffs.

Oh, it was bad. I also went to HS in a place and time where either male anti-perspirant/deodorant had not been invented, or parents didn't buy it for their male children, or nobody had explained that it's a useful tool to be used regularly.

So instead... Drakkar Noir, and its various knockoffs. In every room. Applied with a firehose. Over gym and life and unevenly heated building sweat, inside the hot new fabric -- polyester fleece, before wicking.

I still get ghost-headaches thinking about surviving geometry in that radiator-heated, over-warm classroom.

OTOH, Fahrenheit (C. Dior) was *nice* in small quantities. Which seems to be the trick that doesn't get taught to young men: apply sparingly, on pulse points. Not splashed on by the palmful or sprayed like you're graffiti-ing your body.

[WillowTree]

50. Oh, we had "co-ordination" rules when I was in high school.

If the girl was going to wear Tigress, the fella was supposed to wear English Leather. If she was wearing Aphrodisia, then he needed to wear Canoe. Budding little female dictators we were! With typically questionable teenage taste.

I haven't thought about that for years. Too funny!!

[benld74]

51. Used NO fragrance until out of college. Then chose Kouros-since 1982

[Aristus]

52. I wore English Leather for a couple of years in high school.

It didn't do a thing for my love life, since I didn't have one.

I was just trying so hard not to be completely repulsive...

I should just have not tried at all. That would have worked better. A few years before this, when I was in eighth grade, one of my sister's friends gifted me a small bottle of Stetson cologne. I thanked her and never wore it. Much later, my sister told me that this same friend had had a crush on me. I had to be told because I was too stupid to figure it out for myself.

I haven't used cologne for years. Nowadays, I use lightly scented shaving soap and skin moisturizing aftershave. It generally dissipates before I walk out the door, so there's no chance of overwhelming someone with my aroma.

[MineralMan]

53. At my 50th reunion in 2003,

one of the cutest girls in my high school class told me she had a huge crush on me in high school. I had no clue at the time, of course. And so it goes. We laughed about it, and so did my wife, who was there, too.

You wonder what else you didn't notice back then...

[leftyladyfrommo]

61. English leather was the other one that was popular

When I was young. That and British Sterling.

Too cool.

[Different Drummer]

54. My high school years were 1976-1980

Back in those days, I was pretty much all about various types of drug store/department store musk cologne--Jovan (which I bathed in), English Leather, Old Spice, Coty, Yardley of London. My maternal grandmother used to get me a bottle of Old Spice for my birthday and Christmas every year, but I never cared for the smell of it. I also used British Sterling, English Leather and its variations (for example, Timberline and Windrift).

As I got older, I branched out into higher end fragrances. These days, my go-to scent is Nautica Competition.

[BigDemVoter]

60. An old one my grandpa used

was Vetiver. Interestingly enough, it turned into a kind of 'patchouli' in the sense that hippies liked it too. It is supposed to have a calming effect which isn't surprising; I like the way it smells.

[Stellar]

55. You and I are from the same era, and the teenage boys that wore colognes ...

I could smell them before I opened the door. Much, much too strong. The English Leather, Brut...

But I loved the way my husband smelled. He smelled divine with his Aramis!

[Drahthaardogs]

59. Polo and Drakkar Noir were big in the eighties

Obsession and Eternity for guys in their twenties

[DashOneBravo]

63. Dad was Old Spice type

I wore the original Polo and something from Halston.

But can't remember what it was. It came in a brown bottle.

[betsuni]

64. I haven't worn fragrance for decades but recently wanted to buy a little bottle for nostalgia.

Polo. A little whiff and I'm back in college. When I was a teenager I thought I had to like women's scents, tried Chanel No. 5, L'Air du Temps, Yves Saint Laurent, then Halston, Opium, Poison. But they were all too flowery. I liked Polo, liked wearing men's clothes: large Brooks Brothers button-down oxfords worn with a little skirt and tights, L.L. Bean Norwegian fishermen's sweater, tweed jacket, khakis, loafers, things from the army-navy surplus store, I even wore neckties. That was fun. Polo, I want to sniff and remember.

[MineralMan]

65. I had a friend in college who always wore a vanilla-based fragrance.

It suited her perfectly. I don't remember exactly what it was, but it also had notes of bergamot. It wasn't a pastry sort of vanilla scent, but the vanilla base note was so charming on her. Like you, she often had a menswear look. A lovely person and a good friend.