I’m late this week, but it’s still Sunday, and I decided not to skip our weekly topic. It’s Father’s Day in the U.S., and since we haven’t covered this question before, I decided it would be quite appropriate – even though my loyal respondents are all around the globe and even if celebrate a similar holiday, most likely, do it on a different date.
Sunday Question #268:
Does/Did Your Father Wear Perfume?
If yes, do you know/remember which one(s)? How about your grandfather(s)?
A bonus question: do you have Father’s Day or a similar celebration where you live now?
My Answer
All men in my family wore colognes when I was growing up. Men’s colognes, as practical aftershave products, were much more prevalent then women’s perfumes. Most of them weren’t fancy (though, my father and one of my grandfathers were known to get a better ones), but men used them – both at home and as the last step in getting a haircut at a barbershop.
My father uses perfumes these days. We leave 5+ hours flight away from each other, so I do not know what is in his scent wardrobe these days, but I remember him wearing Jo Malone Dark Amber & Ginger Lily, Chanel Egoiste Platinum, Creed Aventus and Ineke Field Notes From Paris (which I bought him for his birthday 3 years ago).
Now it’s your turn.
Undina's Looking Glass 
When I was little, a very long time ago, men in England did not usually wear perfume, unless they were wealthy, when they would use Floris or similar traditional expensive colognes. I think my father would have liked to wear those, but couldn’t afford them. However, “after shave” was popular and acceptable, providing fragrance for those who didn’t think it was “cissy” to wear it. My dad wore good old Old Spice, and later its companion, Burley – which I thought was beautiful! A few years later it became acceptable for men to wear smellies with the introduction of fragrances like Brut, which was launched with a massive ad campaign fronted by a very masculine boxer and the phrase “splash it on all over”. I remember being so pleased with myself when I bought him for Christmas Pino Sylvestre – it smelled fresh and had a pine cone top!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s funny: from what I remember, it was never not acceptable for men in my native country to wear colognes (though, with those scents available sometimes I wished it was :) ).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Polo, which he discovered all by himself, probably when in the department store to buy a Christmas present for my mother (he always bought her a little bottle of parfum, a different scent each year). I kept him supplied with Polo every Christmas after that, including the giant 4oz bottle, which I found half-full on his bathroom sink after he died.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I like when my gifts are used and appreciated.
After my grandmother passed away, the only bottle I was able to claim was a mini of Lalique perfume gifted to her not by me. All “mine” she used up because she liked them more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The most notable smells on my father were booze & fags, in later years accompanied by bo. Alcoholics stink, personal hygiene is low on their priorities.
My grandad smelled of pipe tobacco, fresh wood on a background of metal & oil. All from working in his shed. It’s the smell of early CDG
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sorry this week’s question stirred bad memories for you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you but please don’t apologise. The fault was with my father.
The memories no longer have any power over me. By being open & straightforward about my father helps both me & the wider community. Far more people than we realise had a troubled & violent upbringing. Many choose to cover it up, I choose to say “It’s ok, I have done better”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hey undina,
My Dad was fairly handsome and always presented well. He wasn’t flashy though and would wear Tabac Original as long as I can remember. I think we bought hime something else, maybe Old Spice or Blue Stratos, one year but he went straight back to his favourite afterwards.
He always smelled good to me and I keep a bottle of Tabac Original for when I want a memory rush.
Portia xx
LikeLiked by 2 people
Until today, I didn’t even hear about this perfume. As I see, it’s still around, which is interesting because many more recent ones have disappeared since then.
LikeLike
It’s still a fair memory of itself too Undina. A lovely sweet fougere cologne.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My Dad smoked and the scent of Winston cigarettes actually blended nicely with the scent of grass, plants and animals on our farm. When getting dressed up, my Dad wore Old Spice and it smelled great on him. I think a lot of the older fragrances mixed well with the scent of tobacco since so many people smoked in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Almost forgot the second part of the question– Father’s Day is celebrated in the US. I was reading somewhere that the concept of a day honoring fathers in the US was started by a woman who was raised by a single father.
LikeLike
I’ve never thought about it, but you’re probably right about perfumes and tobacco connections.
LikeLike
My dad used Old Spice aftershave so he almost always smelled good. I don’t ever remember him wearing perfume, probably because of my mom’s aversion. My maternal grandfather got a haircut / shave once a week so he smelled like warm cotton although since he never got his routine done on a Sunday, maybe that’s just what he smelled like naturally 🤷🏻♀️.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A haircut once a week? He must have worn a very short hair.
I see that Old Spice was quite popular for the previous generation. It would be interesting to smell today how it was back then.
LikeLike
I would say the most common fragrance my father would reach for was either Canoe or Old Spice. They both seemed to work very well for him. He was a cigar and pipe smoker, which accounted for much of my scent memory of him, and not so much the fragrances I perviously mentions. I had a post a while back that best encapsulated my scent memory of my father.
https://perfumuschicago.wordpress.com/2024/11/17/tobacco-daze/
LikeLiked by 2 people
Your piece brought back memories of my childhood – perpetually wreathed in tobacco smoke! I so hated it and at the age of 8 wore a mob cap to keep the smell out of my hair and carried around a can of air freshener (like Florence Nightingale with her lamp!) regularly spraying the room. I must have been a delight. Strangely now, and on reading your post, I feel a tinge of nostalgia the smell of cigarette smoke.
Your parents seemed like a lovely, hardworking couple.
LikeLike
Thank you, Jilliecat, they absolutely were.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are two that my father wore, Old Spice and Tabac. I also associate Imperial Leather soap with him. Oh to have a Time Machine. He departed this realm 45 years ago.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Old Spice! He was born in 1914, so that is typical of his generation.
LikeLike