Scents that remind you of your childhood

[fieryred33143]

Are there any scents that remind you of your childhood or of a specific time in your life, good or bad?

My company installed automatic foam sanitizer dispensers in all of the bathrooms. My hands smell like bubbles

. I LOVED when we would go to a birthday party and they had bubble bottles. So much fun.

 

[AnneTossy]

do you remember when gap had that scent that smelled like cut grass? I was like 9, but my sister had it and I was so jealous! i loved it!

now, whenever my boyfriend cuts the grass it reminds me
also, teen spirit deoderant! reminds me of when I was a pre-teen!

 

[dragonfly411]

my great grandmother had these little jewelry boxes made of cedar that she kept little trinkets and treasures in from her years. I have one of them now and the smell of it reminds me of her. She also had very clean smelling towels... and they retained their scent. I had one for YEARS and SO used it as a rag one day and the smell was gone

Other than those:

barns
hay
leather

the smell of rain
the smell of dog makes me think of my other great grandmother b/c she dog sat for a living in her home, so it always smelled like doggies in her house

the ocean

 

[sugarpie honeybun]

Fun! Let’s see…

-Exclamation perfume -a woman walked past me in the mall last week wearing it and I was instantly brought back to my teen years

-Aussie Scrunch Spray

-Moth Balls....growing up my friend''s mother was obsessed with throwing moth balls all over her house because she thought they made the house smell clean.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 6/21/2010 3:39:46 PM
Author: sugarpie honeybun

Fun! Let’s see…

-Exclamation perfume -a woman walked past me in the mall last week wearing it and I was instantly brought back to my teen years

-Aussie Scrunch Spray

-Moth Balls....growing up my friend''s mother was obsessed with throwing moth balls all over her house because she thought they made the house smell clean.

I wore exclamation perfume all the time as a teen! Too funny.

DF-that''s a bummer about the towel

 

[akmiss]

Dr. Bronner''s peppermint soap! Just thinking about it makes me want to go and buy a bottle

 

[yssie]

-sandalwood (that actually smells like sandalwood)
-lye cleaner
-jasmine


I'm always surprised by how detailed a memory certain smells or combinations of smells can evoke.

 

[HVVS]

"old car smell" -- I was always around antique cars and the truck and bus garage when growing up. (There, now you know, hehe.) I don't know what that smell is comprised of, but it's a blend of decay, small oil leaks, a trace whiff of gasoline, some stale upholstery, an oiled dirt floor garage, etc. I have always kept my '87 in a new garage with a concrete floor, and it's a totally spotless car, but it still managed to develop Old Car Smell by 2001 at only 30k miles. How'd that happen??

My grandmother's kitchen -- Coffee, always some kind of food, or tomato sauces with a hint of cinnamon. Mmmmm... Every so often, I wake up smelling that kitchen, like I am actually there. She passed away in 1986.

 

[decodelighted]

1. cigarette smoke
2. magnolias
3. honeysuckle
4. red Kool-Aid
5. popcorn popped on the stove top in a kettle (non microwave)
6. cinnamon toast
7. peach ice cream

 

[KimberlyH]

tuna fish (sandwiches) mixed w/ ocean air -- our standard monday at the beach meal

cigarette smoke

comet cleanser

cornbread baking

 

[missy]

Jean Nate

 

[Ninna]

Hard Candy Apples
Old Spice
Wheat berries
Tang

 

[Puppmom]

Coffee - my summer camp was across the street from a coffee bean refinery
Obsession for Men - my biological dad who I haven''t seen since childhood bathed in it

 

[gemgirl]

Definitely moth balls. Thank goodness no one uses them anymore. That smell stayed on sweaters for their life times.

Dry cleaning. Dry cleaning used to really stink! Thank heavens we have "green" dry cleaning now and nothing smells chemically.

Things that my mother cooked that I never will in this lifetime! They were mostly things that my Dad used to love that she made every once in a while. Kidney stew.... she had to change the water every half hour. The house smelled like the NY city subway on a hot day. Tripe. Let's not even go there. My mom's chicken soup. It was OK, but mine is better . Sauce and meatballs, a really great smell.

Tigress cologne by Fabrege'. When they stopped making that, my mom switched to Jean Nate'.

My Dad wore English Leather. It was a pretty good scent.

The strawberry bubble bath my mom bought for me and my sister. I don't remember who made it, but bubble bath was powder in the 60's.

Hair spray. Brands like Aqua Net had a very strong odor but it didn't bother women too much because it meant a lady had just had her hair done.

 

[jewelerman]

The smell of aqua velva colone reminds me of my dad when i was young and then later he wore Halston Z12 and then Raiph Loren.My mom wore Cinnabar (i think by YSL) and later changed to Ruffles by Da La Renta...i remember because thats what i gave them for gifts.The smell and sound of coffee brewing reminds me of the morning and also camping when i was young.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Awesome thread, fiery!

L''Air du Temps (mom''s perfume)

Chlorine (grew up with a pool)

The plastic-y scent of new pool toys (again, pool)

Garlic + Onion sauteing

Fruit-scented racing alcohol at the drag strip, especially GRAPE! Such a heavenly smell! I spend many-a-weekend of my adolescent years at various midwest racetracks.

 

[kittybean]

Tempera paints--any time I smell them, I''m transported instantly back to preschool.

The smell of damp basements remind me of playing in my grandparents'' basement as a kid. We used to "help" my grandpa "do taxes." (He''s an accountant.) It mostly consisted of drawing with highlighters and punching in random numbers on his adding machine.

 

[les12]

Tinkerbell "perfume" and "makeup"

I'm showing my age haha...

ETA: I need to explain my answer-
Often my sister and I will smell something and we're always like "gosh, what does that smell like, it reminds me of when we were little" and the answer is always "tinkerbell perfume" haha

 

[Upgradable]

Coppertone sunscreen!

 

[hlmr]

The smell of burning hay/grass, and the oil of olay that my mother wore. (SDL, I remember your Mom wore OOO too)

 

[Luckyeshe]

Jasmine

Cotton candy

Magnolias

Coco

 

[Kaleigh]

Elizabeth who raised me made the best iced tea...

So the smell of tea brewing,

and she added fresh mint picked from our garden. It was a sweet tea. I never liked it much, but loved the smell of it.

Her fried chicken.

That smell filled our house... It was the best I have ever had...

She''s very much alive, and some day will tackle that fried chicken....

Fun thread!!!!

 

[Allison D.]

The smell of the salty ocean.
When I was little, my father spend a lot of time at sea, and when we''d go to meet his ship, that smell was always in the air. Even now, when I smell it, it reminds me of my Dad.

Cover Girl powder and Juicy Fruit gum both remind me of my grandmother.

Shalimar reminds me of my mother; she''s worn it my entire life.

 

[katamari]

So, so ditto to the Aussie Scrunch Spray! (Australians, do they even have this in Oz?)

My grandpa''s pipe

Totinos pizza rolls and other various junk foods

Cool Water (people seriously still wear it!)

 

[Kaleigh]

I loved loved Body on Tap shampoo.... It was shampoo with a touch of beer,. Anyone remember it?? You have to be in your 40''s...

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

There are a few.
Lilacs. Still my favorite floral scent. I grew up in an old house and the backyard was filled with them.
Paper whites. A type of narcissus, my mom loves them and my dad and I think they are the worst smell.
Irish spring soap. That is the kind my dad has always used, so I insist on buying it and my DH is fine with it.
Chlorine. I loved to swim as a kid and never got to as much as I wanted, so I live the smell in an odd way. Unfortunately, Maggie is one of the type of cats that react really strongly to smell of chlorine or bleach, so I have to wash really thoroughly afterwords or I get no peace.
a perfume that is no longer made. I don't know what it was exactly, other than my mom's favorite, very expensive and discontinued, but my parents bathroom always smelled like it.
Musty books. I grew up around books and loved to see old houses. Plus, a friend of mine in middle school collected old books.

Smell is actually more closely linked with a number of mental functions, including memory and sexual interest, than any other sense, so it doesn't surprise me how it brings people back.

 

[Trekkie]

Date: 6/21/2010 6:46:03 PM
Author: gemgirl

Things that my mother cooked that I never will in this lifetime! They were mostly things that my Dad used to love that she made every once in a while. Kidney stew.... she had to change the water every half hour. The house smelled like the NY city subway on a hot day. Tripe. Let''s not even go there. My mom''s chicken soup. It was OK, but mine is better . Sauce and meatballs, a really great smell.

OMG! Tripe! I love the smell of tripe! I know it''s disgusting, but it reminds me of home and childhood.

Similarly the smell of paraffin and fresh rain. It immediately takes me back to being four years old, quietly listening to the grownups gossiping, afraid to even move in case they realise I''m awake and listening and decide to send me back to bed!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Jergen''s lotion reminds me of my aunt when I was little... the smell of musty attic reminds me of poking around my great grandmother''s belongings after she died... the smell of rancid perfume reminds me of my grandmother lol the smell of patchouli reminds me of playing at dolores park as a child in san francisco... the smell of I''m not sure what it is reminds me of two things - the shangrila hotel in downtown dalian, china and an apartment we rented in edenborough scotland... a neighbor was burning this as incense to cover the smell of pot... it''s some flower, not sure what kind, but the hotel piped the smell into the lobby and whatever it is reminds me of being alone with my husband away from the kids and being in scotland lol

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 6/21/2010 9:27:08 PM
Author: Uppy
Coppertone sunscreen!

oooh yes yes yes!!!!!! and bain de soleil too! Hello 1975!

 

[allycat0303]

Crayons.