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Old 05-01-2012, 06:00 PM   #1
KatieJ
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Men's Cologne
I need some help finding out what men's colognes were available in the late Forties and the Fifties in the US.

I know about Old Spice and Bay Rum. Were there any others? I remember my Dad had some cologne called Nine Flags - nine separate little bottles of fragrances named after different countries. I remember him having that in the Sixties, though. His International Man of Mystery phase

Any thoughts would be great, it's not a big plot point, but different scents are important in my stories for some reason....
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Old 05-01-2012, 07:05 PM   #2
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I found this:
http://www.shopwiki.com/wiki/Classic...es+and+Fifties

it has Old Spice, as expected, but some others.
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:05 PM   #3
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mirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate compliments
I wasn't aware men wore perfume back in the Fifties.....
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:19 PM   #4
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Layla, delicious! Thanks.

... lemon, lavender, carnation, cedarwood and leather... Yummy, now I really wish I could make soap and cologne!



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I wasn't aware men wore perfume back in the Fifties.....
That's cause you're just a young whippersnapper!
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:28 PM   #5
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mirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate compliments
Err no....

It's because where I'm from they didn't! Most working class men couldn't afford perfume!
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:30 PM   #6
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A lot of men back then didn't use cologne, but did slap on aftershave.

I'm not sure why. I later discovered that aftershave stung like hell. It was about 80% alcohol.
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:31 PM   #7
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mirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate complimentsmirandashell is so great that we've run out of appropriate compliments
Cologne, aftershave.... it's all perfume
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:33 PM   #8
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Quote:
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Err no....

It's because where I'm from they didn't! Most working class men couldn't afford perfume!
My uncle Tony did, and he was from Gateshead.
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:34 PM   #9
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After shave is an astringent. I think it's for sanitizing the fresh wound you just created on your face from scraping off a layer of skin. The scent in after shaves evaporates as quickly as the alcohol.
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:36 PM   #10
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My father (who is from that generation) used Old Spice aftershave or something called Aqua Velva (this was in the sixties, I don't know whether it was available in the fifties).

He was a machinist--who are not exactly "dandies".
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:53 PM   #11
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Brut - that was more of a perfume than an aftershave.

If I recall correctly 'Splash it all over' was the marketing slogan in the UK.

Think it was around in the fifties.
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Old 05-01-2012, 08:58 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mirandashell View Post
Err no....

It's because where I'm from they didn't! Most working class men couldn't afford perfume!
No offense intended. My father was a sailor, not exactly ritzy. My grandfathers were a machinist and a fireman and they had their bottles of bay rum and Old Spice.
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Old 05-01-2012, 09:22 PM   #13
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My Dad wore Old Spice and English Leather. I also remember him telling me he slicked up his hair into a duck's ass (?) with pomade. It was pink, but I didn't think it had a scent.

Oh and he was a machinist too, later a plumber.

My Grandfather (a farmer) washed up with LAVA soap and some foul smelling orange thing. If I remember the name I'll post it.
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Old 05-01-2012, 09:30 PM   #14
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FWIW, Bay Rum and Old Spice were staples in barber shops in the US since before WWII; not much changed since then. Those scents were the hallmarks of having a shave with a straight razor - a culturally acceptable symbol of masculinity.

It was the advent and pervasive spread of television in the post -war era that spurred advertisers into a frenzy for products the public didn't even know they needed; cologne of various new scents for the common man represented a bold new market. It really gained strength in the '60s. Today the fragrance industry (antiperspirant, deodorant, perfume, cologne, etc.) is colossal on a world wide scale.
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Old 05-01-2012, 10:21 PM   #15
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No offense intended. My father was a sailor, not exactly ritzy. My grandfathers were a machinist and a fireman and they had their bottles of bay rum and Old Spice.

None taken, Katie. I'm just not used to being called a whippersnapper any more! LOL!

I'm sure some blokes did wear it back in the fifties but I wouldn't think it would be many. Fifties is my dad's generation and he put quite a few things on his hair to get a DA. But perfume not so much.

It could also be a cultural thing. It might have been more widespread in America.
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Old 05-02-2012, 03:47 AM   #16
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Yeah - I was thinking it might have been more of an American thing that a British one, too.

Thanks, ironmikezero, I was thinking about those barbershop bottles. In our hometown, the barber was "Fuzzy" Frizzell, and he kept personal bottles of bay rum and Old Spice for regular customers
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Old 05-02-2012, 06:07 PM   #17
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I know Acqua Di Parma was a strong favorite with David Niven, Bogart and Cary Grant back in the day. Beautiful fragrance but expensive.
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