One of the main reasons I scanned in this photo was so I could look at it enlarged to see if I could figure out what gift Daddy was opening one Christmas morning. And that reminded me…
Do they still make Aqua Velva? Because once again, impressionable me can remember the commercial jingle from my young years–the power of advertising!
I don’t know how many bottles of Aqua Velva I bought my father for his birthday, Father’s Day, and Christmas. Until a year when I was all grown up and we were sitting around the table making plans for the holidays and he said, “I need to ask you something.”
“Sure,” I said.
“Please don’t buy me another bottle of Aqua Velva.”
“You don’t like it anymore?” I asked.
“I never did,” he admitted.
“Me, either!”
I still don’t know what that is in the photo; I kind of wish it was Aqua Velva.
Oh, the power of advertising! My brother and I always bought OLD SPICE for our dad. Don’t know if he liked it, but mom sure did. So basically he used it for her.
Daddy used Old Spice, too, and apparently liked it all right. I also remember there being Bay Rum, English Leather, and British Sterling in the bathroom, though some of that could have been my brother’s. There just weren’t as many options for men’s fragrances back in those days! I think our fathers would be stunned by the amount of products available to men for their hair and skin now.
Aqua Velva – my daddy wore that and Old Spice… neither of them are appealing smells to me. Then my husband would occasionally wear Old Spice… Yuck. I think he did it sometimes just because he knew I didn’t like it. He thought that was funny.
Someone gave Tom Old Spice not long after my father died. When I remarked, probably a little mistily, that my father used to wear it, he interpreted that to mean I wanted him to.
I didn’t!
I’m even more sensitive to scents now that I’ve worked with essential oils for so many years, and most commercial fragrances are a little off-putting to me.
Such a sweet story! And probably true for a whole lot of people who receive the same present every year.
(Sorry I’ve been absent for so long)
No need to apologize! I read you and know how busy you’ve been. And I haven’t said it yet over there, but congrats to the entire family on the new addition!
Ooh! “Luxurious Frost Lime!”
I’ll bet someone on eBay has some for sale. Or if not, they will. Sooner or later, everything shows up there.
One of the ways my father would wake me up in the morning was to pat my cheeks with his extra Mennen’s after shave (the original kind). I loved it.
Greatest turn-on by boyfriend – English Leather. yum.
You said “Mennen!” Aiiieeee. (Ellen DeGeneres once had a routine about how the jingle “By Mennen!” gets stuck in her head when she’s trying to sleep. Thanks to her, that became a go-to ear worm when my mind wanders.)
Boyfriend colognes! Here’s some fragrance trivia for you. My first boyfriend wore Russian Leather cologne and I loved it. But every time I tried to find a bottle, it never smelled the same. Turns out the term “Russian leather” was generic and couldn’t be copyrighted, so several different companies marketed a fragrance under that name. I don’t know if those companies still exist, but if any fragrance called “Russian Leather” is still produced, it’s not the same as the one he wore.