"I regard my nose as a personal historian. Without a moment's notice, countless everyday smells send me hurtling back in time: hot tar, new leather, Dove soap, Hu-Kwa tea, turpentine, Vicks VapoRub, dead leaves as they are raked from the lawn. They transport me to places like my grandmother's bedroom, the kitchen in my first apartment, or to a time-the fall I changed schools, the years I studied painting. Perfumes, however, take me deeper and further, back to crucial events of the heart. They may have been invented as a form of disguise, but to my nose they are evocative, revealing, sometimes painfully so."
Now, it's been said that scent is the strongest sense attached to memory, and I whole-heartedly agree. Given Bryan brought up a theme of memory in one of our recent comment threads on Hamid, I am curious as to what scents conjures the most powerful memories for you all. Any scent, any memory.
Here are a few of mine... my mother's hairspray, for one, takes me back to being six years old and sitting on the edge of the bathtub, watching her get ready for an evening out with my father and other couples. Johnson and Johnson's "No Tears" hair detangling spray always reminds me of the lazy days of summer spent at the pool and the very real tears that still occurred whenever my dad would try and brush my hair. Lilacs, because my mother would leave them on my dresser when I'd been gone for a few days as a "welcome home" and a reminder of how I was missed, and of her love. Cigarette smoke, unfortunately, reminds me of my grandmother's home (not the stereotypical cookies or warmth answer!). I can still smell the inside of certain boys necks, the traces of Old Spice and Speed Stick, and smoky hair left over from campfires with friends. I can even remember how each of you smell, though I can never quite put my finger on exactly what it is. But it always comes back whenever we're reunited from being far apart, a certain "mmmph," mixed with warm feelings of familiarity and friendship.
Can't wait to smell you guys soon. (lolz)
Wait I know: Victoria's is Herbal Essences hair shampoo and conditioner. GOD I LOVE THAT SMELL
ReplyDeleteKim your list was so beautiful. The lilacs! Reading about the lilacs felt like a warm bath... filled with lilacs.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few things, like coffee, which I think comforts me with the same care that my father used to make mom's coffee with in the mornings. My mom's empanadas. The mint and basil that I grew in the herb garden on the side of my house in Sugar Land, if for a short time.
But it's mostly the smell of men's colognes, for me:
The smell of AXE takes me to middle school locker rooms where every freshly-pubescent boy sprays themselves with the conviction that the advertising is true, and there will be women literally crowding and stripping them in the hallways.
I used to tease my best friend at home, Mohammad, that he wears too much cologne, that you could smell him down a crowded hallway. I couldn't tell you what he wore but I'm reasonably confident I could recognize it if I smell it. I don't remember Ismail's smell.
The other day I smelled the faintest hint of Burberry at a fast food restaurant while getting lunch and I was convinced that I was just thinking of Thomas (you could smell Thomas' cologne from a block away) so hard so subconsciously that I had willed myself to selectively sense the perfect combination of odors - but the scent became overpowering soon and I realized that the man standing a couple of spots in front of me was definitely wearing Burberry.
My Dad has been an Old Spice man probably since 1965. Something about the Old Spice Classic deodorant gives me an itchy, even burning, sensation and causes me to perspire more intensely, so I don't wear it anymore. But I recognize it anywhere.
Egypt has a very distinct smell, and Egyptian men in particular have a very distinct smell that borders but is not exactly the same as BO.