topic Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time in Community Chat

How quickly something can take you back to another time

151949 — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:13:03 GMT

My DH is having eye surgery again and he has to wash with dial soap for 3 days before. So we are having bad storms here today and I decided to shower instead of sitting in a bathtub. All the years I worked in ICU we washed our patients with dial soap and , boy oh boy, did the scent of the dial soap in the shower ever take me quickly back to the ICU. I never gave the scent of that soap a second thought as it isn't very strong, but I guess my subconscious certainly noticed it right away.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

MaggieMack — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:18:01 GMT

I have read that the olfactory sense is more closely related to memories than any of the other senses. So I understand why that happened to you.

For me, the scents of Prell shampoo, Emeraude perfume, and Zest soap always evoke memories from my childhood.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

jlkz — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:21:19 GMT

The scent memory is very powerful !!! Whenever I am near the Estée Lauder perfume counter and I get a slight whiff of Beautiful, I will get teary-eyed as that was my favorite aunt's signature scent. She has been gone for almost 10 years, but that scent will trigger tears everytime.

Hope DH's surgery goes well. Finally got here to Naples in time for the rain !!!

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

Lacey1 — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:22:50 GMT

Babysitting brings back olfactory memories; crayons, play-doh, and disposable diapers!

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

RetRN — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:25:32 GMT

@151949 wrote:
My DH is having eye surgery again and he has to wash with dial soap for 3 days before. So we are having bad storms here today and I decided to shower instead of sitting in a bathtub. All the years I worked in ICU we washed our patients with dial soap and , boy oh boy, did the scent of the dial soap in the shower ever take me quickly back to the ICU. I never gave the scent of that soap a second thought as it isn't very strong, but I guess my subconscious certainly noticed it right away.

Are you saying Dial soap was only used in ICU and not anywhere else in the hospital?

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

missy1 — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:30:32 GMT

That scent is too strong for me.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

Suziepeach — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 18:38:42 GMT

My husband had a full hip replacement July 2015 and had to wash from head to toe 5 days prior to his surgery with Betadine. When I was a radiology technologist, even with us wearing gloves it was manadatory to wash with Betadine.. I was literally known as the T & A lady plus many special exams as myelograms & such. Our poor hands were so dry.. Thank goodness for great lotions!!

PS... I personally prefer Dial gold and Zest soap and yes they both bring back memories as that's what was used in our home when we were growing up.....

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

CatsyCline — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:58:46 GMT

our town has voting at the elementary school and also flu clinics at the school, in the gym

schools (and libraries) smell the same as they did when i was a kid, right back to 1st grade

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

Tinkrbl44 — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 17:10:31 GMT

I recall being about 4 years old and visiting a distant aunt with my parents. She had never seen me before, and, obviously, I had never been in her presence before.

I was wandering around the house, exploring, and was fascinated with her dressing table with all sorts of beauty items on display. I picked up & sniffed her Shalimar perfume bottle and was immediately hit with a very strong recollection of having worn that scent .... it was like a familiar old friend.

Each time I recall this vibrant memory, the details come back to me so vividly! My mother believed in reincarnation and later told me that it was probably a past life memory.

Funny ..... the only fragrance I wear, to this day, is Shalimar.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

151949 — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 18:13:39 GMT

@RetRN wrote:
@151949 wrote:
My DH is having eye surgery again and he has to wash with dial soap for 3 days before. So we are having bad storms here today and I decided to shower instead of sitting in a bathtub. All the years I worked in ICU we washed our patients with dial soap and , boy oh boy, did the scent of the dial soap in the shower ever take me quickly back to the ICU. I never gave the scent of that soap a second thought as it isn't very strong, but I guess my subconscious certainly noticed it right away.

Are you saying Dial soap was only used in ICU and not anywhere else in the hospital?

Please quote where I said that!

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

gidgetgh — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 18:18:07 GMT

Sea Breeze Astringent is one of those scents for me. It reminds me of Summer's spent at the family cottage in PA.

I keep a bottle on hand and while I've got really dry skin and don't need Sea Breeze sometimes I'll use it or just open the bottle and smell because of the memories it brings.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

151949 — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 18:36:33 GMT

@gidgetgh wrote:
Sea Breeze Astringent is one of those scents for me. It reminds me of Summer's spent at the family cottage in PA.

I keep a bottle on hand and while I've got really dry skin and don't need Sea Breeze sometimes I'll use it or just open the bottle and smell because of the memories it brings.
I like to use Sea Breeze to take the itch out of mosquito bites.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

this is my nic — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 03:06:42 GMT

My Mom wore Chanel #5 which she usually received as a Christmas gift from my Dad. When I was a teenager, she'd allow me to use it for special occasions. A couple of years ago, I was wandering through an Ulta store's fragrance area and stopped to snif Chanel #5. Wow! I was back in time!

Funny, now I wouldn't use it because it's very potent, but I sure enjoyed it because of the connection with my mother.

The sense of smell is the most evocative of all the senses. It really does transport us back in time.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

just bee — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 16:09:13 GMT

I'm in Albuquerque and I cherish the scent of the high desert after it rains. It's a familiar scent -- one that transports me to Prescott, Arizona, 1970. A summer day, after a storm, and I'm pedaling my blue Huffy.

Is it the scent of the wet creosote bush? Perhaps. But whatever it is, it's intoxicating.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

Ms X — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 16:21:00 GMT

I remember from a course on brain physiology that the sense of smell is located in the most primitive part of the brain and that scent can bring back powerful memories. I guess it's part of the survival mechanism so that animals don't eat the wrong thing.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

Mominohio — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 16:22:43 GMT

OP, hope all goes well with your husband's surgery.

And yes indeed, they do say the sense of smell is the strongest of all our senses for evoking memories.

As far a soap goes, it is Dove original white bar soap (that we still use to this day) that takes me back.

When I was growing up at home, we used Dial or Zest. But my grandparents used Dove. By the time I was old enough to remember much about them, they had retired to Florida, and we would go down to visit them each year. The minute you walked through their back door (which was opposite their bathroom) the scent hit you. It is a pleasant smell to me, and since we have it in our shower constantly, I don't think about it much, but every once in awhile, I get a whiff of it, and I'm transported back to the late 1960's and early 1970's, and I'm at my grandparents house.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

Nancy Drew — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 17:10:28 GMT

Gardenias take me back to my Grandma every time. She wore a very strong perfume that was garneia scented.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

house_cat — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 17:16:21 GMT

My mom has dementia and she's a handful to deal with every day. Some days she really wears me out. Considering all that she's forgotten the last few years, she still insists on wearing Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds every day. I know when she passes that scent will be very meaningful to me.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

Mmsfoxxie — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 17:32:36 GMT

Yes, Zest soap does have a distinctive scent. I was visiting someone's home a while back and there was a bar in their bathroom. Right away, memories came back from my childhood that made me sad (for a moment). I never buy that brand for that reason. It leaves soap scum anyway.

Re: How quickly something can take you back to another time

sharlee — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 20:42:51 GMT

Scent is certainly evocative. I got a whiff of someone wearing Elizabeth Arden's Blue Grass fragrance the other day, and instantly felt seventeen again!

Ditto for Heaven Scent. I don't encounter these two fragrances very often these days, so it's all the more poignant when I do.

OP, hope your husband's surgery goes well.