Succesful Bay Rum report regarding my daughter

[pezdaddy]

Today I realized just how powerful scent is in forming our memories.

My daughter is almost 2 years old. About two weeks ago I started intentionally having her smell my Pinaud Bay Rum. I'd have her smell my hands after I put it on each morning, or smell it out of the bottle, etc. I even heavily diluted a couple of drops with witch hazel and put in on her face a couple of times (didn't want to burn her!). All this was an attempt to get her to associate the scent with me.

This morning, I gave her a good-bye kiss on my way out the door, and she said "mmmm, daddy smells like bay rum, so pretty". Whenever she likes something a lot, she follows it up with "so pretty".

I didn't tell her what it was, but she recalled the scent and knew that it was bay rum. Needless to say I was pretty excited! Maybe years from now she'll smell it and think of me.

 

[sombra]

Hope your daughter doesn't go to daycare or school and talk about "Daddy's bay rum," or worse yet, ask for some "bay rum ... very pretty."

You might get a call from social services?!

 

[Austin]

Scent is a strong memory trigger for some of us. I associate bay rum with my father. He also wore it when I was young. Anytime I smell it, it takes me back to my childhood. Unfortunately, the scent does not wear well on my skin.

 

[WhosYerBob]

Scent is recognized to be a very strong factor in recalling memories. I know I can be struck still by a long forgotten scent that brings up dim distant memories of my past. Often times they're not even something that a person wore, but were more of an environmental scent.

 

[JMan424]

I've found scent is a shockingly powerful trigger.

When I was 6 or 7 my father had a tethered plane that ran on nitromethane. This is one of those deals where you hold the other end of the tether and slowly turn as the plane goes round and round. I went out with him a few times with it as a boy, had fun, don't remember if it crashed or he sold it or what, didn't think about it much again. No big whoop, just a distant childhood memory.

Fast forward to 10-15 years later he and I are getting into R/C helicopters and spent a winter building one (for any more recent RC flyers this was before the now-prevalent RTF or ARF fliers, had to build from bags of screws and such). So after months of doing this we finally get it out to fire it up. By the by, it runs on the same nitromethane that old plane did (not that I was aware of that as a young boy).

One whiff of that nitromethane exhaust and I was instantly a 6 year old boy again, watching my dad fly a blue WWII era model plane in the old high school parking lot on a summer Saturday morning, every detail, even the shape of the handle, was clear in my mind from a very young age.

I'd bet money the "imprinting" you're doing with your daughter will have more staying power than you might guess. Some day she'll be 30, 40, 50 years old and she'll catch a whiff of Bay Rum cologne and think fondly of her time with you as a little girl in extraordinary detail.

 

[Barcochris]

my daughter is two as well, and Bay rum is my favorite scent and wear it everyday. For a while when I would put on my Bay rum she would immediately want to be picked up and would rub her face on mine and say smell like daddy.... Now she just gets a bit out of the bottle to put on her face.... just warms your heart...

 

[dcrosso]

I just finished shaving this morning, using for the first time my fathers GEM SE razor. After I finished shaving I used some Mennen Skin Bracer and a drop of Vasoline face and body lotion. The scent of the Mennen brought back a memory of long ago. I am 64 years old now.

I must have been 7 years old at the time. My mother told me to go wash my hands for breakfast. I vividly recall, my father was just finishing up shaving and had just put some Mennen on his face. I was watching him and could smell the Mennen's distinct odor and the feel of warm water vapor in the air. He smiled at me and said, "Hi son." I told him, "mom wanted me to wash my hands" He said, "There is still some soapy water in the sink, come over here and use it". He stepped back to make room for me. As I started to put my hands into the soapy water, he said, "Let me help you with that". He took my hands, along with a bar of Ivory soap and soaped them up with his large hands. I still recall, after all these years, the smell of him, the Mennen, the Ivory soap and the feel of his hands surrounding my small hands, as he helped me wash.

These kind of memories, I think the best part of life. My father was a really good man, He always kept his word, always did what he said he was going to do, even if it cost him and took care of his family the best he could.

 

[JPM]

My little guy who is 2 1/2 insists on wearing some of Dad's "Ologne" as he calls it. I spray a little on his shirt when I'm putting mine on.

 

[steppenwolph]

My daughter is almost four, and she loves the bay rum. She will often watch me shave, and after I apply some bay rum aftershave to my face, she always wants me to put some on her. Its a fun moment, and then we both go to SWMBO who says we both smell so good.