Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 67

Thread: Did we smell in the 60's?

  1. #1
    Member Duncan Disorderly's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    York
    Posts
    7

    Default Did we smell in the 60's?

    An odd title for a thread I know, but .....

    I was pondering my recently arrived (enormous) gas and electric bills today and on the TV comes an advert - British Gas, the one where the tag line is something along the line of 'your world is turned upside down if your boiler breaks down ... etc', with the image of someone in the shower and no water.



    This got me thinking. What if we couldn't shower twice a day - which of course led to, well we didn't when I was a lad in the 60's. It was bath night on Sunday and a good wash down for the rest of the week. Even further back to the early 60's it was bath night in the tin bath in front of the fire!! This disappeared when our dad built an extension to out 2-up 2-down, but still bath night remained.

    This situation wasn't just us, it was everyone I knew and I don't remember me or my mates smelling. It could have been that we all smelled as bad as each other so didn't notice it.

    So. Did we smell in the 60's?

  2. #2
    Senior Member lindylou's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    3,677

    Default

    No, growing up in the 60's, I don't remember anyone particularly smelling.

    We had a nice modern bathroom in our house, but still it was bath night once a week - usually on a Sunday ready for school next day. We had a good wash down every night.

    You would come across the occasional pongy person, but nothing much different from today.

  3. #3
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by lindylou View Post
    No, growing up in the 60's, I don't remember anyone particularly smelling.

    We had a nice modern bathroom in our house, but still it was bath night once a week - usually on a Sunday ready for school next day. We had a good wash down every night.

    You would come across the occasional pongy person, but nothing much different from today.
    That's probably about right, Lindy. My parents coming home to Liverpool in the Sixties from the US of A used to say that they could smell Liverpudlians on the buses but I bet it was, as now, just the occasional person. Besides which, upstairs on the old double-deckers where you could smoke, it generally reeked of ciggy smoke anyway!
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  4. #4
    Came fourth...now what? Oudeis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    North London
    Posts
    908
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default

    Factory chimneys, open fires, the odd horse in the street...brylcreem!

    Maybe we did not have smells until we had scents?

  5. #5
    Senior Member wsteve55's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Crosby
    Posts
    2,199

    Default

    I'm pretty sure we did,but just differently!

  6. #6
    Senior Member az_gila's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona, USA
    Posts
    603

    Default

    It's all relative... If we all ponged the same, who would notice...

    Very little deodorant was sold back then...

  7. #7
    Senior Member wsteve55's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Crosby
    Posts
    2,199

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by az_gila View Post
    It's all relative... If we all ponged the same, who would notice...

    Very little deodorant was sold back then...
    But there was......"Old Spice"

  8. #8

    Default

    If you don't perspire and change you clothes daily the average human can go three to four days without stinking.

    Sweaty armpits ae the main cause of a person stinking.

    When I worked in Edmondsons "Full Swing Lemonade" there was a guy who never washed from day to day and when it rained his hair just ran in dirt trickling down his face,everyone used to avoid him when he was about.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Norm NZ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Age
    91
    Posts
    608

    Default

    Well! I left there in 1963!! but no! it was'nt because of the smell!!!

  10. #10
    Senior Member az_gila's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona, USA
    Posts
    603

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by wsteve55 View Post
    But there was......"Old Spice"
    Yeah... but in the 60's Old Spice was something you splashed on your face after shaving...

    And it wasn't that good on dates since it reminded the girls of their fathers...

  11. #11
    Senior Member brian daley's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Tamworth,Staffs
    Posts
    1,045
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    Did we stink in the 60's ? Yes but in the 50's and 40's we stunk to high heaven. We always had the tin bath out on Saturday night so the we could be fragrant for Sunday and our visits to our paternal ,and maternal ,grandparents. Sunday morning would find us in best clothes,redeemed from the pawnshop on Saturday afternoon, we smelled of mothballs and DDT. The working class deodorant.
    The only deodorant that I saw in the 50's was a product called Odo Ro No. Never knew what it smelled like. When I was at sea we showered daily,sometimes twice daily. I did'nt start using deodorants or aftershave until the 60's.When I worked ashore in the 70's I became aware of the once a week bathers in the workshop, their armpits were rank by the time Friday came round. Hygiene has come a long way in the last 40 years and we all smell the better for it

  12. #12
    Re-member Ged's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Here, there & everywhere.
    Posts
    7,197

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by GeorgePorgie View Post
    If you don't perspire and change you clothes daily the average human can go three to four days without stinking.

    Sweaty armpits ae the main cause of a person stinking.

    When I worked in Edmondsons "Full Swing Lemonade" there was a guy who never washed from day to day and when it rained his hair just ran in dirt trickling down his face,everyone used to avoid him when he was about.


    Ha, here's one of those ' There was this guy' stories - like in the problems pages - but it's you
    www.inacityliving.piczo.com/

    Updated weekly with old and new pics.

  13. #13

    Default

    Now listen here Fagan,watch yer step lad or you'll be in thearter having microsurgery for removalof drumstick splinters.

  14. #14
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    This thread stinks! Ha ha.
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  15. #15
    Senior Member lindylou's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    3,677

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by wsteve55 View Post
    But there was......"Old Spice"
    .. and Cedarwood http://www.richgifts.co.za/Cedarwood...wood1_main.htm
    My dad used to use it.

Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •