It should probably be a rule that one can use the term “Proustian” only if one has, in fact, read Proust. So permit me to flout the rule I just made. In researching the mid-70s at the Enoch Pratt today, I took a Proustian hit when I flipped through the pages of an old Seventeen magazine and saw . . . an ad for Noxzema.
It’s my hunch that Women of a Certain Age are now nodding their heads and inhaling that heady odor. Sharp, tangy, it just missed being medicinal. It was a serious smell for a serious problem, the teen complexion. I tried many complexion products in my teens — Bonne Bell (ooh — another olfactory hit), Phisoderm, an almond paste made by the oh-so-trendy organic joint in the mall — and I can’t say that Noxzema did anything other than clean one’s face thoroughly, but that smell promised so much.
Can you think of a product from your teens that packs that kind of scent memory?
(An aside: It’s a little shocking to see how much advertising in Seventeen was geared toward preparing for marriage — rings, hope chests, china. And I’m having a hard time excavating the slang of the ’70s, which is important to me; I’ve always had a pet peeve about the ananchronisms used in “That 70s Show.” So far, the only words I’m sure about are “drag” and “bummer.” Suggestions? I’m open to individual words or modes of research. In fact, I think I need to track down “The Girls of Huntington House,” which I remember as a very 70s novel about girls in a home for unwed mothers.)
As a woman of a certain age, the memory of the smell of Noxema conjures many recollections.
I remember the perfumes I wore in the 70s: Emeraude and Jovan Musk Oil. I still keep a little flask of the vanilla-scented concoction called “Sex Oil” I purchased at the head shop kitty-corner from my high school. I had a strawberry vial, too.
When the boys in my cohort deigned to dab, their choice was usually Hai Karate, remember those commercials?
As for the words we used, “let’s book” is the phrase that comes immediately to mind. I remember my adolescent confusion the first time I heard that one. I was uncool enough to ask what it meant, and I wondered why they didn’t just say “let’s go.” Later, it became a favorite phrase of mine, for the pleasure of saying “book” in my friends’ company.
The big novel to read when I was in 8th grade (1970-71) was “Reds,” a lurid novel with lots of sex and drugs which we passed around. A number of copies made the rounds because the nuns and other faculty would conficscate it when they saw it. In high school, I read “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” and “Mr and Mrs Bo Jo Jones.”
Coppertone suntan lotion! Today when I take the cap off the bottle and breathe in the coconut scent, it takes me back to the beach at Seaside Heights, New Jersey. We would douse ourselves from head to toe and then subathe for hours, listening to the steady beat of the waves hitting the shore and the sounds of the boardwalk–the wheels spinning on the games of chance; the game attendants calling out to passersby, trying to engage them; the squawks and bells from the shooting gallery; and, more distant, the screams from the riders on the roller coaster and log flume ride at the end of the pier. I can almost feel the sun beating down on my mostly-bare skin. I can smell the salt water of the ocean, and the heavy scent of the onion rings and funnel cakes wafting from the boardwalk is almost thick enough to taste.
It may be a gray December day in Virginia today, but that bottle of Coppertone will send me to July in Jersey in a flash.
And they call it…Charlie? Kind of new, kind of now, Charlie? Or something like that anyway.
Also ‘roll on’ candycane lipgloss?
Have to agree, Karen. I’m close to the Jersey Shore, and get there as often as possible, year round. I keep a bottle of Coppertone in my medicine cabinet just for that wonderful smell. I put a little on like perfume whenever I’m missing summer at the beach. Like today.
Yes, COPPERTONE is a great one. Remember when we all wanted to be the same color as the bottle? My Irish skin would not allow for that, but the hours I spent trying…
If I smelled AGREE shampoo it would send me straight back to summer camp. I don’t think they make it any more though.
NOXEMA reminds me of sunburns. That Irish skin again. For some reason that was the remedy…maybe because it had that cool feeling.
SEA BREAZE anticeptic was what I used on my face before Clinique got a hold of me. And a Jasmine scented LOVE”S BABY SOFT fragrance is what I wore. Although my friend Candi always got lucky with the guys with her SWEET HONESTY perfume from Avon.
As far as 70′s speak. Book was something we said too. Like if one was running really fast from something, “He was bookin’”. Where did that come from?
How about ‘You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby’? Or, something like that. I should have my son and daughters chime in here-I’m a bit past ‘A Woman of a Certain Age’.
It must be Vickie and my shared Irish complexion that makes us have identical memories of Noxema and Sea Breeze (which by the way, I still use). But I can’t believe that no one else – especially you, Vickie, as a hairdresser – has said Herbal Essence shampoo, the original stuff, not that ripoff kind they have today – *the* shampoo for the Peggy Lipton wannabe in all of us. Can’t you just see the bottle, with the girl with the long flowing hair with the crown of florescent flowers, and the emerald green goop inside?
As a woman of a earlier certain age, I, too remember well
Noxema
Coppertone (shades of Hawaii)
Emeraude
but does anyone else remember Mum? It went something like “Mum is the word” “For Women Who Care”
“And you tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on.” Wasn’t that Herbal Essence?
Books of choice were The Outsiders, Forever by Judy Blume, Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, Go Ask Alice, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and later in the decade, Interview with a Vampire.
I remember Janis Ian’s, <i>Seventeen</i>.
“Let’s book” or “Gotta book” and we used High in place of Hi.
I can’t for the life of me remember the perfume, but it came in a green bottle and had a crown for a top(or maybe the bottle was shaped like a crown). Was it Windsong? “Windsong stays on my mind”
Laura L., here’s a reference that might help you with your research on 1970s slang: The Hippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia (and Phraseicon) of the 1960s and 1970s by John Bassett McCleary (copyright 2004 by Ten Speed Press). I came across it this afternoon in the reference section of my library while looking for books on cats (the animals, not the “guys” in the 1970s slang sense!).
Hope this helps,
–Karen
“I can bring home the bacon” with Enjoli and Jean Nate are two that I remember from when I was young. I thought I was way cool when my mother would let me splash on a little Jean Nate after a bath. They still make it and every time I smell it, it takes me back.
It wasn’t just Bonne Bell — it was Ten-o-Six lotion. (You’ll have to Google the correct spelling/form.) And yes, Emeraude. And I thought that was mine alone.
There was a shampoo from that period — Flex? It’s a little later in the ’70s, as I recall; I bought it, and the conditioner, to tamp down the heat damage from blow-drying my Jane Fonda shag. Anyway, it really penetrated the hair. I had a hairdresser tell me once she could always smell when someone had been using it.
Oh! Can’t forget Herbal Essence!
Um, okay, I’m about to confirm that I’m an idiot…
As a 15-year-old, I spent lawn mowing money on…
Hi Karate aftershave.
The first night I wore it, I broke out with a rash on my face.
Herbal Essence is one of the products I jotted in my notebook this a.m. I also remember Jontue being a big fragrance, although that might have been later in the decade.
It’s also fun to read the Ann Landers columns of the date. One woman wrote into say that she was “no Women’s Libber,” but she had noticed that men often hired women because they were attractive and promoted them for being sexually available to them. Signed: “A People’s Libber.” Ann scolded the letter writer, saying it was oh-so-rare for anyone to get a job, much less a promotion, for anything other than hard work.
And Seventeen advised a young reader that tanning needn’t be detrimental to the skin if one did it gradually.
I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Texas so my slang was probably very regional and tended to phrases rather than the individual word. We said “Later” (I’ll see you later) –”Oh man, Church is out!” (boy are you in trouble) and the completely inexplicable “If you’re waitin’ on me you’re backing up.” (You said this to someone who was nagging you to get going. Don’t try to figure it out. It really doesn’t make any sense. I think that’s what we liked about it.)
Although the word groovy was never part of my vocabulary, it’s sobering to remember that Simon and Garfunkel had a song that not only had the word Groovy in the title but the word groovy was repeated in the lyrics…over and over and over. (Ok, that’s really sixties stuff)
For me shampoo smell in the 1970s was baby shampoo. I can’t remember why we thought it was so great for your hair. Of course that’s when we were experimenting with things like witchhazel in place of astringents and baking soda for toothpaste. I can’t remember if we were going for what we percieved to be unadulterated products or if we were just cheap.
In my high school it was “keep on truckin”, or calling someone a turkey. We also used “stick it in your ear” or “whatever blows your skirt up”.
I always waited for Fall to come so I could buy my first bottle of Prince Matchabelli’s “Golden Autumn” perfume. They stopped making it in the 70′s I wish I could get my hands on some now though. “Que Pasa” was a big greeting with the guys. The smell of the “hippy shops” ( I don’t think they were called head shops then) near Tyson street in Baltimore always comes to me when I smell Patchouli Incense.
You guys are GOOD – one you mention stuff, it comes back like the smell of original herbal essence shampoo. Wow. Along with chamomile tea, which I discovered in college and smelled WAY better than I was led to believe (from Peter Rabbit!)
If you can find “This Year’s Girl” a paperdoll/humor book by Sally Edelstein, DO. I just missed buying a copy cheap on ebay and I own a copy. It’s from babyhood to yesterday book about a little baby boomer girl born in 1952 and her growing up and every trend EVERY product on the pages makes you giggle.
What bugs me is how I retain all the catchphrases without EVER buying the crap – “Beautiful skin can be a breeze with Sea Breeze”. “Hai Karate, be careful how you use it.”
I can recall what Yardley stuff all looked like – the packaging – but none of the scent. Except someone – Yardley – made a lemon product that was PURE lemon, I swear. But the pink/blue/white packaging on the lipsticks? Still in my brain.
Sue – baby shampoo was suposed to be purer and gentler on your hair. Blah, blah, blah.
I remember shampoo that allegedly had silk proteins in it to – duh- make your hair “silkier” but that was the 80s. And milk. and
I discovered Phisohex at 13 when the nurse at the hospital gave me the bottle after using it to prep me for surgery and said “they say it’s good for your skin”. It’s the ONLY thing I’ve used successfully for 40 years; the only time i tried anything else (it beame Phisoderm when they yanked the hexaclorophene from it) my skin rebelled.
And anyone here ever wonder WHAT country Prince Matchabelli came from? Stu and i STILL giggle over that one. We’re guessing Fredonia. Or Vespucciland.
As for Janis Ian, one of my heroes? She’s alive and wel, writing music and discovering science fiction.
Far out. I learned transcendental meditation in the mid 70s, when I was 16, so most of my slang was influenced by that. I would finish any note or even an entry in my journal with “JGD” (Jai Guru Dev), a thank-you to Guru Dev, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s teacher. I can’t believe I remember that.
And when I wasn’t seeking spiritual enlightenment, I used Charlie. And Jean Nate. And Clearasil, which wasn’t anywhere near my skin tone but I thought it covered the pimples anyway.
Growing up in rural Illinois, I always thought we were about 10 years behind the hip people on the coasts but almost all of the scents and slogans you’ve all mentioned are as familiar to me as watching The Waltons was with my mom on Thursday nights. (I was/am a big ol’ nerd.)
BTW, Laura, I loved Petrochelli! He was hot! (I told you I was a nerd.) I also loved all the cop/detective shows: Mannix (his secretary was Peggy, another reason to love it), Columbo, Cagney and Lacey, the Rockford Files, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, Kojak, Quincy ME, McCloud, and probably a few I’m forgetting.
Sloans that we used: This one was particular to our region, I think. I lived maybe 30 miles from the Illinois River and ferries would haul vehicles across. If more than one car came through town at one time (it was a very small town), we said “Watch out, the ferry landed.” Dumb, but we liked it!
Scents that I used and can recall just by thinking about them: Ten-O-Six, Sea Breeze, Love’s Baby Soft, and Jovan’s Musk. I’ve heard that the reason drug addicts get so addicted is the scent. Not sure???
whoops, not sloans, SLOGANS!
Juicy Fruit must have been a grandmother thing. Mine did the same thing, so I know exactly what you’re talking about, David.
For some reason the ’70s make me think of lemons. Sun-in. Or even just straight lemon juice. Made our hair turn something other than brown, and my sister, who had dark hair, forced me to make the most of my blonde-ness and use that stuff. It turned my hair to straw, as I remember.
And wasn’t there some lemony-smelling perfume, too? I remember only because I have a memory of some ad in Seventeen for Baby Soft saying something like “I don’t want to smell like a lemon grove, I’m more subtle than that.” It was profound for a 15 year old at the time.
Jovan musk, with Seventeen (there I go again) ads showing a beautiful girl, barefoot and in cutoffs, with her unbelievably foxy boyfriend, canoodling out in the forest. Or something like that.
The word: Foxy. Fox. (“That Mark Spitz is a fox”). It was everywhere. I’ll only admit to it now, 30 years later.
Other words/phrases: Mellow out. Keep on truckin’. Hang loose (I think!).
Also, another scent that my high school friends and I loved was White Shoulders. This was around 1977-1978. It was very expensive, as I remember.
I also remember “Short & Sassy” and “Long & Silky” shampoos. How each one treated your hair differently is completely beyond me, but upon getting my hair cut from moderately long to a pageboy-style bob, I immediately traded in the Long and Silky for Short and Sassy.
Ten-o-Six lotion. Roll on lipgloss (though I see it’s back) and liquid eyeshadow (blue and green were the colors to wear) you applied with a spongey type thing on a stick.
The advent of blowdryers. Wasn’t that in the early 70s, or am I just remembering it that way? My mom got one that had the attached brush, and I remember taking the brush off so I could try to dry my hair. It was a new thing for those of us whose mothers actually had the big hairdryers with the plastic poufy hoods, attached to the dryer by a tube.
Shag carpeting. Orange. We had that in my house back then. We thought it was cool at the time.
Avocado, Burnt Orange and Brown were big colors for the kitchen. I think we had one appliance in each color.
Hot pants. Very controversial, as I recall.
Jontue (TV ads that had the voice-over of some foxy guy saying “Jontue” and other indeciperable but French-sounding words). Emeraude (I wore it once in 8th grade and practically emptied the classroom because it was so strong. The nuns weren’t so happy).
I remember in the late ’70s, probably 78 or 79, there was a very controversial television show, “James at 15″ or something like that. One episode had him taking his girlfriend to bed, and that left lots of morals-watching hand-wringing.
Lemon was a big ingredient, along with anything “natural.” Hence all those earth tones.
Cathy,I also was thinking of the baby oil with iodine in it for a suntan lotion. What about peroxide on the hair to bleach highlights in the sun? Who knows if either of those were needed since we lived in the sun during the summers,anyway. A scorched smell, even stronger than the above, is what I particularly remember. Was that from our skin burning? June
You all listed so many of my familiar scents that I’m having a hard time thinking of a new one! Jean Nate was a big one for me – I felt so grown up the first time I bought it. I had forgotten about Love’s Baby Soft until I read it here. I had some Yardley product that I can’t recall either, but I do remember Muguet, which smelled like Lily of the Valley I think. I avoided Charlie. I was dating the guy across the street and his mother doused herself in it regularly. (But that didn’t stop me from marrying him 26 years ago)
I have 5 sisters so I do remember stealing a spray or two from my older sisters on occasion. My oldest sister went to a dermatologist, who told her Noxema was absolutely the worst thing to use on skin. But I know we had some in the house – maybe one of my brothers used it.
I can’t recall any specific books but television is easy – nothing beats Mission:Impossible!
Warm baby oil…with iodine in it.
An olfactory flashback?
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned patchouli.
There’s a little store on the college strip here. All I have to do is walk in and suddenly it’s 1968.
Anybody remember Sun-In? It was supposed to lighten your hair but turned it orange. A strong lemony scent and went well with the aforementioned baby oil and iodine.
Laura,
I may be the only person in America who’s never seen That 70′s Show, but I know that bummer and drag were used in the 70′s. Bummer came from bum trip and I remember saying it in the early 70′s (I don’t remember much from those days, but I remember that). Drag goes back even further (which, coincidentally, was the name of Ken Kesey’s bus. Further, that is, not Drag). But I remember the mid 60′s had a pop song, Kind of a Drag, by who? Dave Clark Five? Paul Revere and the Raiders? I forget, but I could hum a few bars if you’d like.
The Buckinghams – 1967. I love the Internets.
BTW: The ads for Love’s Baby Soft are very creepy, a teenage girl in a very baby-ish nightgown. I don’t think she’s actually sucking a lollipop, but it somehow leaves that impression.
Wow, this is bringing back all sorts of memories I thought were tucked away never to be seen again. Herbal Essence shampoo, definitely, but I never wore perfume or makeup in high school so I have nothing to add, although I do remember commercials.
And Laura, as per your comment about Seventeen magazine offering advice in preparation for marriage: I work with a young woman who is about to turn 25. She’s freaking out, saying she’s “not where I wanted to be at this age.” When I asked her where that was, she said, “married with kids like all my friends.” Yikes.
Noxema is definitely a memory-trigger for me – as well as Jean-Nate (if I spelled that correctly) – my mom used to use it and I loved it so much. Also, as soon as I smell Clearasil foaming face wash – I feel as though I’m twelve again. wow.
I can’t seem to let this alone. Maybe it’s because I’d rather do this than work.
Other olfactory triggers:
Juicy Fruit gum. My grandmother carried it in her purse and when she opened it, the smell of Juicy Fruit would fill the room.
Diesel exhaust. I smell it and I’m instantly in the army, downwind of a generator.
<em>A scorched smell, even stronger than the above, is what I particularly remember. </em>
Scorched smell? That would be Nair.
Scorched smell? That’s my mother ironing.
Those Charlie perfume commercials from the 1970s featured the wonderful cabaret singer and pianist Bobby Short. That was the first I’d ever seen or heard of him (hey, I was just a teen at the time!). I was lucky enough to see him perform live at the Carlyle Cafe, his regular gig, in the late 1980s. He was in top form musically that night, and he was such a charmer. I remember him joking with the audience that he made more money on those Charlie commercials/residuals than any of his recordings or concert appearances.
I never liked the perfume, but I thought Shelly Hack was beautiful and Bobby Short sang like an angel.
Along with the above (lemon, patchouli, Herbal Essence, Coppertone) — Wind Song perfume (“Wind Song stays on my mind”, another Prince Matchabelli product), the chlorine from the pool, baby oil for suntanning, and the oil from the chain of my 10-speed bike (remember when those became all the rage?); the words/phrases “gross”, “far out”, and “keep on truckin’”. In the later 70′s, I graduated to Chanel 19 for my grownup nights out.
Wow . . .
DOrothy- thanks – yes -Muguet de Bois but I moved on to Tigresse- so much more mature!! With some fake tiger print fabric on the bottle. Did anyone draw fake lower eyelashes using Yardley eyeliner and paint a flower on your face(one cheekbone right below your eye) with Yardley dry eyeshabdow- which you would wet? You also wet the eyeshadow and painted it on your eyelids so they would be a somewhat thick shimmery pink. This was probably actually the lat 60′s when I was in HS. Jean Shrimpton was the Model and Twiggy, too(saw her on America’s top model- that is not the Twiggy I knew and loved!- where is the short dress, short hair and painted on lower eye lashes!).
From the seedier side: Boones Farm [any flavor] and Mad Dog 20/20. They smelled and tasted better going down than they did coming back up.
–john–
In fifth grade (1975-76) we said “burn!” when someone was wrong or embarrassed… another, similar taunt was “toasty toasty!” We borrowed a lot of our slang from “Welcome Back Kotter.”
The Bonne Bell LipSmackers were must-haves — one year we wore them on ropes around our necks — and 10-0-6 was the astringent I used, because it didn’t sting as much as Sea Breeze. I used Agree shampoo, too, along with Flex (a balsam scent) and this stuff called “Body on Tap,” which had beer in it.
When I was a college freshman (living at home) in 1970, I asked my dad to buy me some Boone’s Farm Apple wine to take to a party. Now I was underage- but my dad didn’t say- oh, no, you are too young- he said- “why can’t I get you something decent- I think that Boone’s Farm stuff is supposed to destroy your brain cells.” Wasn’t MD 20/20 much later?- it comes from my mom’s favorite company- Mogen David – maker of Fortified(extra sugar) Concord Grape wine- the favorite wine of all Jewish people over 80. My mom buys one bottle every year at Passover and then it sits in a decanter in her fridge all year- until she throws it out, buys a new bottle, uses a small amt at Passover, pours it into the decanter and the cycle starts again.
My date to the prom bought either Boones Farm or MD20/20 and we got pulled over by a cop who only chastized my boyfriend for buying such crappy “wine”.
Does anyone remember the shampoo “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific?” Who thought of that? It makes me laugh thinking about it.
This is a bit of a tangent, but fun. If you can, take a look at some of the magazines published the month you were born. It’s fascinating to see the ads and articles our moms were absorbing at that time. Gives you a very good feel for the culture in which they were raising us, and all the unspoken assumptions. I have a July 1959 Good Housekeeping, which is a gem. All those ads for baby formula, diapers, beauty products (for moms, not babies), prepackaged foods (quite a novelty, then), ‘feminine’ products–and the pre-feminist attitudes that went with them! Better than a time capsule.
WOW!!! I just came across this sight and flipped out – I really don’t hang around anyone exactly my age (except husband and thats useless} that actually has the same shared product memories I have: I am so flashing backt to:
Love Story – had the poster in my room
Heaven Sent perfume – {she’s mine kind of girl I want her so baby everything about her is go go go , with heaven sent)
Slicker lip gloss – (slicker under, slicker over, slicker alone)
California Girl Cosmetics – I grew in Ft Worth and SO wanted to be a Calif.girl
Tanning with baby oil – were we insane????
Baby barrettes – little hearts and stuff
Rolling my shagged hair in three disinct layers with my electric rollers
The penny loafers that had the wider “brim” or whatever you call it
Tan colored platform sandals
“You are a part of the universe, no different than the moon and the stars you have a right to be here….” poster. I could go on and on – I can’t believe I am not alone out here!!! Far out!