To think that the 70's and 80's smelled more?

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

It may sound odd....I have a very acute sense of smell and many of my memories are tied up with smells.

I can recall the most faint but specific odors....I can sort of bring them back.

THe smell of the outdoor bounds centre my class went to for two days when I was 10 in 1982. Positively VICTORIAN in it's smell.

My friend's house....shit and mince.

The hall behind the chapel....wet coats, cheap rubber and dust.

Is it just me?

I still have a strong sense of smell but scents are far more pleasant now...

[BillBrysonsBeard]

Not odd at all! Places did smell more.. Now everything is odour free, certain things can't be released into atmosphere, air conditioning/filtration is everywhere.. And we have scented candles, air fresheners, perfumes to make our homes smell lovely. One place that still smells the same to me though is old church halls!

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

Bill Yes! Old church halls! Bloody love that smell.

I suppose there was coal around then....and as you say people didn't really have air fresheners and scented candles weren't a thing...

[MardyBra]

I think this woman has a lot to answer for.

[PeppasNanna]

I swear my sense of smell is so strong, in my next life im coming back as a sniffer dog!

I remember in smells.

I have dc with ASD & totally relate to their sensory issues, though they are the extreme! ( poor dc vomiting due to an air freshner)

I think we use many more products nowadays so things smell less... in some ways!

[OverScentedFanjo]

I don't know, I visited my old school from the 80's last weekend. The sports hall smelt exactly the same.

DC classroom has its own unique smell.

[BrianButterfield]

I was only around in the 80s but stuff did smell more. Cars smelt a lot more and there was more smoking around. Pubs used to give out a great waft of beer and smoke when you opened the door which they don't any more. Public buildings (due to inadequate heating and lack of double glazing) used to smell very damp and musty quite often, especially Victorian ones (now mostly replaced with efficient and clean-smelling newbuilds!)

[NoonAim]

60s and 70s houses smelled of chip fat and cigarette smoke, and in the winter, soot from the coal fires.
My mum's friend's house always smelled lovely to me - of cheap hairspray and fags

[SirChenjin]

Definitely more smells about - and not necessarily good ones. We showered and washed our clothes less frequently, we smoked, and I don't really recall airing our houses being 'a thing'. Now our homes smell nice, we air, we shower, we don't smoke everywhere...it's a nicer place to live!

Agree with the smell of church halls - love them

[NoelHeadbands]

I think Glade do that shit and mince fragrance

I miss the beer and smoke smell that used to hit you when you opened a pub door.

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

Noon yes! And my mate's Dad smelled of beer and Brylcreem!

[7to25]

I am old and the other day was remembering that "men" smell hat you rarely get these days.

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

Noel I'd buy it I tell thee! It smelt very....real.

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

7 was it Brylcreem or Old Spice or something? With fag smell?

[emotionsecho]

Flowers actually smelt in the 70's. I always remember when walking past houses, meadows, in parks, gardens, etc., being enveloped in the most beautiful scents of so many different flowers and plants, nowadays there is just nothing, beautiful looking but devoid of any scent.

[QueenLaBeefah]

The 70s smelled of booze and fags.

[MrsMolesworth]

Christmas used to smell of cigars. I loved that smell. And tubes, buses, cafes, restaurants and cinemas smelled of cigarette smoke.

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

The 80s smelt of Impulse and cheap hairspray!

I loved the smell on a still night in autumn when the coal fires were lit.

[Pipestheghost]

My grandad smoked a pipe and my dad cigars, I found the smell of both very comforting. Classrooms and school halls had a certain smell which I don't find at dc's school, I think it must be the cleaning products they use now.

[IguanaTail]

Plus car exhaust fumes were stronger. There used to be less extraction in kitchens so you could smell cooking a lot more. And in schools they used to be allowed to use much stronger products and bleach etc, so they smelt stronger.

[Pipestheghost]

I loved the earthy smell of the local green grocers, now a thing of the past.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

M & S Frankincense Christmas candle smells exactly the same to me as the box we used to keep our Christmas tree decorations in when I was a child, although my mother doesn't get it at all. (And yes, I do buy it for that reason!). Apart from that, Christmas used to smell of Christmas tree and oranges. Boxing day smelled of spilled beer and stale fags. France smelled of Gauloises, sadly no longer. Spain was pine trees and drains.

[IguanaTail]

Yes, Spain has a very different smell. As soon as you get out the plane the smell hits you. And that building rubble and heat smell in the airport.

[Gruntfuttock]

The early 70's smelt of patchouli and Giorgio Beverley Hills, perfume-wise.

[GreenPotato]

I loved shake n vac woman! I still sing that song when hoovering (despite not actually using shake n vac) kids think I am mad

Yes the 70s ponged. Maybe it's because your sense of smell is stronger as a child but also the march of cleaning products and obsession with not having a smelly home these days. I remember a friend's house that smelt so strongly of stale biscuits. Another that smelt of mould and damp, though it was a big posh house.

Our town was smelly too, and that makes sense because a lot of new environmental laws have cleaned up rivers and factories quite a bit.

Still, my MIL's house today would give any 70s home a run for its money. Stinky dogs, crumbling victorian furniture, out-of-date food and bat poo.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

Car exhausts have made a huge difference, if I ever find myself driving behind an old, pre-catalytic converter car now I really notice it. And yes to fewer people having an extractor fan in their kitchen. More smoking in indoor places. Pipe smoke. Those awful orange oil air fresheners in cars.

I don't think the proliferation of fragranced products we have now is necessarily a good thing though, air fresheners, all sorts of fragranced cosmetics, smelly things to put in dishwashers and hoover bags. Most of it is pretty sickly and overpowering to me.