Saturday, April 24, 2021
My Fragrance
I don’t wear perfume or fragrance anymore due to complaints I got from people who hate me for smelling good. Some even have allergic reactions to my artificial scent. I was having dinner with a lovely woman, and in the middle of the meal, her face turned red and puffy, as well as having trouble breathing. She blamed it on my fragrance. I feel that people should be more responsible for their illnesses and stop blaming others for living out the lives that they crave. It came to a time when I had to decide on having this relationship with this woman or being loyal to my brand of fragrance Ultra Male. Of course, I chose the fragrance. My life as a bachelor became even more bachelor-like.
It was hard for me to separate myself from the fragrance. When I put it on, I feel like me, but a better version of me. It is how I want the world to smell. The scent is a combination of vanilla, amber, fresh spicy, and a touch of cinnamon. At the time, I lived in a studio apartment, and I would spray Ultra Man in the main room and my kitchenette area, and of course, the bathroom. Even at night, I would spray a tiny amount on my pillow before I sleep. After a while, I couldn’t imagine my life without this scent lingering around and, of course, on me. As an adult, I discovered Ultra Man for my addiction to everything that is French. I have always felt that Jean Paul Gaultier was a genius, and I wanted to live in his world if not only becoming him.
As a teenager and a very smelly one, according to my fellow students at Taft High, I would use Jean Naté. The first fragrance that I was addicted to. I must have discovered Jean Naté at the local Trinity Drug Store in Woodland Hills. I like the splash version but was very fond of their body powder. If on a budget (and I was always on a budget), I would get the travel size of the powder. I had a briefcase-carrying my homework assignments, but also a container of Jean Naté body powder for that mid-afternoon pick-up. Technically the body powder was for females, but I never paid attention to gender labels even when a teenager. If I like the scent, I go for it no matter what. Jean Naté is a combination of lavender, jasmine, rose, carnation, lily of the valley, cedar, tonic, musk, and sandal. A very overpowering smell, but it reminded me of fresh lemons as well. It was a scent that drove the teachers and fellow students to the other side of the room. I also have to say that P.E. or Gym teachers were not fond of a boy having this scent show up inside the gymnasium.
Since my Uncle was a hairdresser, as I’m in the family, it felt right that Jean Naté was invented by a hairdresser by the name of Charles Jundt, better known as Charles of the Ritz. The first bottle of Jean Naté came out in 1935. Sometime in the 1960s, it became the fragrance of choice for people who shop in discounted drug stores.
For the past 20 years or so, I have stopped using perfume or fragrances, mostly due that I feel it’s not proper for a man of a specific age. Of course, I alienated many people in my life due to my love for Jean Naté and, later, Ultra Man - but I realized that one had to narrow down choices, such as is it important to own the 5-disc CD boxset of The Who Sold Out? I had to be satisfied by having less than more, and still, I feel empty.