Aroma of the '80s

Aside from the visual and audible cues reminiscent of the 1980s, one sense can elicit comforting recollections of a fond era: The Aroma of the 1980s.

Look back through your mind's scent folders and ask yourself "What aromas then bring a smile to my face now?"  Journey with us as we take a look at a few that spring to our mind!

Chapter 1: Toys

Starting with our entertaining toys, many of us recall the sweet, fruit scents of Strawberry Shortcake (Sweet Beginnings) and her cast of character dolls.  Whether new or old, the scent of strawberries, blueberries, peaches and other scents continue to radiant from these joyful dolls.  Likewise, the Peaches-N-Cream Barbie delivered a sugary sweet peach scent to enhance a young girls play scene.  And who can forget the floral scented Rose Petal Dolls when swayed and moved about during playtime.

Cabbage Patch dolls with their mix of plastic meets hints of vanilla take us back to hugging and carrying them around from stroller, to table, to bed.  While our small, blue and white Smurf figures radiated a strong yet somehow pleasant PVC scent as we hopped them along their adventures on the floor.

Stinkor from the Masters of the Universe, however was an ingeniously odd scented mold with patchouli oil mixed directly in the mold.  As his name implies, he was a repulsively scented character that, at times, smelled mostly of burnt plastic.  Speaking of burnt plastic, the Lite-Brite tended to smell similar as the 60-watt bulb glowed while we inserted the colorful pegs into the grid.  Arguably, Colorforms smelled of a similar, warm rubber meets PVC smell also.

Finally, within the play realm we cannot forget Play-Doh with its unique dough and plastic aroma setting it apart from, well, edible bread.

Chapter 2: Stickers

Scratch and Sniff stickers remain a revered bouquet of nostalgic scents.  With the cornucopia of varieties, you could become easily distracted in class as you ran your nostrils over the covers of our notebooks.  Catching whiffs of chocolate, fruit, pickles, ice cream, and our favorite: watermelon scent us (pun intended) into a mild mental distraction during history class.

Chapter 3: Health and Beauty

Beloved beauty products of yesteryear were no exception to the fond recall of the 1980s either.  The various hairsprays that suspended our hair equally dispersed alcohol-like fragrances that we shall never forget.  No matter the added floral scents, the hairspray base was far more prevalent and tends to remain in our olfactory memories.  Likewise, the pungently strong acne and facial cleansers with their unique, aromatic concoction questioned us all if we would receive a contact high or chemical burn.

Shampoos seemed to blossom into a near rainbow of colors and scents as well.  From the fruity fragrance of Salon Selectives to the Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific was equally a pleasant shampoo that emitted a forest meets a floral field aroma.  Can you recall the hints of honey from Faberge Organics or the slightly musky TCB?  Suave and Agree introduced us to the strong yet welcoming scents of green apple and strawberry shampoos which made us question how much shampoo was really in the bottle.

Chapter 4: Office and School Supplies

Dare we forget how mere office/school supplies also stood out amongst the aromatic crowds?  Ah! The  candy and fruit scented erasers which, effectively, did not erase.

Although only available at the Hershey's Chocolate World gift shop, Hershey's produced Chocolate Scents pens which delivered a truly identical smell and equally brown ink pathway as you jotted down notes.  Papermate's erasable pens were nearly intoxifying as you wrote notes or book reports while having that radical ability to erase your inked mistakes.

The scent of the ink produced from the Spirit Machine, also known as the mimeograph or ditto machine, arose from the copied paper's ink as a true, unique scent.  Although nearly indescribable, we who traveled through the schools in the 1980s know what it smells like.

Chapter 5: Places

Another chapter of scents which was prevalent and familiar was the public library.  No matter the town, one could easily walk from one town's or city library to another and they all had the trademark aroma of old paper and cellophane.

How about the long departed KCafe inside K-Mart or Hills Department Stores with their eye-popping food courts at the entrance?  We all believed that the manager pumped the freshly popped popcorn through the ventilation so we could beg our parents for a bag or box of popcorn...and maybe pizza too!

The moment you walked into a Pizza Hut in the 1980s, you knew you in the palace of pizza restaurants.  Enveloped with high dosages of grease coupled with a few whiffs of the pie ingredients with a hint of cigarette smoke is an all too familiar aromatic mental stamp in time.

And then there are the malls that sent the scents free as you walked the halls.  From perfumes and colognes, the food courts, the traces of new clothing, along with the human passerby's with their mix of odors...to include the body odor can easily strike up our nostalgic nasal memories.

Chapter 6: Electronics

We conclude this survey of nostalgic scents with the distinct fragrance of electronics.  Can you recall that static, electrifying scent as you changed the channels on the old rotary, turn knob televisions or when you were changing your game cartridges?

How about that magnetic and plastic scent from freshly opened audio or video cassette tapes?

Many of us can be taken back to fond memories and times by any or all of our senses.  The sense of smell is no different and invites warm memories of delightful memories.  What aromas kindle memories for you?