Fragrance was at the root of all ancient Greek life seen as mystical, spiritual and erotic it was used in ; hospitality, status, philosophy and daily life.

Fragrances were used in all types of religious ceremonies; sacrifices, babies anointed, funeral processions, marriages and bodies wrapped in perfumed shrouds and burnt for happiness in the afterlife.  Some people were buried with perfume containers which were an offering to the Gods to secure a happy afterlife for the dead.

Fragrances were used in bathing rituals and were important in ancient Greek cleanliness.

Athletes commonly used fragrances after extreme exercise and scents were used in medicines as unguent oils and balms which proved to be early recognition of aromatherapy and aromacology as aromas were discovered as healing and therapeutic to a person’s health.

According to historical information found through the works of Appicius some wines produced were also perfumed with the hope that this would give the wine medicinal properties. Fragrance bottles known as plastics have been found from the 6th century BC.  These bottles in most cases are only a few inches in size and shaped in relation to the type of fragrance that was used to store inside them.  Many of these containers are shaped as animals and birds and are made of spun ceramics.

Alabastron fragrance bottles were the most highly prized of all the fragrance containers and craftsmen would mark their bottles with their personalized craftsmanship making these pieces highly collectable and desirable.

Oils and unguents were stored in aryballes and liquid perfume was stored in elegant, slim glass bottles known as lekuthos.

The nature of the craftsmen’s personalized markings on certain bottles is akin to the branding ethos adopted in today’s mass market produced equivalents.

From ancient times fragrance has been a desirable commodity.

A lot has been found in history through historical written sources, excavated mosaics and artifacts such as perfume and fragrance bottles.  Ancient Greeks left written sources and much has been determined from these records in terms of the importance and function of fragrances in ancient Greece.  It is surprising from looking back at historical records, actually how much fragrances are similar to the fragrances on the market today in terms of how extraction techniques.

Fragrance making in its truest form began in the Greek colonies and Crete where it started to be brought to the marketplace (or agora) and sold from stalls.  The Greeks began the first experimentation creating techniques for extraction involving boiling flower petals and herbs isolating the plant’s ingredients and infusing extracted scents in natural oils. This is a more simplistic version of the mass market extraction techniques employed for today’s market demand.

Ancient Greeks used homegrown flowers such as roses, violets and lilies, herbs and spices such as sage and cumin. Incense and myrrh were the more decadent ingredients and reserved for the gods and religious ceremonies until the 4th century.

Ancient Greeks imported oriental fragrances for the making of the more exotic scents keeping these for their own use rather than exporting the fragrances.

Fragrance was at the root of all ancient Greek life seen as mystical, spiritual and erotic it was used in ; hospitality, status, philosophy and daily life.

Fragrances were used in all types of religious ceremonies; sacrifices, babies anointed, funeral processions, marriages and bodies wrapped in perfumed shrouds and burnt for happiness in the afterlife.  Some people were buried with perfume containers which were an offering to the Gods to secure a happy afterlife for the dead.

Fragrances were used in bathing rituals and were important in ancient Greek cleanliness.
Athletes commonly used fragrances after extreme exercise and scents were used in medicines as unguent oils and balms which proved to be early recognition of aromatherapy and aromacology as aromas were discovered as healing and therapeutic to a person’s health.

According to historical information found through the works of Appicius some wines produced were also perfumed with the hope that this would give the wine medicinal properties. Fragrance bottles known as plastics have been found from the 6th century BC.  These bottles in most cases are only a few inches in size and shaped in relation to the type of fragrance that was used to store inside them.  Many of these containers are shaped as animals and birds and are made of spun ceramics

Alabastron fragrance bottles were the most highly prized of all the fragrance containers and craftsmen would mark their bottles with their personalized craftsmanship making these pieces highly collectable and desirable.

Oils and unguents were stored in aryballes and liquid perfume was stored in elegant, slim glass bottles known as lekuthos.

The nature of the craftsmen’s personalized markings on certain bottles is akin to the branding ethos adopted in today’s mass market produced equivalents.

It is a fact of nature that men have to shave regularly, if not once a day then at least several times a week and more so when they get older, unless of course they want to grow facial hair.

So part of a man’s daily ritual will usually include shaving and moisturising his face and adding a dash of aftershave to smell great.  It is really important that a man chooses a good aftershave whether it be a designer aftershave or a cheap aftershave it needs to feel good on his skin and work in harmony with his body’s natural chemical balance.

The first known aftershaves were actually formulated of witch hazel and it is still true today that the base of most aftershaves is still witch hazel.  It is often the case that when a man shaves he will cut himself occasionally and the cuts are not always visible to the human eye.  Using witch hazel in the base of an aftershave actually works as an antiseptic in that it will speed up the healing process of the cuts, (whether large or small) and stop the cuts from becoming infected further.

Using an aftershave also helps to close the pores in a man’s skin (actually, generally speaking men have larger pores and courser skin than women), some of the better brands of aftershaves, particularly designer aftershaves will also work as a moisturising agent which help a man to keep his skin smooth and soft as it is often the way that constant shaving will make the skin dry and sometimes irritated.  The most appealing brands of aftershaves for men and women alike smell clean and fresh with a manly distinctive smell to them.

When you purchase a fragrance you have a choice in most cases of different size bottles and the cologne and perfume of each fragrance.

There are a few differences between a fragrance that has been produced as a perfume (normally spelled the French way Parfum) and a cologne.

Cologne is significantly cheaper to purchase and normally comes in an atomiser which is quicker for the user to spray onto pulse, it is also heavily diluted and whilst the fragrance will linger in a room it will not linger as long as a perfume. The most popular choice of the two for convenience and price is the cologne which you do not need to spray so liberally as if you were adding a more concentrated perfume substitute.
All perfume is mixed with alcohol and evaporates immediately upon application leaving a base note that stays for a long time.  The base not is the fragrance that is left lingering in a room even after you have left.  Another difference between perfume and cologne is the way you apply it to your skin.

You should never over apply perfume because it is so concentrated and will give off a much stronger scent that the cologne equivalent. A quick dab of perfume behind your ear and on your wrists is sufficient for the day.  Sometimes, when we have been wearing a fragrance for a long time we can start to get so used to it that we don’t smell it on ourselves and the tendency is to add more. Don’t.

Cologne will come in bigger bottles for a much cheaper price.

However, due to the increased alcohol content in perfume the fragrance may actually smell slightly different to the cologne equivalent and each scent will smell differently from person to person due to your own individual chemical balance.

Plants such as labyzuz and myrrh were used to decorate the crowns of royalty in Persia during ancient times.
The rich and powerful kept Lilac, Jasmine along with Roses and Violets in their gardens and following the introduction of distillation methods the Persians who could afford it would distil their scents and take the scents with them when they were out of the city.

Fragrance was brought to Greece by Alexander the Great after defeating the Persian king Darius III.

Alexander the Great was known to sprinkle fragranced water on his clothes and over the floors of his many palaces.

Following the original introduction of fragrances used in this way to Greece the Greeks studied fragrances in great detail leaving records on plants, scents and their uses for various ceremonies. This study was taken seriously because the Greeks believed that fragrances came from the Gods and were common place for their religious ceremonies. Moving into early recreational use, greek athletes were given fragranced flower wreaths upon winning sporting events.

The evolvement from early fragrances to today’s mass market industry is vast. Now with cheap fragrances, designer perfumes and cheap and designer aftershaves all within easy reach for today’s regular consumer this is one of the most lucrative industries in today’s society.

“Perfume” is latin “per fume” which actually means “through smoke.”  This is probably because the earliest perfumes used recorded in history was the burning of incense and herbs in religious ceremonies.
The whole industry today throughout the world produces around ten billion dollars in sales per year currently.
From as far back as the time of the Queen of Sheba, burning incense at funerals to honour the dead was a standard procedure.  However, it was the Egyptians who introduced fragrance into the popular culture, in fact, the Egyptians valued their fragrances so much that as a commodity at the time they were worth more than gold!
Anointing their bodies with honey, cinnamon and other scents the Egyptians got their rarer and more expensive fragrances from countries such as India and Persia. Fragrances such as these we very expensive and only the rich could afford them, therefore, scents in those times became a symbol of wealth and power.

The scent Kyphi was very important in Egyptian times and archaeologists found this scent centuries later when uncovering the tomb of King Tut, in fact, many Egyptian temples display wall paintings depicting ainchent Eyptians extracting fragrances from flowers.

Royalty in Persia had crowns decorated with fragrant plants like myrrh and labyzuz. Jasmine, lilac, violets and roses were grown in the gardens of the wealthy. Methods of distillation were used so that the powerful could be recognized by their scents when they were out in the city. Persians were early masters of preservation and sealed rose buds in pottery jars for later use on special occasions.

After defeating Darius III of Persia, use of fragrance was introduced to Greece by Alexander the Great. He scented his clothes and sprinkled scented water on the floors of his palaces. The Greeks studied perfumes and left detailed written records about which plants provided the various scents used in different ceremonies. They believed that fragrances were from the gods and scents were used in most of their religious rites. Even their recreation was accented by fragrances when athletes were given necklaces of flowers upon winning.

Current scientific research confirms what many have thought for years about the power of scents. Aromatherapy is the use of scent in affecting how we feel and is all the rage. From lavender which can soothe to peppermint for invigoration, you can find a smell to suit your needs. With synthetic scent creation and mass production methods, fragrance products are no longer just for the wealthy.

As you can see, fragrance products of one kind or another have been used since the beginnings of civilization. Our culture today seems obsessed with fragrance in every area. Scented soaps, detergents, dryer sheets, powders and air fresheners are just a few of the many ways we use aroma in our daily lives. Obviously, fragrance products are here to stay and probably will be here until the end of time.

Typically other reasons for having allergies to a fragrance could be the ingredients used within the perfume itself that creates the fragrance.

Some of the natural ingredients used in fragrances are evanescent or short lasting scents so synthetics are used to make an aroma more long lasting synthetics also increase the life span of a fragrance making it more long lasting with a longer shelf life. Fragrances and their ingredients are tested rigorously as part of their production, even so, with some wearers an adverse reaction to very sensitive skin and people who are prone to allergies are still unavoidable.  In this instance, you really need to look for a fragrance that contains natural ingredients only because it is clearly the base ingredients which are causing an adverse reaction.

You need to now look for a fragrance that clearly states on the bottle that it is ‘botanical’ or ‘natural,’ these types of fragrances are becoming more readily available in the market, thus easier to find.  The main reason for the increase in natural ingredient usage in fragrances is the environment and health issues.  The only downside to a fragrance containing natural ingredients is that it does not last as long as synthetic fragrances.

Finally, make sure that you are not actually having an allergy to natural ingredients (this is also possible).  Pure oils used on the skin can also have an adverse effect so revert back to synthetic fragrances.
If you suddenly find you have an allergy to a fragrance you have used for a while take into consideration other factors that may have caused this such as temperature changes, washing powder and a change in diet.