Someone told me that a man would not use cologne in the 1890s. Is this true?

Someone told me that a man would not use cologne in the 1890s. Is this true?

Amber Allen

Via the Internet

Cologne dates back at least 5,000 years, and men have been using it for about as long as women. It spread to Europe from the Middle East during the Crusades, and by the 17th century, Europe was virtually swept away by the fad. Napoleon Bonaparte used eight quarts of violet cologne every month, even bathing in it. Caswell-Massey’s Number 6 Cologne was a popular formula brought to America in 1752, which President George Washington gifted to Marquis de Lafayette. In 1889, Guerlain made the first highly-concentrated perfume.

All these products made their way west and could be found in any barbershop, especially in the 1890s. After weeks of living the lives of buck nuns, cowhands happily doused their bodies with sweet-smelling cologne before paying visits to the ladies of the evening.

Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian.

His books include The Arizona Trilogy and Law of the Gun.

If you have a question, write: Ask the Marshall,

PO Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 or e-mail him at marshall.trimble@sccmail.maricopa.edu