Perfume and cologne origin
Perfume comes from the Latin “parfumes” meaning “through smoke”. The first fragrances came about by burning, which produced smoke that carried the essence of the item being burned. When they thought about perfume it was a term which applied to anything that gives off a fragrance when burned, but we use the term to anything that gives off fragrance.
The ancient Egyptians are generally credited with being the first people use perfumes, and perfume oils. The fragrances they used came only from natural sources such as flowers, wood, aromatic plants and leaves, etc. The Egyptians are also credited with being the first to use perfume and oil for skin care. They are also credited for being the first to use aromatic spices to preserve and give bodies a pleasant smell at death.
Scented oil fragrances can be made from many substances. A finished scented oil product is a composition of a wide variety of substances, not all of which are used to produce scent. Perfume and cologne are a mixture of fragrant scented oils, aromatic compounds, fixatives, and solvents. Fragrance oils are used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces a pleasant aroma. The reason for this is to evoke a pleasant reaction from either the person who applies the perfume or others who will be effected by the aroma.
The ancient Greeks were the first to use stills to create and use liquid perfume (not oil). They used herbs, spices, and flowers to create these first liquid perfumes. Oils were actually used long before perfume and cologne were even thought of.
Some natural ingredients used to create fragrances are: plants such as cinnamon; flowers and blossoms such as rose and jasmine; the rinds of citrus fruits; leaves such as lavender and patchouli; resins such as frankincense, myrrh, and pine; roots such as ginger; and seeds and woods such as sandalwood. You can list just about any compound that produces a fragrance.
Some animal sources of fragrance are honeycomb, amber, which is derived from the sperm whale, and musk sacs which are used in musk fragrances. Most animal sources of fragrances have been replaced in modern times with synthetic compounds.
You can see that extracting and creating fragrance is a science and must be done very carefully. People will always use fragrance because it plays such an integral part of our everyday lives. The perfumer views his or her job of creating fragrance as a fine art. Finished products are hard to duplicate because there are so many ingredients and variations of technique that can be used. These are known only to the perfumer who has created the fragrance.
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