Jergens Original Scent

by Lynnd

A few weeks ago I was flying through the store doing my weekly grossry shopping and I passed the lotions aisle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a display for Jergens lotions. One in particular caught my eye as it said Jergens Original Scent. I thought to myself could it be the same formulation from when I was a kid? I did not have time to stop but thought I will check it out next week when I go shopping. Why did this stop me? Call it a scent memory.

Over the years I would occasionally catch the scent of Jergens lotion when I would pass someone. I know that scent! It takes me back to being 4 or 5 years old. My brain flashes to an image of the basement of an old house that my Aunt and Uncle lived in when I was a kid. Then it flashes to a dresser, I can see the top cluttered with various items and in the center is a bottle of Jergens lotion. It has a black top and a curvaceous white bottle with black lettering. This is a grown up ladies thing like make up and hair pins. We were not allowed to play with these things except with supervision and only on dreamy dress up days or Halloween.

I think about my cousins and their Mom and my Mom how it seemed like all of the females in my family used Jergens lotion. My cousin Diane and I would feel so lucky if our Mom’s would get a little too much out of the bottle on to the palms of their hands, they would call us over and have us hold out our hands so they could share the excess with us. This was so special almost like putting on makeup. Then the scent would be with us all day.

I have bought bottles of Jergens in the past but they just did not smell the same and I would always be disappointed. I went back the following week and opened the bottle for a sniff. There is was that clean sweet scent that I remembered from my childhood. It is hard to describe the emotions I felt but it was a cross between sadness and comfort. It kept pushing my brain trying to make memories come forward that I have worked so hard to block out, so well in fact the flashes I have are the ones I described above. My Mother wore this lotion and I think I associate it with her, but I am not sure or maybe my mind plays tricks on me. There is so little I remember about her that it is so hard to be sure. I do have flashes of the house we lived in when she passed away but I don’t know if it is the scent, as they are the same flashes I have when I think about her dying. The living room, the first color TV and the vinyl turquoise colored recliner that my Dad bought especially for her when she got so sick.

I stood in the aisle and read the bottle. Jergens Original Scent, Cherry and Almond. So that is the secret of the heavenly smell. I grabbed it and put it reverently in my cart. As I packed my carry all for the trip down to the family reunion, I put the bottle of Jergens on top. Sunday I woke up and took my shower in preparation of seeing the family, got out and smoothed the lotion on my legs and arms, back and hands and felt a sense of calm and comfort. It seemed to me that just maybe Mom was there with me.