Softsoap

Not sure if you are familiar with the Softsoap brand - they mainly produce hand soaps and body washes. I have always loved one particular type of hand soap they make, it looks like this:



I was introduced to this soap when I first moved to Fullerton about 7 year ago. I moved to go to school and was moving into a dorm on campus. I happened to live w/the RA and she bought this soap for our bathroom and I fell in love with it.

I don't recall ever buying it on my own - I always bought the generic brand of soap because it was a few dollars cheaper. Through the years, I've come into contact w/this soap and I would always tell myself that I needed to break down and spend a few more dollars to get this soap because I loved the scent. Truth is, the scent takes me back to 2002 when I first moved. I find it comforting and smelling it makes me smile. Honestly, I do find it odd that I have this attachment to this soap because of the three years I lived in the dorms, the first year was my least favorite I think. But perhaps the scent reminds me of my first experience of independence in my life - of being on my own, being younger and having a plan. On my last shopping trip, I finally bought the soap.

It's very interesting how scents can take us back to a moment or time in our lives. Definitely shows how complex our brains are, associating a scent with a certain place and time. I have an old perfume at my parents' house that, if I smell, takes me back to 7th grade and the crush I had at the time. Or the Sun Ripened Raspberry body spray that I have from Bath & Body Works takes me back to my early high school years.

I guess scent is a nice way to remember a former time.