How old were you when you started to get interest in fragrances?

[MikeDropIt]

I've always loved fragrances, ever since I was a little kid. I remember rushing into every fragrance store available when going shopping with my parents. They always thought I was crazy

But it all started for real when I was 16 years old. The fragrance that got me into this was Ck One Shock for Him. I remember smelling it in a store and went home to search for it online to see what others had to say about it. I noticed different fragrances sites, reviewers on youtube. It was like opening a door to a new world. I knew that fragrances was going to be my thing. I was hooked, and I still am.

My collection is small, 15 bottles as of yet, all of them are sweet sugary gourmands!
I'm 18 years old, and I know that fragrances is what I want to spend the rest of my life working with!

So, how old were you when your interest in fragrances started?

[pharmgator01]

Interested - 18 years or so.

Obsessed - mid 30's.

[Ken_Russell]

Around 14 I started to have a full-scale fragrance hobby: just received my first designer fragrance and it made me passionate for more.

Moderately interested: even when I was 6, 7 or 8 (except one headache caused by bad fragrances around the same age), I was genuinely fascinated by the finer, smoother, more complex colognes grownups were wearing and even at that I age I must have known/though (even subconsciously) "this is what I will do, what I will use and I will smell like someday".

[sjg3839]

Around 13. My pops used a few frags, and I would take a few sprays of one of his often before going to school.

[Azieru]

Around 12 year old I used to secretly wear my brothers CK One and fathers Obsession to school. Later on I stuck to one fragrance, Boss Bottled throughout my adulthood. Totally oblivious there was this wonderful world of fragrances till a year ago.

[JiveHippo]

Always asked for cologne for Christmas since I was a small child. Got serious about it when I discovered BN in 2002/2003 (in my early 20's).

[MikeDropIt]

My pops used a few frags, and I would take a few sprays of one of his often before going to school.

That makes us two then!

[comfortablynumbbg]

20 years old.

[Scentsucker]

Er, I got into it about 3 months ago. I'm 32 and a self confessed late bloomer!

[hednic]

18 years old.

[tonghpafu]

20.

[noirdrakkar]

19. I'm 21 now.

[Richie_B]

Oh, I'd say about 11 to start (was given a bottle of Aqua Velva and a bottle of Jade East by my older brother), but took on an interest of my own at about age 14. This was the late '80's, really a great time for scents. Not tons of nameplates, but the department stores were filled with brands that had tons of history. Everything back then had backbone and was potentially polarizing. Flankers were just about nonexistant. It was an amazing time.

[DreamerII]

15 years old (now I am 32)

It was in 1995 when my parents bought me Hugo by Hugo Boss.

[fredricktoo]

About 14 or 15 and I was only interested in the older more well developed girls we hung out with who were not at all shy about telling me that 14 or 15 sprays was not at all attractive. Took me a year or two to calm down.

[Tony T]

when i first smelled allure homme about 8 years ago. at that time i had under 10 scents. now i am approaching 300 not including samples and decants!!!

[iivanita]

was probably like 6 years old, i allways had good sense of smell...and remember my favourite teacher...was 80s wore some perfume...it was soo classy ...then later i started stealing perfumes from my mum...
i remember she used to get Anais anais as a present...and allways that same frag, so i wore it a lot ...then i remember Angel ...then Naomi Campble 1st scent i bought myself, jeez thats good!...
then i went into one empty phase...where i liked more "non scented perfumes"...something light...then ......i figured out all perfumes are the same and its the waste of money....i visited only mainstream perfume shops....then i bought Dior cherie after searching for months for something that will justify spending money on it ....and then nothing again becasue llast search was too exhausting....

and then 1 year ago, discovered niche shop with Amouages, i bought like 18 frags in less then a year!!, before i felt bad if i had 3 of them at one time ...and i blame it on perfume forums! i would not get that idea to own so many myself hehe

[NYCBoomBoom]

Since my teens I've always had around a dozen or so bottles of various designer colognes (mainly received as gifts). But now I've almost tripled my collection in the span of 3-4 months thanks to this forum.

[Ivan D' Great]

Parents wore Fragrance (still do )

I remember dad's Brut, i was six. Mom had Miss Dior, and a little amber bottle of patchouli. When dad left he left behind a bottle of Monsieur Rochas. I wore it to a party when I was eleven, and it didn't lasted. By the time we got there it was already gone. Later I found out it was an Aftershave, and learned the difference with the other concentrations.

Got some Avons (the classic Corvette shaped green glass bottle and Ginseng, I believe it was called and had a red dragon painted around the bottle).....

[VintagePoison]

I've always been fascinated with fragrances as my relatives had a lot around. I would guess that I started at the age of 3-4.

Opium, Poison, Antaeus, Pour Monsieur, No. 5, Polo, Drakkar Noir...etc. All the heavy hitters. I remember they would go on trips and bring back sets of perfume miniatures just to give to the kids to play with. Growing up, in the back of my head I've always wanted to go searching for my Holy Grail. It wasn't until 2 weeks ago (I'm 24 now) that I actually started on my scent journey and I am having the most fun in the world!

[dougczar]

1 year. Almost to the day. Went out to replace my used up bottle of Hugo Element last February. Never heard of Creed, 1 Million, or Acqua di Gio. Now one yer later I have over 130 bottles, dozens of splits, few hundred samples... Yes, I did pick up that Hugo Element also. Not sure what triggered what in my brain...

[thebeck]

13 - That was in 1964 - you do the math......

[badarun]

5-6 I think - my grandfather's friend used to make ether based parfum's in my city back in India (it actually wasn't a city at that stage in my life).
21 - Collection started from day 1 of my 1st job.
34 / Now - thinking of getting a 2nd job to keep up the expenses on parfums

[MikeDropIt]

Great stories guys! Thank you for sharing them, keep 'em up!

[hreple]

I can remember my father using CK Eternity - I can't have been more than three years old at the time. I distinctly remember him because of that smell, and I could tell where he had been in the house, when he was in and when he was out traveling. That stuck with me, and I've always liked fragrances, BUT I didn't really start it as a hobby until two years ago. Up to then I'd just this and that, mostly the odd Boss or Calvin Klein (and Kouros when I was 13-14, what the hell ...). I also remember my dad starting to use Aqua Di Parma Colonia and Creed Original Vetiver a long time ago. I had no idea what they were all about at that time, but I do remember them smelling fantastic. No surprise I have them in my collection now, I guess.

Anyways, a very good friend of mine entered the fragrance hobby about two and a half years ago, and I got to smell Aventus because of him, and I was basically sold - this at the age of 28. I'd never experienced such a fragrance with such a depth and broad specter of AWESOME. That experience really hit home, and I purchased my first niches not many weeks after, in addition to receiving my own Aventus as a Christmas present. From there on it's just been a rush of great fragrances, and I'm happy I've been fortunate enough to pick up many of the perfumes I have in my collection today.

[Sparky]

I really didn't like fragrances until around 40! Now I have around 40 bottles!

[rum]

Can't remember exactly, but it was pre-teens-ish. 11 or 12 maybe even 13.

[Virtue&Sin]

I was at kinder. Weird, I know.

[drseid]

About 15 when I began taking an interest, but I did not really zero in on actively looking for new fragrances until I was in my early thirties.

[hedonist222]

My umbilical cord was perfumed.