Let's be real here, history stinks. I mean that quite literally. Think about it, back in the good ol' days, people weren't exactly washing their clothes regularly, and dead animals were surely stacking up. It's no wonder people wanted to make their worlds smell a little fresher. So let's figure out what exactly are air fresheners.
Air Freshener: a substance or device for making the air in a room smell fresh or clean.
Now let's get smelling!
History of Air Fresheners:
We head to Ancient Egypt for this tale and start with perfumes. It makes logical sense that perfumes gave us the birth of modern air fresheners, but we've got a few thousand years to go before we get to those little automatic spray thingys in bathrooms.
Perfumes originated to help spruce up the smell of a person's body, clothing, buildings, and even used in sacrificial offerings. If we were to seek out the origins of the word "perfume" we'd realize that it comes from the latin word "per fumus" which means "of smoke." That origin can give us a bit of insight into how perfumes were originally used. Sacrificial burnings occurred, and it was most likely that perfumes were used to cover up or mask the smell of whatever they were offering to the gods.
The first ever industrial perfume maker was Tapputi. Back in 1200 B.C. Tapputi held power within the government and began extracting smells from various plants. While the first ever recorded perfumes were found in Cyprus before Tapputi; those perfumes were strictly for priests. Tapputi made perfuming an industry.
The Rise of Perfumes:
Springing into the 6th century, the use of perfumes grew within the Islamic culture. Those cultures developed steam distillation, and revolutionized how smells could be created. With Arabia and Persia being trading powerhouses, they were able to gain access to new flora and fauna from around the world and made incredible new scents.
In 801 B.C., Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Al-Kindi worked to industrialize perfumes. Their cost saving new measures allowed for the business to boom and the world grew to smell a little sweeter thanks to them. In the 11th and 12th centuries, crusaders brought the scents back to the western world and the rest was history.
The Italian renaissance brought new life into the perfume industry, causing a growth in the industry that had never been seen before. Royals hopped on the bandwagon and embraced perfumes as well. In fact, King Louis XV's court was known as the "perfumed court" for having a different scent for each day of the week. It was the royal use that made it popular to better the smell of clothes, fans, and more.
Modern Air Fresheners:
Perfumes were king from then on. After all, royals loved to use them. It wasn't until 1948 that we saw the introduction of aerosol air fresheners. The idea began when inventors saw the U.S. military's insecticide sprayers. In the 1950's aerosols took off and became the main way people produced their favorite smells.
While air fresheners are still very popular today, you can still make your favorite smells with the help of candles, potpourri, and good old fashioned diffusers.