Old Spice Commercial 2003

 Old Spice products were originally manufactured by the Shulton Company, founded in 1934 by William Lightfoot Schultz. A buyer at Bullock's in Los Angeles made Schultz aware of the emerging popularity of colonial-American style furniture, a trend spurred by the then-recent opening of Colonial Williamsburg. Shultz reasoned that an Early Americana-themed cosmetics line might also find favor. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York collection of early American objects provided a source of inspiration for packaging design; for the fragrance, Schultz was inspired by his mother's potpourri, and as a result, the first Old Spice product in 1937 was a woman's scent called Early American Old Spice. The product was received well and therefore was followed by Old Spice for men in 1938.

The men's products included shaving soap and aftershave lotion, marketed with a nautical theme. Sailing ships in particular were used for the brand's packaging. The original ships used on the packaging were the Grand Turk and the Friendship. Other ships used on Old Spice packaging include the John Wesley, Salem, Birmingham, Maria Teresa, Propontis, Recovery, Sooloo, Star of the West, Constitution, Java, United States, and Hamilton.

In the 1970s, Old Spice shifted from being a shaving brand to a fragrance brand by introducing signature scents like Old Spice Burley.

In June 1990, Procter & Gamble purchased the Old Spice fragrances, skincare and antiperspirant & deodorant brands from the Shulton Company. Throughout the 2000s, Procter & Gamble introduced many forms of deodorant, body washes, and body sprays in several scents under the Old Spice name.

In early 2008, the original Old Spice scent was repackaged as "Classic Scent", both in the aftershave and cologne versions. The white glass bottles gave way to plastic and the gray stoppers to red. Old Spice Classic shower gel was sold using the slogan "The original. If your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist."