Perfume was not rationed with coupons the way food, clothing and soap were in Britain, but it became genuinely scarce and expensive during the war because the raw materials it depended on — alcohol, glass, imported ingredients — were diverted or cut off.

Scarcity Without a Formal Ration Book

Alcohol was needed for munitions and other war priorities, glass production was restricted, and many aromatic ingredients that came from occupied or enemy territory simply stopped arriving. On top of that, luxury goods like perfume were hit with heavy purchase tax, making them a genuinely difficult thing to buy even where stock existed. So while there was no perfume ration card, wartime conditions achieved much the same effect through shortage and cost.

A Small Luxury People Still Wanted

Despite all this, demand for perfume did not disappear — if anything, a small bottle became a treasured, hard-to-get comfort during a genuinely difficult period. That tension between scarcity and desire is part of a much longer story about how perfume has survived economic upheaval, which we cover in our history of perfume guide, part of the broader complete guide to perfume.