Thread: Home made aftershave splash - howto and ideas

Str8fencer-
Following your tips and suggestions, I have been reseaching oils and such to begin to put together my own splashes. In doing so, I have found that (If I understand what I have been searching!) green tea oil and camellia oil are the same thing. Is this how you understand it? If so, can I use the same oil I use for rust prevention on my razors, japanese chisels, and saws - or is there a different grade of oil that should be used? Or am I misunderstanding what I've found?

Thanks again, this thread have been very interesting and helpful - Gags

Yes Gags,
as I understand it, those are exactly the same. Seems it sells under the name of camellia oil to the people using it for steel preserving, and the name of tea tree oil to the soap and skincare business. There might be a difference in purity but I'm not aware of any evidence of such. I have to confess I bought the one sold as tea tree oil which I also use for razor preserving.

Best of luck.

Str8fencer-

Another question for you-
Does alcohol act as a solvent for the essential oils, or are the oils merely suspended in it (a colloid as opposed to a solution)?
If alcohol is a solvent in this case, why must you mix the oils separately for a month before adding them to the alcohol?

Thanks yet again for all of this - I'm definitly having fun with it!

Gags

Joegags -
I am afraid I do not know the answer to your questions. I just mix the oils this way because it's the way perfumers recommend you do it. I do know this tho: When mixing oils, they will react with each other, forming new components to the fragrance. It might be this transformation is faster when the oils are mixed like this, but I do not know for sure.

The same thing happens when you dissolve the oils in alcohol - it will smell raw, of alcohol, unrefined. Let it sit for a couple weeks and this will change dramatically. It will no longer smell like essential oils in alcohol - it will smell like perfume or aftershave.

Try for yourself, make the same recipe the twice, once the traditional way and the other just adding all the components together including the alcohol and all, and see if you can tell a difference. Do post if you try, I never did.

str8fencer-
I have a couple of bay rum mixes (by your recipes) stewing away, awaiting the 4 week mark to make the final mix. I have been trying to find other recipes without much luck. I am interested in some of the standards, and was wondering if you had any info. Specifically, which essential oil/oils are the base for some classic scents. I do not have much experience with these as a whole so I am categorizing more on name than anything else. So, do you know any of the EOs or EO combinations that are used in:

The "Leathers" -- Spanish Leather, English Leather
The "Ambers" -- Floid, Col. Conk, Vitos
"Musk" -- don't really know any, I just remember the comercials from the '70s when I was a kid
"Classic Barbershop" -- The powdery, fresh smell that people describe

This is quite a request, I know, and I apololgize if I am asking too much. But any and all info and insight is much appreciated.

Thanks again. I am looking forward to my first batch - Gags

Joegags -

what I usually do when I want to create my impression of a new fragrance is research on basenotes.
If you search for english leather on basenotes, you will find English Leather by Dana and Royal English Leather by Creed. Not a brilliant example these two, so let's expand the search a little; Hot leather by Mark Buxton.
In this manner it is easy to get ideas for your own creations - the combinations that the pro's found suitable can make a nice starting point.

I do make my own english leather that I'm quite happy with. It follows along the lines of Dana's variety, with a woodsy leathery base, followed by mossy middle and a citrus top. If you really want to dig deep into leather creations, I'd recommend this article, which holds lots of interesting info and lots ideas for creating your own fragrances.

You can find pretty exact recipes for people's renditions of famous perfumes. Bear in mind that the perfume industry uses lots of other ingredients than essential oils. Personally, I don't mess with most of that stuff, it would force me to purchase hundreds of different ingredients and I don't have enough interest for that. In stead, I use approximations. Coumarin, for instance, which is used heavily in many male fragrances, is a chemical compound, not an essential oil. So, in stead of coumarine you could use oakmoss, or hay absolute, or something along these lines.

Keep it simple, make fragrances you would enjoy using, and don't be afraid to make several varieties to find your preferred mix. You can make pretty nice fragrances with just a few well selected oils. Over time they will grow more advanced.

Best of luck, and please do let us know how you fare with your first batch