Thread: Homemade Aftershaves as Christmas Gifts

As Christmas approached, my wife and I found ourselves cash-strapped as usual, so we decided to make the best of it and do some homemade gifts this year. We'd been ordering and tinkering around with some essential oils, so my wife made body butter for the ladies, and I whipped up several different aftershaves for the men. The king of the bunch is the bay rum on the left-just an intoxicating, heady and spicy brew that is just perfect for the holidays. But as I was given the recipe at gunpoint, while blindfolded in an alley, I would have to kill you if I told you the recipe.

The other three I dreamed up after reading quite a bit on the subject, and experimenting with different essential oil combinations to see which worked well together. I'm posting the recipes and comments below:

“Jade” Oriental-very sweet, exotic and spicy

15 drops glycerin

10 drops Sweet Orange EO

10 Cedarwood

20 Vetiver

20 Patchouli

10 Sandalwood

3 oz. witch hazel

Fill to 15 oz. with cheap vodka



Mix ingredients well-makes 3 4 oz. bottles.


“Mojito” Lime Ice

10 drops glycerin

20 drops menthol

20 drops lime EO

2 oz. witch hazel

6 oz. Nephew and Wray White Rum



Mix ingredients, stirring well and adding lime and menthol to suit-makes 2 4 oz. bottles



“Dirty Hippie”-Named in honor of my good friend Kevin/Hidestoart, who hates patchouli because it reminds him of its namesake. Personally, I can't get enough of the patchouli/vetiver comination-such a grassy/earthy, sweet and sultry combination
10 drops glycerin

1.5 oz. witch hazel

Patchouli and vetiver EO’s to suit (about 40 drops each)
Fill to 8 oz. with cheap vodka

Mix ingredients well-makes 2 4 oz. bottles

A few notes:
-The precise number of drops can vary depending on how strong (or not) and in what proportions you want each scent to be.
-And it's real easy to overdo it on the sweeter EO's like Sweet Orange, Sandalwood, and Cedarwood (at least the expressions I got from various internet suppliers).
-The 4oz. cobalt bottles I ordered from Amazon; they work great and are just the right size.

Comments and critiques are welcome. Let me know if anybody tries making one of these or a similar recipe.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Aaron/SHD

Thanks for sharing! Now about that Bay Rum.....
Merry Christmas to you too Aaron

Very interesting and thanks for sharing.
Dirty Hippie

Thanks Aaron! I'll definitely be trying these out.

Whenever I hear patchouli I think of dirty hippies too

Originally Posted by edhewitt

Whenever I hear patchouli I think of dirty hippies too

Not all hippies were dirty. Most that I saw just wanted you to think they were "real" hippies.

OTOH, there were some who really, really needed some of the soaps we love to discuss.

Originally Posted by rolodave

Not all hippies were dirty. Most that I saw just wanted you to think they were "real" hippies.

OTOH, there were some who really, really needed some of the soaps we love to discuss.

I suppose if they had been to a music festival and it was raining they might not be quite so dirty