Thread: What's the difference between Aftershave and Cologne?

I have been using Taylor of Old Bond Street Eton College Luxury Shaving Cream lately. Man that stuff smells great. Anyway, I wanted to keep the scent alive for the rest of day. So, Aftershave or Cologne? What's the difference?

Also, I use a sandlewood balm after shaving, will that screw up the process? I'm an artist, if you mix too many colors, you get mud. I don't want mud, I want chicks flocking to the smell and look of a well shaved man. Hopefully they won't notice the gash on my cheek from not paying attention to my razor.

Thanks,

Dr. Phong

Originally Posted by Dr_Phong

I have been using Taylor of Old Bond Street Eton College Luxury Shaving Cream lately. Man that stuff smells great. Anyway, I wanted to keep the scent alive for the rest of day. So, Aftershave or Cologne? What's the difference?

Also, I use a sandlewood balm after shaving, will that screw up the process? I'm an artist, if you mix too many colors, you get mud. I don't want mud, I want chicks flocking to the smell and look of a well shaved man. Hopefully they won't notice the gash on my cheek from not paying attention to my razor.

Thanks,

Dr. Phong

.... Just mumble something about "fight club" and "I can't talk about it" and change the subject ink:

From memory: aftershave is designed to use ... after shaving, so it usually contains a lot more alcohol (or other carriers, etc.). Cologne is designed primarily to give off a scent.

If you use cologne as an aftershave, you'll pretty much "reek".

Originally Posted by yan3751

From memory: aftershave is designed to use ... after shaving, so it usually contains a lot more alcohol (or other carriers, etc.). Cologne is designed primarily to give off a scent.

If you use cologne as an aftershave, you'll pretty much "reek".

Ahhh, The mystery is solved. Thanks yan3751. It's funny, in the past I would just trial and error the whole thing. It's nice to have have some collective experience to draw from. A lot of what we discuss here are things that are passed down from father to son while growing up. I guess I missed that.

Dr. Phong

The classification of perfume, eau de toilette and eau de cologne is based on the strength of the fragrance it contains and the percentages of essences used.

When using essential oils, here are the percentages:

For a perfume it is around 15% essential oil, whilst for a lighter eau de toilette about 4 - 8% essential oil and a yet lighter eau de cologne 1 - 5%.

Originally Posted by Dr_Phong

A lot of what we discuss here are things that are passed down from father to son while growing up. I guess I missed that.

Dr. Phong

In this case, it depends upon whether your father used cologne or not.

The "using cologne as an aftershave" thought gave me a flashback: my dad used a lot of different aftershaves, but was not really a cologne guy. When I was growing up, I was given a small bottle of cologne as a gift one Christmas. I knew what it was for (being the "worldly, all grown-upified" young teenager that I was). Problem was that I had never seen it applied, and so had no real clue as to the proper amount.

One night we were all going out, and so I decided to put on some cologne. Best model that I had was Dad after shaving, so I poured a liberal amount in my palms, and rubbed it all over my face. Of course, in short order my nose went "numb" to the smell, and so I really had no clue that I had just "overdosed" on the stuff.

Joined the family, and my mother (in one of those round-about sort of mom ways) let me know that I smelled like I fell in a vat at the Mennen factory. A bit of soap, water, and one smelly washcloth later, and I had toned it down to "tolerable".

Guess that this is kind of the guy equivalent to "daughter's first makeup application".

-Ivan

Want to have some fun?

Go to your local Health Food Store, and buy small bottles of the Essential Oils - then mix-up your OWN scents! YOu can add alcohol if you like, or aloe if you need to ....but it is fun, and you might stumble upon THE scent for YOUR skin!

That's a great idea. I live down the street from a Wholefoods Market, they have all kinds of stuff like that. Do you have any recipes?

With my luck they'll think I'm running some kind of crazy meth lab. :lol:

Thanks for the suggestion.

Ok,
I get into this one a bit late, but to the best of my knowledge:

After shave: all about the alcohol and evaporation indeed.
Eau de Toilette: Male version of Cologne
Eau de Cologne: Female stench preventing liquid (well it used to be centuries ago )

Phong,

Just pour it on man...girls love to smell it strong. No one will admit it but they love a "stinky" man. Then when they say man you smell good you can go into how you care so much for your mu that you straight razor. You will have to beat them off with a stick. No pun intended. 8)