Thread: Aftershave Recipes

I am looking to make my own aftershave. I have several questions:

1. How long do the oils, essensial oils and such last? Does the final product have to be refrigerated?
2. What kinds of quantities should be used of essensial oils and liquids?
3. Cost wise what am I looking at to start with?

-Kristofer[/list]

I've been looking into doing the same thing. Basically, everything except for the essential oils is pretty cheap. (This is good, since you use a whole lot more of these things.) Examples: you're talking a few U.S. bucks each for a big bottle of witch hazel or aloe vera gel, medium bottles of glycerin or rose water.

(Aside from a fancy bottle, if you want a fancy bottle) your essential oils will be your biggest upfront cost. Locally, I can find these (depending upon which oil) from $10 - $20 each. The good news is that one of these little bottles will make a ton of aftershave (since only a few drops are usually used). Unless you're going into "production", you'll have these for a while (so "choose wisely" :-) ).

Most of the ingredients (save for aloe) last a while on the shelf. I don't recall seeing any recipe calling for refrigeration, although a couple that used steeped herbs and unfiltered oils and waxes seemed to have a fairly finite shelf life.

-Ivan

it would be great to get some actual recipes that some guys have been using and try some of them out. Or perhaps links to places on the net that involve that. Nice thread idea.

I concur.

my curent splash is 50ml pure aloe gel, 1 teaspoon almond oil (not essential oil, but carier oil), a few drops of ylangylang, jasmine and orange essential oil. It would be nice if you add 400-800 IU of vitamin E. I keep it in the fridge. I think shelf life of aloe gel is 3 months since opening. That depends on the preservative in it. I dont recomend alcohol based a/s. Wichhazel might be good choice, but i cant find it where i live. Reed the info i posted in aftershave diy.

OK, here is my secret aftershave recipe. Now, I am putting this up here for educational purposes. Do not wear this out in the world because it won't smell as good on you as on me, hehehe.

Gary's Aftershave

1/3 witch hazel
2/3 water
50 drops Sandalwood
4 drops grapefruit
1 drop cardamon

Hmmm, I am copying this out of my wife's essential oil folder and I notice a couple of things lacking. 1) There are several different sandalwoods and I don't know which one she uses for me. 2) I think this is all mixed in a one ounce bottle, but I am not sure; again, she doesn't have it marked.

Here is a second recipe she made for me:

1oz Avocado oil
4 drops lavender
4 drops R. Chamomile
2 drops grapefruit
2 drops tea tree

She gets all her oils from Down To Earth Oils in Wilmington, NC. We lived there for a year and the gal at Down to Earth is super nice. (She asked me what scents I liked and developed the first recipe for me.) Website is: www.downtoearthoils.com

The oils last quite a while since you use only a few drops. The key is keeping them in dark bottles and in a dark cool place for storage.

Flipping through this folder I see recipes for Aroma-lamps (smelling up a room) and sinus steaming. I think I will ask my wife to try whipping me up a pre-shave oil of some kind. I will post more if I have any success with that.

Good luck with the mixing,
showme

Although I don't have the aftershave "base" assembled yet, I'm planning on using the alcohol-free version posted by sdsquarepoint in the "aftershave dyi" thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/viewt...1991631d1c52da

As for the essential oils, here are a couple of combinations that I found:

http://bestincosmetics.com/after-shave.htm

(Straight witchhazel to me is a bit drying. I can't imagine what it would be like when combined with more alcohol, especially in winter.)

I'm looking at the first sandalwood combination, not the cedar one. (Cedar and Juniper essenses to me are a bit "moth repellant" and "floor cleaner".) It's kind of hard to estimate exactly what it will smell like (since the straight essential oils are quite strong). However, I suspect that I'll start from a much lower concentration of oils than suggested.

-Ivan

Originally Posted by superfly

Wichhazel might be good choice, but i cant find it where i live.

Hey superfly, witch hazel is very common here in the US, found in any drugstore. The latin name is Hamamelis virginiana and I have sometimes heard it called "Hamamelis water." Maybe it is under a different name in your locale. It is also widely available on the net.

I really like witch hazel so I hope you get some and try it out.

showme

showme, i have tryed to find it here, but hamamelis is native to north america only.

Can you get it frm the net? I'd be glad to send you some if you are having that hard of a time finding it. Let me know where to send it.

showme