Thread: SGT Wakeman Bay Rum Spice Aftershave

Hello everybody that is in to Bay Rum aftershave. I have put together ingredients to make a Bay Rum aftershave and I have pulled ingredients from several Barber books that have recipes dating from the late 1800's to the early 1900's and have incorporated these ingredients to come up with my own version of Bay Rum spice aftershave. So the ingredients that you see below were actually part of a vintage recipe in a Barber's book. I used sailor Jerry spiced rum but one of the old recipes just said to use 92 proof spiced rum and did not give a product name. I call my aftershave; "Sergeant Wakeman Bay Rum Spice Aftershave" I have used this aftershave on myself every day for 4 months with no allergic reaction. It quickly heals any irritations caused by a razor. I wanted to make something that would not Sting real bad like alcohol-based Bay Rums and that is why I have used witch hazel as the main ingredient. I have got lots of good compliments on the smell of my aftershave.The fragrance will usually last about an hour on me. I wanted to share my recipe with everyone because it is good working recipe. Enjoy.


Put ingredients in a 20 ounce jar with lid.

16 ounces of witch hazel
3 tablespoons of Sailor Jerry 92 proof spiced rum
¾ teaspoon of bay rum essential oil (Pimenta Racemosa)
1 teaspoon of Glycerin
2 cinnamon sticks (broke up into pieces)
¾ teaspoon of Jamaican allspice
1 teaspoon of cloves
¾ teaspoon of Valencia orange peel
1 teaspoon of Pimento (diced Pimientos)

Shake once a day for two weeks, strain contents 4 times with coffee filters and pour into an appropriate dispensing bottle with small hole.

i also made mine with sailor jerry's.... i added glycerin.. but no witch hazel.. i used essential oils of bay and cloves and 1 stick cinneman with a peel of both orange and lemon.. i loved it at first but stopped using it cause it had no staying power.. i love the cherry scent of the sailor jerrys.

vthomlinson, If you are using alcohol as your main ingredient instead of witch hazel that may be the reason why you do not have staying power. my Bay Rum is a aftershave and not a Cologne, but it lasts about an hour on me. you would have to probably increase the ingredients to have staying power and make it more like a Cologne. I also have some over-the-counter alcohol-based Bay Rum aftershave that does not have any staying power and evaporates pretty quick, that's why I made my own with witch hazel. sometimes it takes fooling around with the formula before you find a good recipe that you like. Keep trying I'm sure you'll come up with something you like and when you do please share the ingredients with us.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm going to have to give this a try!

You're welcome, I think it is a good recipe but you can always tweak it to your own liking.