Thread: Home made aftershave splash - howto and ideas

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I thought I'd post how I go about making my home made after shave splashes. I follow the same principles for them all, especially the solution strength and the amount made, as well as the practical blending procedure.

We'll use Bay Rum in this example. The same trail of thought works fine if you want to make your own vetiver / sandalwood / florida water splash, or any other concoction you feel like mixing up.

For a classic Bay Rum, the only thing that absolutely needs to be in there, basically, is bay rum oil. A splash of bay rum oil in some alcohol is, per definition, a bay rum fragrance. Any oils you add will broaden it's spectre and increase it's appeal, so feel free to play along the lines of the suggested oils.

A word on oils and their properties:
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Fragrant oils have different volatilities. Some oils have a fragrance that will linger for a very long time (sandalwood for a year!) and others will only last for a very short time (bergamot for 15 minutes only!)
Top oils usually will last for 15 minutes to 1 hour, heart oils will last up to 4-6 hours, and base oils will last for 8-12 hours (some much longer). A well blended fragrance will therefore have all 3 classes of oils in them, and the amount of each class pretty much determines how long it will last. It is not ok to double the amount of an oil to increase it's staying power. In stead, select a longer lasting oil. Example; If your Bay Rum does not last well, add more wood or the longer lasting spices. Adding more lime will not improve its staying power.

Bay rum is renown to have short life. It is my recommendation to incorporate a significant amount of the base oils in the mix to remedy this problem.

I'd recommend using the following approximate blend:
Base oils: 45-55%, heart oils: 30-40% and top notes: 15-20%.

The strength and amount of splash you want to make:
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Now, consider the strength of the finished blend. If you are making an aftershave splash, a strength of around 2-4% is usually good. Now consider the amount of splash you are making. Usually, I will make around 5 fl oz/1.5 dl of splash per batch, at a strength of 3%. This means I need to mix around 90 drops of essential oils.

So, laying out the mix for a 3% splash in the amount of 1,5 dl / 5 fl oz:

Base oils: 45 drops, heart notes: 30 drops, and top notes: 15 drops

Now the hard work essentially is done. All you now need to do is select some base oils, and measure out 45 drops of these in a small vial. Then add heart oils 30 drops, and finally 15 drops of top notes.

Try different mixes. Have fun. It is common to start with the base, and from a serious perfumer's point of view that would probably be appropriate - but we are just in it for the laughs anyways so do feel free to do exactly as you please.

These guidelines could serve as starting points:

Bay rum, version 1 - classic no frills:
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Basenotes 45 drops:
bay rum 42 drops
cinnamon 3 drops

Heartnotes 30 drops:
clove 15 drops
nutmeg 10 drops
Allspice 5 drops

Top notes 15 drops:
lime 15 drops



Bay rum, version 2 - sweet orange and vanilla:
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Basenotes 45 drops:
bay rum 20 drops
vanilla 15 drops
cedarwood 10 drops

Heartnotes 30 drops:
clove 12 drops
nutmeg 6 drops
Allspice 4 drops
Black pepper 8 drops

Top notes 15 drops:
orange sweet 11 drops
neroli 4 drops


Bay rum, version 3 - woodsy manly pirate version
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Basenotes 45 drops:
Bay rum 25 drops
Cinnamon 3 drops
sandalwood 8 drops
vetiver 9 drops

Heartnotes 30 drops:
clove 8 drops
nutmeg 6 drops
Allspice 8 drops
Black pepper 8 drops

Top notes 15 drops:
lime 9 drops
sweet Orange 6 drops



Howto:
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Mix your oils in a small vial, screw the lid on tightly and shake vigorously for a while (in between 30 seconds and total cramp is a good time to settle for) Store in a cool dark place. Revisit and reshake 1-2 times per day for the first week, then a little now and then as you remember. Let stand for a total of 4 weeks.
After 4 weeks: Measure up 1.5dl / 5 fl oz alcohol, or witch hazel if that's your fancy and you don't feel like a pirate, har har. I really do recommend alcohol tho. Anyhow, add your oils to your vehicle be it alcohol or witch hazel, shake vigorously till just before total cramp again. Now is also a good time to add any specials. I add 1 small teaspoon of glycerine and 20 drops of green tea oil. Glycerine is a humectant and the green tea oil is great for your skin, high in antioxidants, a natural antisceptic and used for soothing irritated skin. All good stuff that your face will love.
The rest you already figured out: go have a comfortable shave and apply liberal amounts of your own home made splash afterwards.



Simple Bay Rum analysis chart:
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Knowing which oils will fit into your Bay Rum fragrance is of the essence. All the following oils can blend just fine in a Bay Rum concoction. Feel free to mix and match, as long as they are from the same class (base, heart, top) you can alter the amounts or swap them out with another. Beware that not all the oils do mix very well with each other, some oils would clash with some of the others. Use your nose as your guideline All these oils would work in a Bay Rum family setting tho.

Warning:
Cinnamon oil is not good for you. It is not to be overused. No more than 10 drops per 100ml of finished product. (IFRA limits of cinnamaldehyde are 0.05% in the final mix.) Stay within the limits of these recipes and you'll be perfectly fine.
Bergamot is phototoxic, which basically means that it could promote skin cancer if used in the sun. Use bergamot sparingly, and don't wear a bergamot fragrance to the beach/in the sun. For nighttime it is fine.

Ideas: Create a light bay rum for summer, a heavy woodsy bay rum for winter, a sweet bay rum for those special moments, and and.. - how many different bay rums do YOU need?

Lastly, on alcohol: You do NOT need any dark rum in the mix. It has absolutely no function fragrance-wise. I use a 75% / 150 proof alcohol, just because it is the cheapest strong and un-perfumed alcohol I can find locally.


Base oils suited for use in Bay Rum:
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Bay rum
Cinnamon
vanilla
benzoin
cedar
sandalwood
vetiver
amyris


Heart oils suited for use in Bay Rum:
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clove
nutmeg
Allspice
Black pepper
lavender
juniper


Topnote oils suited for use in Bay Rum:
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lime
bergamot
sweet Orange
rosemary


The observant student may recognize amyris, benzoin, juniper, lavender and rosemary as less commonly used oils in bay rum mixes. Just because someone did not use them before does not mean they do not belong in YOUR mix. There are many other oils that would work well in a bay rum blend. Feel free to add your own oils, or scratch some of mine if you are absolutely certain they do not belong in your list.

Finally; a word of advice: Do keep notes of your mixes. Blending splashes take a while, and they do develop. Take notes as you mix them so you can redo them later, or alter them the next time you make some. It would be quite annoying to stumble upon your favuurite mix, and later discover you can't recreate it because you forgot which oils you used, or which amounts.