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.

thanks for the how-to! i'm definitely going to make my own aftershave with witch hazel as i can't stand most fragrances. just need to find some fragrance oils. any tips for coming up with other scents or figuring out your own?

Definitely keep it simple, and stick with the oils classification. (Base oils: 45-55%, heart oils: 30-40% and top notes: 15-20%.) Those are the most important things. Bay rum is a pretty forward and simple blend, so it's not a bad starting point.

If you want to go even simpler than that, you could build a fragrance around a major scent, for instance vetiver, cedar, sandalwood or rosewood. It is a great idea to build your fragrance around a basenote, that way it will last for a long time. Woods are basenotes basically, and go well in men's fragrances. For example's sake, say you want to create a sandalwood splash. Make sure your sandalwood is your dominant scent in your final mix, so you want to keep a high percentage of that oil. Let's allocate 40 drops to that alone. Then it's time for your second note. Find one that goes well with sandalwood, and make sure it's either a basenote or a heartnote. This is where it gets interesting. The choices are wide.

Some oils that blend well with sandalwood:
Allspice, Almond, Amber, Ambrette, Angelica, Bay, Benzoin, Black Pepper, Canadian Balsam, Carrot, Cedarwood, Clary Sage, Frankincense, Jasmine, Lavender, Myrrh, Neroli, Oakmoss, Patchouli, Peru Balsam, Pine, Rose, Rosewood, Tuberose, Vanilla, Vetiver, Violet Leaf, Ylang. (I left out top notes, they are better added later in the process).

So, we have sandalwood 40 drops. We need to find something that goes well with it, that will leave enough interest for it. We are going to pass on adding another basenote, and in stead select 2 heartnotes. We will make surethey will go well with the sandalwood to support it but not overpower it. For this example, we will settle on clary sage and black pepper. Let's add 20 drops of clary sage and 15 drops of black pepper. We now have 40 sandalwood, 20 clary sage and 15 black pepper. That leaves 15 drops for top notes. Citrus is much used for tops in men's fragrances. Rosemary works as well. For this example, let's decide on lemongrass and lime. Decide how much goes in of each, total 15 drops. For instance 10 lime and 5 lemongrass.

So, we just made a new sandalwood blend:
40 sandalwood
20 clary sage
15 black pepper
10 lime
5 lemongrass.

(even simpler would be just one base note, one heartnote and one top note, say 40 sandalwood, 35 pepper, 15 lime. It would still work fine.) As you keep trying, you will progress, and your blends will increase in variety and complexity.

One important aspect:
How do you know which oils go with each other? There is a lot of online info on this, I use this one a lot for inspiration: Rainbow Meadows Blend Recipe Search
You can use this site to build your recipes from scratch. Select only one oil and click on search, it will give you oils that goes well with it. (try sandalwood, you will see the oils I selected in the list. Next try clary sage, you will see pepper in there. Try lemongrass, you will see sandalwood, pepper, clary sage and lime in there)
I use this feature a lot. Make sure you search as you go along, to make sure your 3rd oil go well with both your first and your second. The fourth must go well with all 3 before, and so forth. Sounds like a lot of work, but really it isn't. You could also select say sandalwood and clary sage and look at other people's fragrance ideas.

When trying different ideas out, use small portions. You can get an idea of the above fragrance by mixing 4 drops of sandalwood, 2 drops of clary sage, 1.5 drops of pepper, 1 drop of lime and .5 drop of lemongrass. If you really want to be that accurate you could make some 10% solutions (1 drop oil to 9 drops of alcohol, that way 5 drops would equal .5 drop of oil) - or you could just go for an approximation and use whole drops.

Another idea could be to make a blend based on a 2-note accord. For instance sandalwood and black pepper, adjusting the measures so the sandalwood is less dominant. Or vetiver/rose. Or cedar/lavender. Or vanilla/geranium. Or whatever you can conjure up. The sky is the limit, and the only limitation is your imagination

awesome! that's a ton of great information. thanks for the link. i have a feeling that i'll be spending a lot of time there. i've been a nerd all of my life, so researching and perfecting is right up my alley.

it'll probably take me a while to get started, but i'll let you know how it goes and post up any recipes that i really like.

Very nice post Sten. Thank you.
Quite inspirational.
I hope I can pick your brain on this subject on the next Oslo mini-meet, whenever that may be

A couple if recipes, with ideas:

I really enjoy digging out old recipes for my after shave experience, so I can have something that matches the age of my razors There are lots of really old recipes out there on the internet that shows what they used to do in days of old. They are impractical in that they usually are large quantity - but they can be adapted to create an approximation.


King's Cologne
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The following formula is an adaptation of a recipe been published by one of the Messrs. Farina, the originators of cologne. Very old school, in other words. I have not tried this, but I did alter it somewhat to make it practical for small quanta use.

15 drops Rosemary Essential Oil
30 drops Lemon Essential Oil
30 drops Lavender Essential Oil
5 drops Bergamot Essential Oil
5 drops Sweet Orange Oil
5 drops Lime Oil
(Note that, like all the very old and close to original colognes, there are no base oils. This one also has little heartnotes. Expect this one to be light and refreshing, with very little staying power. Feel free to address this matter by adding one or more base oils and heart oils into the mix. How about a wood base with some spices?)


Lavender toilet water
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This is the oldest lavender mix I have come across. Again, adapted and slightly altered to provide 1.5 dl/5 fl oz of product with a 3% strength, suitable for a splash.

18 drops Oil of Lavender
8 drops Oil of Bergamot
32 drops Vanilla
32 drops Angelica
1 dl alcohol / Witch hazel
.5 dl Rosewater

This recipe actually do have a base oil, namely vanilla. It will last much better than the King's Cologne. Vanilla is a lovely albeit sweet fragrance. Perhaps you want to modify this recipe by adding some woods or perhaps spices, to make it more of a traditional manly fragrance?

Just remember, if you add other oils, you will increase the quantity, so adjust accordingly.
Anyways, here's a couple ideas, feel free to run with them.

str8fencer-
I'm sorry if I missed this info here, but what do you use for alcohol? Do you use grain spirits, 190 proof what we call "Everclear" around here, a really good vodka, or pharmacy rubbing alcohol? Also, what about the witch hazel? Can it be regular store bought or does it require a more pure distilate (don't know if that is the way to put it, but it sounded official!) Thanks a lot for all the info.

I'm a bit confused about something. You refer to "base oils", "heart oils" and "top oils", but are these defined by their scent, the concentration of the EO in the oil or something else? If I were to look for these oils for purchase, what would I want? Essential oil? Fragrant oil?

Thanks for the great post, by the way!

Originally Posted by jdto

You refer to "base oils", "heart oils" and "top oils", but are these defined by their scent, the concentration of the EO in the oil or something else?

Essential oils have a fragrance because scent molecules are bound to the oil which are released into the surroundings over time. Depending on the other ingredients, this reaction can happen fast or slow, but eventually will lead to a non fragrant substance. Perfumers have used this info to classify oils. If an oil releases all it's scent molecules fast, they will call it a top oil. If it releases it's molecules slow they will call it a base oil. Simple as that. Examples: citrus oils, and specifically bergamot, are top oils. Bergamot will "die" after 15 minutes. Sandalwood, on the other hand, are bound so tightly they take some 2 years before they die.

In the early aftershaves they used fresh smelling oils, citrus and some herbs. These are typically top oils. In practical use, you would notice it leaves you feeling refreshed, but also that it has little staying power. If you are using bergamot oil only, it will have a very short life (your spouse will be charmed only for a little while, 15 minutes actually ) If you double the amount of bergamot oil, she will think you smell strongly of bergamot for 15 minutes. Then that fragrance would die as well, just like the first one. Increasing the amount does not significally alter the life of your concoction.

So how to make a longer lasting saftershave? This is where the answer to your qustion is buried. You guessed it I'm sure, add some oils with longer life. Base oils will be fragrant for 6+ hours, and fill this purpose nicely. Top oils typically are all gone within the hour. The ones in between are classified as heart oils.

In making an aftershave, you might using different lasting oils to create a fragrance that develops as you wear it.
Imagine if you will the sandalwool recipe we mocked up
(40 sandalwood
20 clary sage
15 black pepper
10 lime
5 lemongrass.)
Upon application, it will smell fresh from the citrus and lemongrass, with some sweetness from these oils. It will last a little while, and then these components will die off, leaving the pepper and clary sage to shine. These will last a few hours. The next morning, only the sandalwood will still be present. This is also why I recommend using a higher % of base oils, it improves the fragrance's scent life.

Finally, if you do a search you'll find oils classified. Knowing how long each oil lasts might help in building a fragrance.

Originally Posted by jdto

If I were to look for these oils for purchase, what would I want? Essential oil? Fragrant oil?

Fragrance oils are artificial creations made to smell like the real thing. Essential oils are the real thing. I tend to stick to essential oils myself, for this reason.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the reply!