Gollnick
Musical Director
- Joined
- Mar 22, 1999
- Messages
- 29,258
or Sandalwood as the case may be. But we'll get to that in a moment.
First, let's talk a bit about the role of fragrance in shaving products.
If you have smelled a truly unscented soap (by the way, the regular Ivory-brand soap, which brags of being 99&44/100th percent pure, is scented) such as Dr. Bronner's Pure Soap, then you know what raw soap smells like. it's not offensive; it's just sort of... well... soapy. It's not particularly unpleasant, but it's not overly pleasant either. It's not something you enjoy or look forward to. So, most soap manufacturers add a bit of perfume, a scent to make the using experience a bit nicer. But the goal of the fragrance in soap is just that: to improve the using experience. It's NOT intended to linger, but to rinse off and be gone.
Shaving soap and also shaving cream are the same. The scent is just to enhance the using experience and it should rinse off and dissipate quickly leaving a clean olfactory slate for the shaver to fill as he sees fit. This is why men can shave with lathering products scented with things like roses. Who doesn't enjoy the smell of roses? Everyone does. It's a pleasant smell to enjoy for a few minutes in the morning. But it's not what most men want to walk around smelling like all day. Fortunately, the fragrance of your lathering product should dissipate very quickly.
Much the same is true of traditional aftershave products. The purpose of aftershave is to cool the skin after the heat and friction of shaving, to "tone" the face which has likely swollen a bit from the heat and friction of shaving, to close the pores which were opened by the heat of shaving, to contract the follicles which projected slightly from the heat of shaving, and to disinfect since shaving often leaves microscopic cuts which are too small and shallow to either hurt or bleed but which can -- until the body heals them which will happen within an hour -- possibly represent an opening for infection. Many aftershaves also moisturize because the shaving process tends to remove natural oils from the skin. Many also have ingredients to benefit the newly-exposed layer of skin (remember that blade shaving also exfoliates, i.e. removes layers of dead skin cells). But all of these functions are done by ingredients that tend to have "antiseptic" or "medicinal" scents. Again, they're not unpleasant, but not pleasant either. So, manufacturers add a bit of perfume to give a pleasant smell. But, again, these perfumes are formulated to dissipate very quickly as the other ingredients either evaporate or absorb. The goal is to leave the user with, again, that clean olfactory slate. Lime, for example, is a popular aftershave scent; its pleasant, but most of us don't want to go around all day smelling vaguely like a Margaretta.
Many modern American aftershaves have more persistent fragrances. These are sort of a combined aftershave and cologne. In fact, they're sometimes sold as "Aftershave Cologne."
By now, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Wasn't he going to say something about Sandalwood?"
Sandalwood is a favorite choice for men's fragrances. Like most fragrances, it's actually three fragrances. Sandalwood's "top notes," what you smell first and briefly, are light, bright, and almost floral. But sandalwood's "base notes," what lingers, are hot, earthy, heavy, and almost herbal. Those base notes can be overwhelming.
Early in my Soap Opera, I tried Gold Dachs Sandalwood Shaving Soap. I liked it. The scent had all of the light, pleasant sandalwood top notes without the heavy, hot base notes. And it rinsed off and dissipated quickly as the scent of a shaving soap soap should.
Following the conclusion of my Soap Opera, I proceeded to a cake of George F. Trumpers Sandalwood. I got 121 shaves out of it before it finally broke into unlaterably-small pieces the other day. I guess that I threw away five or six shaves worth, so, 125-130 shaves from a single puck of soap, and that's very economical. Faithful readers will recall that during the Soap Opera, I got 114 shaves from a cake of Trumpers Lime. So, I think I will conclude that a cake of Trumpers can be expected to give something around 120 shave.
But I did grow weary of its version of Sandalwood which much more emphasizes the hot, heavy, earthy base notes of sandalwood. Furthermore, I found that the sandalwood fragrance of the Trumpers soap did what the fragrance of shaving soap is not supposed to do: it lingered. I had to rinse three our four times quite thoroughly and, even after that, I still occasionally caught tiny wiffs of sandalwood even into the later afternoon.
Gold Dach gave me only half as many shaves from a single puck for just a few dollars less per-puck than the Trumpers. And I really liked the Gold Dach lather. But what was really much better was Gold Dach's version of Sandalwood.
My conclusion is that Sandalwood can be a very different fragrance depending on which one you get.
First, let's talk a bit about the role of fragrance in shaving products.
If you have smelled a truly unscented soap (by the way, the regular Ivory-brand soap, which brags of being 99&44/100th percent pure, is scented) such as Dr. Bronner's Pure Soap, then you know what raw soap smells like. it's not offensive; it's just sort of... well... soapy. It's not particularly unpleasant, but it's not overly pleasant either. It's not something you enjoy or look forward to. So, most soap manufacturers add a bit of perfume, a scent to make the using experience a bit nicer. But the goal of the fragrance in soap is just that: to improve the using experience. It's NOT intended to linger, but to rinse off and be gone.
Shaving soap and also shaving cream are the same. The scent is just to enhance the using experience and it should rinse off and dissipate quickly leaving a clean olfactory slate for the shaver to fill as he sees fit. This is why men can shave with lathering products scented with things like roses. Who doesn't enjoy the smell of roses? Everyone does. It's a pleasant smell to enjoy for a few minutes in the morning. But it's not what most men want to walk around smelling like all day. Fortunately, the fragrance of your lathering product should dissipate very quickly.
Much the same is true of traditional aftershave products. The purpose of aftershave is to cool the skin after the heat and friction of shaving, to "tone" the face which has likely swollen a bit from the heat and friction of shaving, to close the pores which were opened by the heat of shaving, to contract the follicles which projected slightly from the heat of shaving, and to disinfect since shaving often leaves microscopic cuts which are too small and shallow to either hurt or bleed but which can -- until the body heals them which will happen within an hour -- possibly represent an opening for infection. Many aftershaves also moisturize because the shaving process tends to remove natural oils from the skin. Many also have ingredients to benefit the newly-exposed layer of skin (remember that blade shaving also exfoliates, i.e. removes layers of dead skin cells). But all of these functions are done by ingredients that tend to have "antiseptic" or "medicinal" scents. Again, they're not unpleasant, but not pleasant either. So, manufacturers add a bit of perfume to give a pleasant smell. But, again, these perfumes are formulated to dissipate very quickly as the other ingredients either evaporate or absorb. The goal is to leave the user with, again, that clean olfactory slate. Lime, for example, is a popular aftershave scent; its pleasant, but most of us don't want to go around all day smelling vaguely like a Margaretta.
Many modern American aftershaves have more persistent fragrances. These are sort of a combined aftershave and cologne. In fact, they're sometimes sold as "Aftershave Cologne."
By now, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Wasn't he going to say something about Sandalwood?"
Sandalwood is a favorite choice for men's fragrances. Like most fragrances, it's actually three fragrances. Sandalwood's "top notes," what you smell first and briefly, are light, bright, and almost floral. But sandalwood's "base notes," what lingers, are hot, earthy, heavy, and almost herbal. Those base notes can be overwhelming.
Early in my Soap Opera, I tried Gold Dachs Sandalwood Shaving Soap. I liked it. The scent had all of the light, pleasant sandalwood top notes without the heavy, hot base notes. And it rinsed off and dissipated quickly as the scent of a shaving soap soap should.
Following the conclusion of my Soap Opera, I proceeded to a cake of George F. Trumpers Sandalwood. I got 121 shaves out of it before it finally broke into unlaterably-small pieces the other day. I guess that I threw away five or six shaves worth, so, 125-130 shaves from a single puck of soap, and that's very economical. Faithful readers will recall that during the Soap Opera, I got 114 shaves from a cake of Trumpers Lime. So, I think I will conclude that a cake of Trumpers can be expected to give something around 120 shave.
But I did grow weary of its version of Sandalwood which much more emphasizes the hot, heavy, earthy base notes of sandalwood. Furthermore, I found that the sandalwood fragrance of the Trumpers soap did what the fragrance of shaving soap is not supposed to do: it lingered. I had to rinse three our four times quite thoroughly and, even after that, I still occasionally caught tiny wiffs of sandalwood even into the later afternoon.
Gold Dach gave me only half as many shaves from a single puck for just a few dollars less per-puck than the Trumpers. And I really liked the Gold Dach lather. But what was really much better was Gold Dach's version of Sandalwood.
My conclusion is that Sandalwood can be a very different fragrance depending on which one you get.
