Homemade Aftershave

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I have never tried a Witch Hazel lotion before, so today I bought the Boots and Thornton and Ross Care version from Superdrug. As well as trying it as a stand alone lotion, I am considering making my own aftershave. I am guessing that the following ingredients are required:

Alcohol: I have Spirytus 95
Witch Hazel
Glycerin: I have food grade
Essential Oils: I will probably go with Grapefruit and Lime

Do I need distilled water or castor oil?
I know that Bay Rums have been attempted? Anyone tried making an AS?
 
I have never tried a Witch Hazel lotion before, so today I bought the Boots and Thornton and Ross Care version from Superdrug. As well as trying it as a stand alone lotion, I am considering making my own aftershave. I am guessing that the following ingredients are required:

Alcohol: I have Spirytus 95
Witch Hazel
Glycerin: I have food grade
Essential Oils: I will probably go with Grapefruit and Lime

Do I need distilled water or castor oil?
I know that Bay Rums have been attempted? Anyone tried making an AS?
I make my own homemade witch hazel mixture, 1 bottle of homebargains witch hazel, Essential oils:tea tree, lemon, lime lavender peppermint, 10-20 drops of each essential oil, lavender & Tea Tree, in each bottle, (colder months) peppermint lime & lemon essential oils (spring/summer) months..

Also I've experimented making my own aftershave with a with a small amount of Boots (use your judgement) freshwood aftershave and topped up with witch hazel in a small pump spray, which are available in home bargains also, don't be put off by the cloudy appearance, it's fine, a great aftershave for those who have sensitive skin, i'm lucky my skin is like a rhino's hind quarter...Do be careful with mixtures, 'Remember you can, add,but you can't take it out!.. you don't want your face to look like a baboon's arse.:mad: Regards. :)
 
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That's the spirit!

Cheap gin, witch hazel, touch of glycerine and lime oils. G&T splash? It works.
Selin (Turkish highly alcoholic cologne), witch hazel, glycerine and menthol crystals. Sharp and cold!

Yeah, dive in and have fun! The purpose of an aftershave is to give a good alcoholic cleanse, soothe and clean up and nicks. Those ingredients plus a light scent will do just fine.

Have fun!
 
I have never tried a Witch Hazel lotion before, so today I bought the Boots and Thornton and Ross Care version from Superdrug. As well as trying it as a stand alone lotion, I am considering making my own aftershave. I am guessing that the following ingredients are required:

Alcohol: I have Spirytus 95
Witch Hazel
Glycerin: I have food grade
Essential Oils: I will probably go with Grapefruit and Lime

Do I need distilled water or castor oil?
I know that Bay Rums have been attempted? Anyone tried making an AS?
Really keen to know how you get on, I have a bottle of Polmos Spirytus in the cupboard that my father gave me over 20 years ago. I never knew what to do with it until now, I did not fancy drinking it, it has evaporated bit which is not suprising considering the proof.
 
I have learnt from watching aromatherapy videos that EO's do not dissolve in normal alcohol. I am not sure what the specific dangers are, but I did once has a very uncomfortable bath when I went OTT with Lavender and Tea Tree EO's.
 
I can't decide whether to go with Grapefruit and Lime, my favourite EO's or to try and recreate my favourite AS - Speick. Lavender and Lemon are the EO's in Speick after the Speick plant. I doubt whether that is available. So I could just go with Lavender and Lemon or find a substitute. Possibly Calendula?
 
I have learnt from watching aromatherapy videos that EO's do not dissolve in normal alcohol. I am not sure what the specific dangers are, but I did once has a very uncomfortable bath when I went OTT with Lavender and Tea Tree EO's.
What's ‘normal' alcohol?
Oils tend to be miscible in ethanol (they mix), as ethanol is known as a dual solvent (allows dissolution of polar and non-polar chemicals).
Water and oils don't mix potentially causing your uncomfy bath - you'll have undiluted EO's at the surface of the water which will remain on skin when you get out and are known to be irritant when undiluted (it'll even say don't use neat on the bottle).

Lastly, do some experimentation! See how much essential oil you can get in a mixture of your Spyritus and Witch Hazel on a small scale and you can scale that up if you want thereafter! :)

I'm tempted to make my own, and aftershave balms etc. Im to curious for my own good and have an understanding of chemistry so why not?!
 
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I have tried few years ago and it didn't go that well. I tried different scents with Essential Oils like Cedarwood, Sandalwood and also tried something similar to Proraso with Eucalyptus and Menthol. I used Perfumers Alcohol(small 100ml bottle from e-bay), Distilled Water, Witch hazel etc.. There are few videos on Youtube. try and see how it goes.
 
I have pepped up a weak smelling / lasting Turkish lemon cologne with the addition of lemon EO and Lime EO and have now a very nice and reasonably strong cologne. I used about 10ml of each EO in 450 ml of the lemon Turkish Cologne.
It's certanly worth experimenting with a weak base Cologne and Essential oils and producing a far superior product. :) P.
 
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What's ‘normal' alcohol?
Oils tend to be miscible in ethanol (they mix), as ethanol is known as a dual solvent (allows dissolution of polar and non-polar chemicals).
Water and oils don't mix potentially causing your uncomfy bath - you'll have undiluted EO's at the surface of the water which will remain on skin when you get out and are known to be irritant when undiluted (it'll even say don't use neat on the bottle).

Lastly, do some experimentation! See how much essential oil you can get in a mixture of your Spyritus and Witch Hazel on a small scale and you can scale that up if you want thereafter! :)

I'm tempted to make my own, and aftershave balms etc. Im to curious for my own good and have an understanding of chemistry so why not?!
This is what I mean :)


Essential oils do not appear to be miscible in standard or normal vodka.
 
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I have tried few years ago and it didn't go that well. I tried different scents with Essential Oils like Cedarwood, Sandalwood and also tried something similar to Proraso with Eucalyptus and Menthol. I used Perfumers Alcohol(small 100ml bottle from e-bay), Distilled Water, Witch hazel etc.. There are few videos on Youtube. try and see how it goes.
Hmmm :eek:
 
I didn't experience any adverse affects on my skin, but it didn't smelt and felt as nice as an aftershave. Ingredients that you need are inexpensive so even if it goes wrong, it shouldn't make a big dent on your bank account.
Making an aftershave with nice scent is a complete professional job in my opinion. I guess the ones we are talking here are more like a face tonic.
 
That's the spirit!

Cheap gin, witch hazel, touch of glycerine and lime oils. G&T splash? It works.
Selin (Turkish highly alcoholic cologne), witch hazel, glycerine and menthol crystals. Sharp and cold!

Yeah, dive in and have fun! The purpose of an aftershave is to give a good alcoholic cleanse, soothe and clean up and nicks. Those ingredients plus a light scent will do just fine.

Have fun!
I will have give the Selin (Turkish highly alcoholic cologne), witch hazel, glycerine and menthol crystals a try..Sounds excellent,a wonderful assortment of goodness.;)
 
I will have give the Selin (Turkish highly alcoholic cologne), witch hazel, glycerine and menthol crystals a try..Sounds excellent,a wonderful assortment of goodness.;)
Good Luck, you probably may get a good result. Addition to my aftershave making attempts that didn't go well, I pretty much ruined a bottle of American Skinbracer by adding menthol crystals, every time I used it I had a menthol freezing feeling in between my fingers, around my chin and under my nose, so I suggest that you go easy on menthol crystals.
 
Good Luck, you probably may get a good result. Addition to my aftershave making attempts that didn't go well, I pretty much ruined a bottle of American Skinbracer by adding menthol crystals, every time I used it I had a menthol freezing feeling in between my fingers, around my chin and under my nose, so I suggest that you go easy on menthol crystals.
Wise advice on the menthol crystals,i shall bear that in mind cheers.Regards..;)
 
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