In Praise of Japanese Aftershaves

Judge Dredd · Aug 17, 2013

I picked up a couple of bottles of Lucido on a recent trip to Singapore (from Mustafa's 24-hour emporium of goodness). These will make their way into the rotation once I've made a dent in the current rotation, the back-up stash, the other back-up stash, etc.

I've also got on order (from a vendor on the bay, http://stores.ebay.com.au/Rinatoshop?_trksid=p2047675.l2563) 1 each of Bravas, Vintage and Auslese. Will let you know how they go in terms of arrival condition, description, etc.

The pricing was good too: the Bravas was $A14.76 plus $A5.99 to ship direct from Japan. Well, the listings claim the goods are in Japan, however my PayPal receipt is from a yahoo.com.tw address.

Luc · Aug 18, 2013

Judge Dredd said:
I picked up a couple of bottles of Lucido on a recent trip to Singapore (from Mustafa's 24-hour emporium of goodness). These will make their way into the rotation once I've made a dent in the current rotation, the back-up stash, the other back-up stash, etc.

I've also got on order (from a vendor on the bay, http://stores.ebay.com.au/Rinatoshop?_trksid=p2047675.l2563) 1 each of Bravas, Vintage and Auslese. Will let you know how they go in terms of arrival condition, description, etc.

The pricing was good too: the Bravas was $A14.76 plus $A5.99 to ship direct from Japan. Well, the listings claim the goods are in Japan, however my PayPal receipt is from a yahoo.com.tw address.

Nice find! Check your bottles when you get them if they are marked "Made in Japan" or not. The MG5 seems to be made in Vietnam now and it's not the same anymore. The last I heard, Vintage and Bravas where still made in Japan. Bravas was closer to MG5 than the other AS I tried. Those two were fantastic and very old school. I do not know about Auslese as I never tried it.

thunder54 · Aug 18, 2013

Does anyone know where I could find a bottle of Mandom? I cannot find it online anywhere.

xillion · Aug 18, 2013

thunder54 said:
Does anyone know where I could find a bottle of Mandom? I cannot find it online anywhere.

There is some available here and here. They use to carry it at my local Japanese store but I haven't see it for sale there in a long time.

Judge Dredd · Aug 18, 2013

xillion said:
There is some available here and here. They use to carry it at my local Japanese store but I haven't see it for sale there in a long time.

I'm not sure whether this will cure or exacerbate anyone's JASAD, but I thought I might share the Rakuten descriptions:

Mandom: I tighten skin after the shaving coolly and prepare rough skin
Lordos: It is the grand fragrance that added Woody - with the depth to フゼア letting you feel the calm of the man.It is the lotion after the shaver which I tighten skin for a pleasant refreshing feel, and lets it can be set smoothly and refresh.
MG5: I grind skin refreshingly smartly
Lucido: It is moistened without any regret and keeps skin. With skin roughness, the umbrella after the shaver prevent. Because it is no fragrance, I am not worried about a fragrance. I prepare skin easily without having a sore it. I give moisture without it is easy to be familiar with skin, and being sticky.
Uno: I prevent a razor defeat.

The Lordos has "added Woody", so that's got to be good, and the Lucido is "moistened without regret" (although I've never come across any regrettable moistenings in my time). I'm not sure what "razor defeat" is, but it sounds very very bad. My guess is that all 5 of these should be used in combination, just to cover all the bases.

Luc · Aug 19, 2013

My advice is to stay away from Lordos. It smelled like my grandma! Unless you like that, of course.

Judge Dredd · Aug 21, 2013

Luc said:
Nice find! Check your bottles when you get them if they are marked "Made in Japan" or not. The MG5 seems to be made in Vietnam now and it's not the same anymore. The last I heard, Vintage and Bravas where still made in Japan. Bravas was closer to MG5 than the other AS I tried. Those two were fantastic and very old school. I do not know about Auslese as I never tried it.

They haven't arrived yet, but the eBay tracking takes me to Japan Post which shows the goods were sent from Hokkaido. I will, of course, check country of origin when the goods arrive.

On that point, I note all my pairs of Converse CT All Stars are all made in Vietnam. I wonder if there's anybody left who laments when they stopped making them Stateside (and the quality was probably better too).

Judge Dredd · Aug 26, 2013

These arrived today. The Bravas and the Auslese are made in Vietnam, but the Vintage is Made in Japan.

I won't be working these into rotation just yet - I've had a cold for the last 2 months that just refuses to die, and it's presently at the "I can't smell or taste anything" stage, so there's not much point in opening these up.

:a46:

Chadao · Aug 26, 2013

+1 never knew they existed. Guess I'll have to go by one of our local Ouwajimaya stores.

How about China? Any good Chinese after shaves?

The National Razor said:
I would love to try them.

AD without Borders!

Judge Dredd · Aug 26, 2013

Chadao said:
How about China? Any good Chinese after shaves?

Now, that I couldn't tell you. I've had a very quick look on Alibaba http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?IndexArea=product_en&SearchText=after_shave&atm=&f0=y&country=CN but some of the products here might be bulk import for redistribution around China (or from China). Some of them might be Chinese-made. Whether any of them are "good", though, is another story.

Luc · Aug 27, 2013

Bravas is now made in Vietnam? Bummer! That was my second favourite Japanese AS... Vintage is quite good. Auslese, I never tried it....

hoseunyan · Aug 27, 2013

Chadao said:
+1 never knew they existed. Guess I'll have to go by one of our local Ouwajimaya stores.

How about China? Any good Chinese after shaves?

Unfortunately, no. I have been travelling to China regularly the last few years, but the only AS splashes I have been able to find there (besides the global designer brands available in high-end department stores) are Gillette Cool Wave and a few from the Adidas range. Then again, it's possible that I just don't know where to look.

Judge Dredd · Aug 28, 2013

hoseunyan said:
Unfortunately, no. I have been travelling to China regularly the last few years, but the only AS splashes I have been able to find there (besides the global designer brands available in high-end department stores) are Gillette Cool Wave and a few from the Adidas range. Then again, it's possible that I just don't know where to look.

Do you ever see anything like this? Sorry to go off topic, Luc.

Senshi · Aug 29, 2013

This has been my go to AS recently. I dig the old man smell more than some of the other "hipper" young guy scents out there. It's pretty cheap at my local drug store

Judge Dredd · Aug 30, 2013

Senshi said:
This has been my go to AS recently. I dig the old man smell more than some of the other "hipper" young guy scents out there. It's pretty cheap at my local drug store

View attachment 363485

I see this and keep thinking they left out the "T". Or maybe, for once, they ran it past Legal before hitting the print button...

Senshi · Aug 30, 2013

Judge Dredd said:
I see this and keep thinking they left out the "T". Or maybe, for once, they ran it past Legal before hitting the print button...

I hear ya but in Japan simply saying "ero" means sexual/sexually deviant derived from "eros". I'm guessing that they thought they could just get their message across with the way they printed it. Which is interesting because it has a very traditional old man smell. It's almost as if a traditional old spice was mixed with a baby powder/talc.

I'm definitely a fan of the more traditional scents though so it suits me, even if my coworkers hate it.

Being that we're both in the same are of the work (kind of) please PM me some places that you order from! I appreciate it.

Judge Dredd · Aug 31, 2013

Senshi said:
Being that we're both in the same are of the work (kind of) please PM me some places that you order from! I appreciate it.

PM sent! But I just realised I forgot to include iHerb - they have great service/rates Down Under, I imagine they would be no different to Nihon.

Member357 · Aug 31, 2013

I've used Iherb a bunch of times to ship to me here in Japan. Shipping is always quick and cheap.

Judge Dredd said:
PM sent! But I just realised I forgot to include iHerb - they have great service/rates Down Under, I imagine they would be no different to Nihon.

mwhitcraft · Aug 31, 2013

I found some "made in Japan" Bravas at a local Mitsuwa Marketplace. I LOVE it.

Senshi · Sep 1, 2013

Judge Dredd said:
PM sent! But I just realised I forgot to include iHerb - they have great service/rates Down Under, I imagine they would be no different to Nihon.

Thanks for all the info! Plus, I'll try iHerb too!

I took a trip down to Sendai with the Mrs. and couldn't find any shaving soaps at l'occitane nor Lush. Girls at Lush said they would have soap pucks after the new store opens at the end of the month!

But.... I did find this at Yodobashi Camera

Someone was asking about it earlier in the thread. I've never used it though.

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In Praise of Japanese Aftershaves

Judge Dredd

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".

thunder54

xillion

Judge Dredd

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".

Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd

Chadao

Judge Dredd

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".

hoseunyan

Judge Dredd

Senshi

Judge Dredd

Senshi

Judge Dredd

Member357

mwhitcraft

Senshi

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