Confused about after shaving routine? How to smell good?

Hey guys, i'm a little confused with the whole aftershaving routine...

My ultimate goal is to get a good shave and smell decent before a night out or a party.. so I would like to smell good.

According to a few members this is their routine...

Shave
Cold Water
Witch Hazel
Alcohol AS
Balm

My question is..

1) Is the witch hazel a brand or a type of product? What does it do and is it necessary?

2) If the aftershave is scented will applying a balm take away from the after shave scent?

3) And what is the purpose of the balm anyways? and are those scented?

4) Also, after all of this, wearing cologne is not necessary right?
so I can use aftershave as a alternative to cologne?

Thanks for the patience guys!

1). Witch hazel is a type of product. You can get it for $2 at a drug store. Thayer's sells a witch hazel-like product for $6-ish, but it is not real witch hazel. Witch hazel is an alternative to an after shave because the smell goes away within a few second and does not sting nearly as much.

2). A balm may take away an aftershave's scent, unless the scents match. Usually you use one or the other. If you have oily skin, use an aftershave. If you have dry skin, use a balm. If you have skin somewhere in between, pick one or the other.

3). The balm is supposed to moisturize your skin.

4). Aftershaves are not supposed to replace colognes. If your aftershave is lightly-scented or unscented, you can apply a colognes afterward. I would not mix aftershaves and colognes that are too different in terms of scent.

First of all, I am no expert in this area. But, my knowledge is this....

Witch hazel is a product that treats minor skin irritations. It is a astringent, soothes bug bites, minor scrapes and abrasions. Similar to a hydrogen peroxide.

Aftershave is a product with the same characteristics as witch hazel just alcohol based and has various scents. Aftershaves do not have as much perfume as colonges so they do not last as long as a colonge would.

A after shave balm is a product that puts moisture back into the skin and usually comes in various scents also. ASB's also have a astringent effect along with moisturizing.

To try and answer your question.... if you want to wear a colonge for the evening, a after shave or ASB will interfere slightly but will not overpower the colonge. If you want to wear a colonge at full strength, a witch hazel or non scented moisturizer is probably your best bet.

I hope that helps.

vitaman said:

First of all, I am no expert in this area. But, my knowledge is this....

Witch hazel is a product that treats minor skin irritations. It is a astringent, soothes bug bites, minor scrapes and abrasions. Similar to a hydrogen peroxide.

Aftershave is a product with the same characteristics as witch hazel just alcohol based and has various scents. Aftershaves do not have as much perfume as colonges so they do not last as long as a colonge would.

A after shave balm is a product that puts moisture back into the skin and usually comes in various scents also. ASB's also have a astringent effect along with moisturizing.

To try and answer your question.... if you want to wear a colonge for the evening, a after shave or ASB will interfere slightly but will not overpower the colonge. If you want to wear a colonge at full strength, a witch hazel or non scented moisturizer is probably your best bet.

I hope that helps.

Click to expand...

This is perfect!
Thanks so much!!!

My skin is pretty normal. I usually use Proraso ASB which has very little scent. If I want to smell manly after the Proraso soaks in I will splash on some Old Spice. Not probably your scent of choice, but for me it works.

Here is the important part of the post,
"Go Blackhawks" Go Blackhawks"
Man Ive waited a long time to be able to say that.

Scott

canuckerr said:

Hey guys, i'm a little confused with the whole aftershaving routine...

My ultimate goal is to get a good shave and smell decent before a night out or a party.. so I would like to smell good.

According to a few members this is their routine...

Shave
Cold Water
Witch Hazel
Alcohol AS
Balm

My question is..

1) Is the witch hazel a brand or a type of product? What does it do and is it necessary?

2) If the aftershave is scented will applying a balm take away from the after shave scent?

3) And what is the purpose of the balm anyways? and are those scented?

4) Also, after all of this, wearing cologne is not necessary right?
so I can use aftershave as a alternative to cologne?

Thanks for the patience guys!

Click to expand...

You got some good advices already but here's what I think.

First, I used all of those products, (Witch Hazel, AS Splash, AS Balm) all together or by themselves.

Now to the questions

1)Witch Hazel is a type of product. There are different companies that make Witch Hazel. It's a skin toner, it will help your skin. This page should help: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Witch_Hazel

2)Applying a balm after a splash will mix the scent.

3)The balm vs. Splash, they are both aftershave and both are there to help your skin. Witch Hazel is the same, they are skin toners. A balm is usually milder than a splash for the skin. Depending on your skin type, you might prefer a splash or a balm. Those pages might help:
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Aftershaves
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12205

4)Yes you can wear an Aftershave only but the staying power is not as long as a cologne. A cologne will be more concentrated than an AS. You should not use a cologne like an Aftershave. You can but some might get irritation or clogged pores because of the concentration of essential oils.

I think that using Witch Hazel, Aftershave Splash and Aftershave Balm is an overkill. It's not bad or wrong, you can do it but I would use 1 product only.

A cologne would be my pick, something in the same notes than your aftershave. You could refresh the cologne before leaving and you should be right. I usually don't need to.

Here is an instructional video with the pertinent part starting at about the 1:10 mark.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8bqVL0VXrE[/YOUTUBE]

Mandom is awesome!

HDStreetGlide said:

My skin is pretty normal. I usually use Proraso ASB which has very little scent. If I want to smell manly after the Proraso soaks in I will splash on some Old Spice. Not probably your scent of choice, but for me it works.

Here is the important part of the post,
"Go Blackhawks" Go Blackhawks"
Man Ive waited a long time to be able to say that.

Scott

Click to expand...

I only use the Old Spice if I want a bit of scent, otherwise just the Porrazo. Luc you are probably right it is overkill but my wife thinks cologne is to overpowering even if I use just a dab. Hence the combo.

is using an alum block only if you have skin irritation or a cut/nick?

canuckerr said:

is using an alum block only if you have skin irritation or a cut/nick?

Click to expand...

Depends, some use it all the time, others just on cut/nicks...

This page might help: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Alum

Just to confuse matters even more, there are some aftershaves that have enough scent and staying power that they can be used instead of a cologne, (I'm looking at you, Pinaud Special Reserve!) and some colognes that have the staying power of a typical aftershave.

Witch hazel is an antiseptic (usually containing 14% alcohol) that's often used as an aftershave. Aftershaves, which can be scented or unscented, are a balm or lotion applied after the shave to relieve pain and heal the skin -- these are usually either liquidy and contain alcohol (called "lotions" or "splashes") or milky without alcohol ("balms" or "milks"). Aftershaves can be scented or unscented -- scented aftershaves are typically much lighter than a cologne, since they're meant to be slathered on, and often don't last very long, since they're not really intended to make you smell good, they're intended to sooth your skin after your shave -- the scent is more for your own enjoyment than.

If you explicitly want a scent, look into an unscented balm or witch hazel for the A/S and then apply a cologne or eau de toilette (eaux de toilette are like colognes but stronger). Some A/S's (like Clubman) will give you a strong, lingering scent, but that's not really the A/S's job.

My aftershave routine is usually:

Last hot rinse
Witch hazel (unscented drug store brand)
Cold rinse
Aftershave splash with alcohol if my face is feeling good OR aftershave balm without alcohol if my face is hurting