do you think the 'average joe' (which I am) can really tell a difference between the old glass versions of these vs the new plastic versions if indeed there is a difference?
Aqua Velva and Old Spice
- Thread starter Blue Raccoon
- Start date
I just ordered Old Spice in the glass bottle - 2.5 ounce - for nostalgic reasons. My guess is the plastic / glass debate is personal preference over the container - the scent would be hard to distinguish if you were blind folded.
We have some including myself who can tell you blindfolded or not the differance between the Old Ole Spice and the P&G junk!
As for AV only the packaging has changed.
As for AV only the packaging has changed.
Being a fan of both and having tried previous and new versions I cant sense a major change, but there is a subtle difference.
In the case of the AV there seems to be more 'bite' to the glass bottled versions (referring to the Ice Blue Classic)
Old Spice may seem different due to the aging. In both cases glass bottles are my preference and easy to find so I stay with them.
In the case of the AV there seems to be more 'bite' to the glass bottled versions (referring to the Ice Blue Classic)
Old Spice may seem different due to the aging. In both cases glass bottles are my preference and easy to find so I stay with them.
It's mainly a perception thing for me. I equate glass with quality and plastic with cheap mass production.
ClubmanRob had a good series of posts back in the day talking about the various changes to Old Spice, and to the effect of plastic on aftershaves and colognes in general. The following is a synopsis of stuff he posted mixed with my take on things.
The short version is that OS changed even while it was made by Shulton, once when saccharin was getting bad press in the 70's, IIRC. P&G maintains that they are using the original formula, and even if the properties or proportions have been altered I'm sure they believe they are technically correct. Little things we view as a big deal are probably insignificant to P&G.
Rob believed that any move from glass to plastic in pretty much mandated slight changes to formulation due to regulations, and to complicate things further, the stuff in colognes and Aftershaves will change over time depending on what material they are stored in, and they also react to temperature and light exposure.
When mixed with the subjective nature of sense of smell, body chemistry, foggy memories and the power of suggestion, it makes it pretty hard to say with any authority that the Shulton scent as it existed in 1950 is even on the planet anymore...but there are several folks, including yours truly, who claim that they can detect a difference between vintage and current OS, and that the difference is greater in the AS than the cologne.
With the AV, not so much. For one thing, I think the AV scent is a simpler one, and the makers also say, as did P&G, that nothing changed other than the container. Since the move was so recent, only time will tell if AV stored in plastic will keep like it did in glass.
Well, that was a long winded post that didn't answer your question. Asking shaving obsessed trivia nabobs to think like "Average Joes" is probably too big a stretch.
All I can say to that is, I think with OS, I can tell a difference, with AV, no.
The short version is that OS changed even while it was made by Shulton, once when saccharin was getting bad press in the 70's, IIRC. P&G maintains that they are using the original formula, and even if the properties or proportions have been altered I'm sure they believe they are technically correct. Little things we view as a big deal are probably insignificant to P&G.
Rob believed that any move from glass to plastic in pretty much mandated slight changes to formulation due to regulations, and to complicate things further, the stuff in colognes and Aftershaves will change over time depending on what material they are stored in, and they also react to temperature and light exposure.
When mixed with the subjective nature of sense of smell, body chemistry, foggy memories and the power of suggestion, it makes it pretty hard to say with any authority that the Shulton scent as it existed in 1950 is even on the planet anymore...but there are several folks, including yours truly, who claim that they can detect a difference between vintage and current OS, and that the difference is greater in the AS than the cologne.
With the AV, not so much. For one thing, I think the AV scent is a simpler one, and the makers also say, as did P&G, that nothing changed other than the container. Since the move was so recent, only time will tell if AV stored in plastic will keep like it did in glass.
Well, that was a long winded post that didn't answer your question. Asking shaving obsessed trivia nabobs to think like "Average Joes" is probably too big a stretch.
All I can say to that is, I think with OS, I can tell a difference, with AV, no.
Shulton OS from India is spicier while the P&G OS has stronger floral tones IMO.
ClubmanRob had a good series of posts back in the day talking about the various changes to Old Spice, and to the effect of plastic on aftershaves and colognes in general. The following is a synopsis of stuff he posted mixed with my take on things.
The short version is that OS changed even while it was made by Shulton, once when saccharin was getting bad press in the 70's, IIRC. P&G maintains that they are using the original formula, and even if the properties or proportions have been altered I'm sure they believe they are technically correct. Little things we view as a big deal are probably insignificant to P&G.
Rob believed that any move from glass to plastic in pretty much mandated slight changes to formulation due to regulations, and to complicate things further, the stuff in colognes and Aftershaves will change over time depending on what material they are stored in, and they also react to temperature and light exposure.
When mixed with the subjective nature of sense of smell, body chemistry, foggy memories and the power of suggestion, it makes it pretty hard to say with any authority that the Shulton scent as it existed in 1950 is even on the planet anymore...but there are several folks, including yours truly, who claim that they can detect a difference between vintage and current OS, and that the difference is greater in the AS than the cologne.
With the AV, not so much. For one thing, I think the AV scent is a simpler one, and the makers also say, as did P&G, that nothing changed other than the container. Since the move was so recent, only time will tell if AV stored in plastic will keep like it did in glass.
Well, that was a long winded post that didn't answer your question. Asking shaving obsessed trivia nabobs to think like "Average Joes" is probably too big a stretch.
All I can say to that is, I think with OS, I can tell a difference, with AV, no.
I suspect nostalgia is a big factor here.
Exactly - and it's impossible to know. When people say that the current version of P&G Old Spice smells different than the 1950's - 80's Shulton Old Spice, they are actually saying one of two things:
1. That the P&G version smells different than they remember the Shulton version smelled, or
2. The P&G version smells different than the 20+ year old bottle of Shulton OS they have.
In either case, I believe them 100%.
Neither, however, means that there is actually any difference in the product itself other than age and packaging, or that P&G is lying to us, especially when one considers the very real and powerful role that nostalgia plays in the wet shaving world.
I, like everyone else, don't know if the formula/mixture/ingredients were ever altered, but I do know that to me, the current P&G Old Spice AS is a dead ringer for what I remember using as a teenager, and I remember my father using in the 1960's, and is a fine product i'm happy to use.
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