Vintage Old Spice horror

[Latherdude]

I acquired a big bottle of the old stuff on the bay and tried it on my face today, mixing it with a couple drops of glycerine in my hands and then patting it on to my just-witch-hazeled face.

It burned like a broken toaster oven in hell. Admittedly I'd just attempted a SE shave with my newly-acquired Ever-Ready 1924, which didn't go too well. Still, this was a bigger burn than most bay rums I've tried.

And then there was the smell. It definitely wasn't the P&G scent, but in a horrible, rotten kind of way.

I then applied more witch hazel by hand, rinsed off, briefly washed off with facial soap, and it still lingered. I finally rubbed three pumps of AOS Sandalwood into my face to hopefully cover it up with a more pleasant scent. Now I just smell like SandOldwood Spice.

Probably the worst part about this is that I mainly purchased these OS bottles for the look right next to my grandpa's OS mug, and the non-plastic feel, but a couple days ago my girlfriend told me she's not a fan of the smell of Old Spice. Perhaps I shouldn't have let her smell Floid Blue first.






Anyway, does this stuff "go bad" after too long / certain storage conditions?

[The Nid Hog]

I'm sure it can go off. I haven't had that happen yet, but the older ones that I've bought have sometimes lost the top notes and have a more rounded, mellow fragrance. The same is true of vintage bottles of English Leather and Dunhill 1934 AS that I have. I have a very old bottle of Aqua Velva (from it's amber days) that is even more muted--its fragrance falls somewhere in between sandalwood and newsprint. But in a good way. I had an ancient bottle of Lilac Vegetal that smelled quite a bit different than the modern version. It was very rich and sweet--probably from centuries of alcohol evaporation. It was fantastic while it lasted.