A relative works in the perfume industry, meaning that for Christmas/birthday, I often get a nice perfume that she could buy with her employee discount.
An issue, is that as a person who has facial hair, I shave regularly, and most after shave balm/lotion are scented. They don't even smell that good, but mixing a nice perfume with an after-shave seems like a major faux pas as the smell will interact with each others, meaning that I don't use my perfume as much as I wanted
If I’m misunderstanding, I apologize, but aftershaves are one of the socially acceptable ways for traditionally presenting men to apply perfume. Colognes are often perceived as being a bit affected and in any case get used for special occasions or “going out.” In short, aftershaves are often designed to be used in place of colognes in addition to anything they’re trying to do for your skin (which if they contain alcohol is probably not overly positive in any case).
Is there a reason you would be looking to use aftershave in particular, as opposed to another skin care product? Tatcha, for example, has almost no scent in their water cream, and would probably be better for your skin.
I know that facial shaving can have a particularly strong reaction with some people, but to my knowledge nothing marketed as an aftershave would have a particular benefit over a facial skin care product.
That’s a fair point. Yes, nice skin care products can be a bit pricey. I only mentioned the Tatcha because it’s on my bathroom counter and I gave it a sniff to make sure I was remembering correctly. I don’t sell skin care products. I do math for a living.
My point was that splashing on Old Spice isn’t the best for your skin, even if you were to locate an unscented version. Someone in the business - whether at the counter in some fancy shop or a beauty advice vlogger - would be where I’d go if I wanted to get away from scented and possibly less than helpful products.
But just between us, the Tatcha product line is awesome. My partner got me hooked and I am a fresh faced math nerd as a result.
I have this problem with a LOT of products: Dry shampoo, beard butter, bars of soap, liquid soap, etc. I will probably be OK with a little scent on things but it is almost always actually an overwhelming amount of scent. So I will go out of my way now to get unscented things like this. Often this means I have to find it on the internet because they don't sell the unscented stuff in stores.
Sometimes I want to smell better and that's why I have cologne. I'd like to choose my scent and not wear many scents at once.
There are a large number of unscented aftershaves out there as well as other products options like an alum block.
When I’m finished shaving my routine is:
alum block
aftershave balm
cologne
I have aftershaves and colognes that compliment each other or are the same scent for both. I also have an unscented balm for colognes I couldn’t find a good compliment to.
Scents I use are ones I like because I’m wearing it for me, not others.
It's a bit harsh on the skin but you tolerate it better if you drink it too, you know, and you can't say that about any other after shave cream, balsam or whatsoever! Lol