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"Barbershop scents" of the world?

So we all know how wide and relatively undefined the barbershop scent category is. It reminds me of the Wikipedia article on Heavy Metal sub-genres. As many have noted, what we call barbershop scents in most of the WS community, are really U.S., UK, and perhaps Italian ideas of what a barbershop scent is. I have become obsessed with wondering what barbershops might smell like around the world.

  • Tokyo, Japan
  • Delhi, India
  • Shanghai, China
  • Sāu Paulo, Brazil
  • Mexico City, Mexico
  • Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Karachi, Pakistan
  • Buenos Aries, Argentina
  • Istanbul, Turkey
  • Lagos, Nigeria
  • Moscow, Russia
This is an adapted list of the most populated cities. Anybody have any ideas or first-hand experience of what a barbershop might smell like in any of these cities / countries?
 
Spain - Varon Dandy followed most probably by one of the Myrsols
Germany/Austria - Pitralon but I have no personal recollection about the scent in the barbershops themselves. Just that this was the most widely available AS around.
 
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Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
Lots of soap manufacturers have a scent they call "Barbershop"... I only have one of them, i.e., the Acca Kappa Barbershop. If you have a variety of Barbershop scent soaps, do they smell similar or do they vary by country where they are manufactured?
 
recently had a haircut while waiting through flight cancellations in oslo, norway.
the barbershop scent was pretty much same as usa, a blend of soap, talcum powder, hairspray and a touch of clipper oil!

norway 2022 iphone 3779x.jpg
 
do they smell similar or do they vary by country where they are manufactured?
I am going to do a summary soon of all of the barbershop scents I have smelled. I will probably do it as a new thread, but I will post link to that thread in this one as well.
 
Sāu Paulo, Brazil
I live in São Paulo and in Brazil barbershop is very loose definition.

In the 80’s (inflation) and 90’s (hyperinflation), we have serious economical problems. We were one of the closest economies in the world, so get imported goodies is very difficult. International travels are rare and we don’t have access to international credit cards, so pay a vendor abroad is near impossible.

Cosmetics are considered luxury products and highly taxed(until now cosmetics have on average a 80% tax). So we didn’t have many options. Most of the colognes are dupes. At the time we didn’t know that are dupes, only later I discover that my favorite cologne when I was a teenager was a Drakkar Noir dupe. The best selling cologne in the 90‘s is a vetiver, lavender, citrus and patchouli fragrance. In the wetshaving there was Gillette creams with menthol and the Bozzano cream (BoLzano dupe). The upscale after shave was a licorice base cream. Barbershops are rare either.

In conclusion, because the economical problems, we didn’t have many options in terms of fragrances. There were few options, so we use what is available. Most of the products are cheaply made. When you have so few options, makes no sense to categorize in barbershop, fougeres, chypres, etc 😂As the economy opened a little, people started to get interested in fragrances and skincare.
 
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