I've had the opportunity now to try a few different Barbershop scented soaps (Mama Bears, Honeybee, Mikes), and I love them all. But they're all a little bit different. What scents are usually used in the making of barbershop scented items? In the Mama Bears, I'm getting whiffs of vanilla and maybe cherry? What's your experience?
Barber Shop scent. I'm curious
- Thread starter jzuzphreek
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I'm always mystified when people say "barber shop scent." My only recollection of the way an old barber shop smells is musty. That can't be what people are talking about.
Musgo Real and Proraso comes to nose and mind when i think of a Barber's Shop 
I love that smell............................
I love that smell............................
Yea, i'm a little puzzled by this also. I can't exactly remember what the barbershop smelled like when I was a kid but I have Mike's Natural soap and no Barbershop I've ever been in smelled like that! That stuff smells great but like a Barbershop? Hmmmm....I don't remember that. Now, if I get a whiff of Clubman Talc...now that smells like a Barbershop to me.
- Thread starter
- #7
Tommy, that's about how I feel too. I remember the clubman smell, and the barber using a shavette around the corners of my hairline, and the talc. However, when I smell the barbershop fragrances, I kind of feel like I'm at a barbershop. What's in 'em? Concentrated Memories and Pixie dust?
XPEC Original shave cream smells almost exactly like the barbershop I've been going to since I was 11 years old.
Ben
Ben
- Thread starter
- #9
Hm... Never heard of that.... where can it be had?
Clubman talc and masters are the only things I've ever said yeah, that's a barber shop smell.
Must be a Northwest thing. As those 2 classic scents (Clubman & Bay Rum) are what I've grown accustomed to smelling when I walk into the barber shop.
Strop Shoppe 1887 is very much a barbershop scent to me. Smells just like Rive Gauche IMO. The 1887 doesn't show up on their site anymore (that I can find anyway), but here are the notes for Rive Gauche from Fragrantica...
"Top notes are rosemary, star anise and bergamot; middle notes are lavender, cloves, geranium and coumarin; base notes are patchouli, guaiac wood, vetiver and oakmoss."
"Top notes are rosemary, star anise and bergamot; middle notes are lavender, cloves, geranium and coumarin; base notes are patchouli, guaiac wood, vetiver and oakmoss."
That's what I think of too. That said, I love the smell of Mike's Barbershop soap.
I would have to agree that my memories of barbershops usually involve Clubman talcum powder. I have to assume it gets everywhere when they dust it on the back of your neck.
"Barbershop scent" is very subjective. It's not cut and dry like a fragrance called "Rose". It is up to the individual soap maker to come up with a blend that they believe exemplifies the barbershop experience, and hopefully generates some feelings of nostalgia.
Standards of barbershops everywhere were Pinaud Clubman and Bay Rum scents. However there were other scents available that some might have used as well. I find that typically, a Barbershop scent seems to start with a bay rum scent, then gets tweaked from there.
For me, none of them hit the mark. While all good, none that I have tried make me think of barbershop. For me, the only thing that says barbershop is the scent of Jeris Hair Tonic. This just illustrates how much it is a YMMV thing.
Standards of barbershops everywhere were Pinaud Clubman and Bay Rum scents. However there were other scents available that some might have used as well. I find that typically, a Barbershop scent seems to start with a bay rum scent, then gets tweaked from there.
For me, none of them hit the mark. While all good, none that I have tried make me think of barbershop. For me, the only thing that says barbershop is the scent of Jeris Hair Tonic. This just illustrates how much it is a YMMV thing.
- Thread starter
- #16
Wait a second.... Milage varies?
I can't say really, haven't spent much time in old ttime barbershops. I will say I've hhad mama Bear's and Mike's and they are very different. MB is sweet, citrusy?, powdery. Mike's is darker and heavier. Unfortunately, I like how MB smells, but am not wild on the shaves, and love how Mike's shaves, but don't like the smell.
interestingly, mystic waters adirondack jack is kind if a compromise. Smells more like MB, performs more like Mikes
interestingly, mystic waters adirondack jack is kind if a compromise. Smells more like MB, performs more like Mikes
TOBS Shaving Shop was one of the 1st DE shaving products I tried that smelled like "barbershop" to me. I agree it is subjective. I think Clubman also has that barbershop smell. I don't really care for the Lavender, Bay Rum, Rose or Eucalyptus smells that so many seem to like. I like fairly mild soapy and/or citrusy smells. I just tried a sample of Mikes Barbershop this weekend and while I loved the performance the smell seemed too mild and plain to me.
Does Clubman smell like my barbershop or does my barbershop smell like Clubman?
It's a "chicken and the egg" kind of philosophical question.
It's a "chicken and the egg" kind of philosophical question.
+1 on the talc, specifically this stuff
Felce Azzurra!
I actually was lucky enough to find this stuff recently in a basement of a store on St. Clair Ave in Toronto
I use one of my brushes I don't like for my face, load it with the talc and spread it around my neck. DELICIOUS Stuff!
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