How Captain's Choice was developed - an interview with The Captain

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

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Recently I was interviewed about our line and I thought I would share:

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Why Captain’s Choice Aftershave is a Great Choice

6 August, 2013 11:25 am / Leave a Comment /

Captain’s Choice Aftershaves

As you may already be aware, I love great aftershaves. I am a fan of the vintage brands. There is a newer product on the market that I feel needs mentioning. I am talking about Captain’s Choice. In my experience, Captain’s Choice is a great choice! It is a simple, quality, and reliable product. I want to share with you a little about the company and what makes the Captain’s Choice Lime, Bay Rum, and Cat O’ Nine Tails so great.

First, I want to share an interview I did with Scott Brennecke, who is the creator of Captain’s Choice aftershaves. This was an interview conducted via email.

Why did you decide to make aftershave when there are already so many choices on the market?

The presence of so many existing aftershaves actually was not a thought. I had never bought nor tried an aftershave in my life until I unscrewed the cap on some Old Spice in a Walgreens two years ago. Then I sniffed the Skin Bracer and the Brute and so on. With each one I curled my lip at the scent. Here were global brands that I could not imagine buying. So I decided to try my hand at making my own. It took four months of failed batches (the garbage smelled GREAT!) until I landed on one that I liked. During the four months I nearly quit twice and I did burn through a fair amount of money and ingredients. Eventually free samples were sent out to volunteers on Badger & Blade and they raved about it, this being our Bay Rum. So we designed a label, found a bottle we liked, launched a website and began taking orders.

In your opinion what sets your product apart from others?

There is nothing like summarizing what actual customers have to say. We hear over and over that finally there is a bay rum that is, “full-bodied and complex, not just a simple one-note splash.” Often customers mention that it is borderline cologne-like but never too strong. It is our number one seller.

Our Cat O’ Nine Tails aftershave fills the need for guys who love to have more burn to their aftershave. The scent is similar to our bay rum but is described by customers as being, “darker and more mysterious somehow…” It has a warming, glowing sensation like a heat lamp that plateaus just when you can’t take any more heat – perfect!

As to our lime, the customers rave about how very, “authentic and genuine” in scent. One customer who lives in Florida applied some and could not believe how much the scent resembled an actual lime. He wrote to say he walked across the street, plucked a lime off a neighbor’s tree and sliced it open back home. “Your aftershave smells JUST LIKE a real lime!”

We use only all natural ingredients, essential oils and extracts – no chemicals to pump up the scent.

How did you come up with your formula for the aftershave?

Trial and error over and over and over… I did start with googling a bay rum recipe but where I ended up was a very long way from where I started.

Do you see any trends in the traditional shaving world?

Yes, I see the segment of traditional shaving continuing to grow. I attribute this to our very high tech world that we live and work in. People seek balance in life and a balance to a high tech world is what I call a high touch experience. Traditional wet shaving fills that void. As for myself personally, I have always wet shaved but only recently switched to double edge blades and then for the past two years now have been using straight razors exclusively.

A big thanks to Scott for taking the time to share his thoughts and give us insight into this great product!

Now, on to my thoughts about Captain’s Choice. I am a big fan of Bay Rum aftershave and Captain’s Choice has two offerings. There is the regular Bay Rum and the Cat O’ Nine Tails.

Bay Rum

The Regular Bay rum has a simple ingredient list. It has Alcohol, Witch Hazel, Essential Oils and Extracts, and Glycerin. I love that it does not contain a long list of unpronounceable items. It has a dark clean bay rum smell. It is not clove heavy like some others out there. The scent is not overpowering and can be paired with a cologne. I found that it has a small burn to it due to the alcohol. It is a pleasant burn that wakes up your skin. It did a great job tightening the skin and providing the benefits of an aftershave. The glycerin helped the skin retain some moisture and provided an extra amount of soothing for the skin. I feel the Bay Rum makes for a great daily use aftershave.

Cat O’ Nine Tails

The Cat O’ Nine Tails is like the regular Bay Rum but with a higher alcohol content to give you more burn. If you like a good long burn from an aftershave then this is the product for you. It has that same dark bay rum smell and the same skin conditioning properties as the regular Bay Rum. I found that the burn lasted about 2-3 minutes. This was not unpleasant at all. In fact, it was a warming burn that left the skin feeling awake and refreshed. I really have enjoyed this one!

Lime

Captain’s Choice also offers a lime aftershave. It has the same simple ingredients as the others. I found it to have a true lime scent. That means that it smells like the rind of a lime instead of that candy lime smell. The scent is light and for me did not last more than about an hour. This is great if pairing with a cologne as they will not compete. It has only a small amount of burn in it. This one is even good for the ladies. My wife used it after shaving her legs to get some skin soothing out of it and for the fantastic light scent. In my opinion, the Lime makes for a great fresh summertime aftershave to help feel a little more tropical.

Overall Conclusions

I have found that Captain’s Choice makes a great product line. They come in 4 oz. brown glass bottles. The brown glass protects the aftershave from light and gives it a nice vintage feel. The label design makes me imagine pirates and sea merchants trading in rum and spices from the islands. I like that the bottles have a stopper in the top to prevent spilling too much out at one time. I would like to see a metal lid for secure travel use. Overall I have found this to be a quality product that I use and recommend. Scott is a great guy and has been fantastic to work with.

So if you want to feel a little more Caribbean in your life, head to Captain’s Choice website and let Scott earn your business!

 

[Graybeard57]

Nice article and review. +1

 

[Rjacklin]

Great article, congrats Scott!

 

[MJB1]

Great stuff, I have all 3.

 

[Dantheman]

Great interview with an excellent example of one of the fine vendors of B&B.
-I'm a fan

 

[Phog Allen]

Well done, Captain! This is nothing but great news for consumers. With the success of Captain's Choice and the great exposure he's getting it will encourage others to take up the challenge. To me the real grail in wet shaving is A+ aftershaves. Many are average but only a few are superb. Again, well done.

Cheers, Todd

 

[BayRhum]

Co9t is the best aftershave I've ever used. Works greeting repairing the skin and smells awesome. Nice work!