A few weeks ago, I emailed several VP's at Walmart explaining the story of Old Spice and how the Classic version sold in the US is really a sweeter smelling formula than the original which is more closely resembled by the version sold by Old Spice, India, even though they're all owned by P&G. I also described the plastic bottle vs. glass bottle situation.
I've tried to order both the original aftershave and the musk from Amazon India and Amazon UK, as well as the vendors listed on the Old Spice India site in the "Buy Now" menu (http://www.oldspice.in/en-IN/products.aspx?t=2&id=5) but all orders resulted in a screen stating that these products couldn't be shipped to the USA. Apparently, products containing alcohol can't be exported to the US at the retail level.
In the email, I asked Walmart if they could use their considerable clout in the retail sector to influence P&G to distribute the original and musk fragrances in the US as well as the shaving cream tubes. After not hearing from any of the VP's for a few days, I thought to myself, "well, at least they're aware of the situation now". A week after I sent the email, I received a reply from their senior buyer for men's products. He said that he spent considerable time on the issue and that P&G told him they have no plans to distribute these products in the US at this time nor could he find any US distributors. As a token of appreciation, he sent one 50 ml bottle of the Old Spice Original and the Old Spice Musk imported aftershaves in glass bottles! They arrived yesterday. He must have gotten them through the perfumery grapevine. Unfortunately, about two thirds of the musk leaked during shipment, but I probably had the best smelling box on the Fedex truck!
The Original Old Spice definitely has a less sweet and a highly welcomed spicier scent than the Classic, but I must say I was floored by the musk. It's fantastic! It lasted for hours and would have lasted longer if I didn't take a shave (EJ DE89L razor with a Gillette Silver Blue blade for those who are curious) and apply another favorite aftershave - Brut Dominant. I have only used a few musk brands over the years and this one is near the top, second only to Pierre Cardin's retired musk cologne "in their famously shaped like you know what" black, glass bottle. I haven't even thrown out the Old Spice musk box yet because the odor is still strong. As I plan on keeping these glass bottles, I'm going to need some kind of thin funnel or straw to refill them when this stash runs out.
I also noticed that the boxes no longer state the Old Spice is manufactured under license by Shulton or something to that effect. It now states that Old Spice is manufactured by Rubicon Formulations, Pvt., Ltd. There's another thread here thas has a little more detail on this and mentioned something about Shulton's license with P&G expiring after the sale. Unless there was an update, the conclusion was that Rubicon was using the same original formula as Shulton. Perhaps some of you have more information.
In my followup email to Walmart, I'm going to list the difference in the ingredients between the two formulas.
From what I can tell, the "Classic" US version only lists:
Alcohol Denat., Water/eau, Propylene Glycol, Fragrance/parfum, Benzyl Alcohol, Peg-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
while the version that's made in India has those ingredients and adds: diethyl phthalate (chemical binder), limonene (scent of orange), linalool (found in flowers and spice plants), isoeugenol (found in essential oil of plants for manufacture of vanillin), coumarin (for a clover-ish smell), eugenol (per Wikipedia - It is a colorless to pale yellow oily liquid extracted from certain essential oils especially from clove oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil and bay leaf), alpha-isomethyl ionone (woody or floral scent), citronellol - used in insect repellants and perfumes, benzyl benzoate (fixative), cinnamyl alcohol (per Wikipedia - Cinnamyl alcohol has a distinctive odor described as "sweet, balsam, hyacinth, spicy, green, powdery, cinnamic), citral (for another scent of citrus)
Now some of those ingredients are known to cause skin reactions in some people so could that be the reason that P&G won't distribute it in the US?
I'm also going to mention in my followup the difference between the Brut aftershave which is sold in the US and the much superior version in the glass bottle that's sold in Europe and made in France for Unilever called Brut Apres-Rasage.
Although they couldn't satisfy my wishes, I thought that the gesture of the aftershaves spoke pretty highly of those Walmart employees and at least I now know what I was missing.
I've tried to order both the original aftershave and the musk from Amazon India and Amazon UK, as well as the vendors listed on the Old Spice India site in the "Buy Now" menu (http://www.oldspice.in/en-IN/products.aspx?t=2&id=5) but all orders resulted in a screen stating that these products couldn't be shipped to the USA. Apparently, products containing alcohol can't be exported to the US at the retail level.
In the email, I asked Walmart if they could use their considerable clout in the retail sector to influence P&G to distribute the original and musk fragrances in the US as well as the shaving cream tubes. After not hearing from any of the VP's for a few days, I thought to myself, "well, at least they're aware of the situation now". A week after I sent the email, I received a reply from their senior buyer for men's products. He said that he spent considerable time on the issue and that P&G told him they have no plans to distribute these products in the US at this time nor could he find any US distributors. As a token of appreciation, he sent one 50 ml bottle of the Old Spice Original and the Old Spice Musk imported aftershaves in glass bottles! They arrived yesterday. He must have gotten them through the perfumery grapevine. Unfortunately, about two thirds of the musk leaked during shipment, but I probably had the best smelling box on the Fedex truck!
The Original Old Spice definitely has a less sweet and a highly welcomed spicier scent than the Classic, but I must say I was floored by the musk. It's fantastic! It lasted for hours and would have lasted longer if I didn't take a shave (EJ DE89L razor with a Gillette Silver Blue blade for those who are curious) and apply another favorite aftershave - Brut Dominant. I have only used a few musk brands over the years and this one is near the top, second only to Pierre Cardin's retired musk cologne "in their famously shaped like you know what" black, glass bottle. I haven't even thrown out the Old Spice musk box yet because the odor is still strong. As I plan on keeping these glass bottles, I'm going to need some kind of thin funnel or straw to refill them when this stash runs out.
I also noticed that the boxes no longer state the Old Spice is manufactured under license by Shulton or something to that effect. It now states that Old Spice is manufactured by Rubicon Formulations, Pvt., Ltd. There's another thread here thas has a little more detail on this and mentioned something about Shulton's license with P&G expiring after the sale. Unless there was an update, the conclusion was that Rubicon was using the same original formula as Shulton. Perhaps some of you have more information.
In my followup email to Walmart, I'm going to list the difference in the ingredients between the two formulas.
From what I can tell, the "Classic" US version only lists:
Alcohol Denat., Water/eau, Propylene Glycol, Fragrance/parfum, Benzyl Alcohol, Peg-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
while the version that's made in India has those ingredients and adds: diethyl phthalate (chemical binder), limonene (scent of orange), linalool (found in flowers and spice plants), isoeugenol (found in essential oil of plants for manufacture of vanillin), coumarin (for a clover-ish smell), eugenol (per Wikipedia - It is a colorless to pale yellow oily liquid extracted from certain essential oils especially from clove oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil and bay leaf), alpha-isomethyl ionone (woody or floral scent), citronellol - used in insect repellants and perfumes, benzyl benzoate (fixative), cinnamyl alcohol (per Wikipedia - Cinnamyl alcohol has a distinctive odor described as "sweet, balsam, hyacinth, spicy, green, powdery, cinnamic), citral (for another scent of citrus)
Now some of those ingredients are known to cause skin reactions in some people so could that be the reason that P&G won't distribute it in the US?
I'm also going to mention in my followup the difference between the Brut aftershave which is sold in the US and the much superior version in the glass bottle that's sold in Europe and made in France for Unilever called Brut Apres-Rasage.
Although they couldn't satisfy my wishes, I thought that the gesture of the aftershaves spoke pretty highly of those Walmart employees and at least I now know what I was missing.
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It's very cool that the head men's buyer seemed to empathize with your (and my) plea for true OS!
