Shulton Old Spice

[lve2ride]

Hi yall,

As a ex-Shulton employee I wanted to add a little information that may help to clear up the dates of change in Old Spice.

Shulton was the consumer product division of a much larger corporation called American Cyanamid. The sale of the different plants that fell under the Shulton umbrella was announced in early 1990. The brands that were affected included Old Spice,Grey Flannel,Pierre Cardin in mens fragrances. Also included were the female fragrance brands of Nina Ricci Lair dutemps,Nikki and several others.Also included were the brands of Pine-Sol and Combat roach trays. The sale of the plants proceeded through the first half of 1990 with the Memphis Shulton plant sold to best of my recollection in April of that year. American Cyanamid had stock stuffed in warehouse facilities all over the US. This was prior to the advent of JIT manufacturing so I feel certain that anything that was purchased prior to June of 1991 was old stock.

Yes I had a huge stockpile of the fragrances for years and I even threw away 2 huge lighthouse decanters in one of my cleaning sprees. I wonder what those would have fetched on the evil bay? I had never thought that P&G would have changed an old classic. But I worked at the plant that manufactured Pine-sol as a QA Supervisor for almost 10 years and I saw the Clorox company make major changes in that old time brand. Sad but seems like most of the time to pay for the purchase companies cheapen the old brands.

Well I am out of the old stock so I quess I will have to see for myself how the fragrance has changed

 

[The National Razor]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I'm wearing some of the new era Old Spice cologne now, and enjoy it quite a bit (but I never experienced the original Shulton). It is very vanilla-heavy in the drydown, but to me that's a good thing. Still, it might not be what is remembered as Old Spice.

Blasted reformulations

 

[jakespoppy]

Very interesting hearing from someone with the inside scoop! I really like the Old Spice on the market today, and my memories of the original are only vague enough that today's product is close enough for me to not know the difference.

 

[EL Alamein]

Of what I have smelled the new and old cologne versions of Old Spice smell very similar but are definitely different. The new and old aftershave versions smell nothing alike. At the very least this is how I perceive it.

The old Shulton version of Old Spice is the scent my kids prefer on me the most of all the fragrances I own.

Chris

 

[blackfoot]

Very interesting. Thank you very much for sharing this insight.

 

[Hank Corbett]

Great post; thanks! Let us know what you think of the new stuff after you've tried it on. I think Old Spice classic cologne now smells pretty much the way it's supposed to smell and gets much better as it ages in the bottle. Right after P&G took over, it smelled very odd and different but lately, it seems to have reverted back its former self. It's also been recommended by others to keep a glass "clipper ship" bottle to decant from the new plastic one.

 

[masonjarjar]

I could tell the difference between the bottle I bought in the mid-90's and the bottle that my dad had, which I'm sure he bought sometime in the 80's.

My dad's bottle had a much sweeter, smoother scent to it.

 

[ClubmanRob]

Hi yall,

As a ex-Shulton employee I wanted to add a little information that may help to clear up the dates of change in Old Spice.

Shulton was the consumer product division of a much larger corporation called American Cyanamid. The sale of the different plants that fell under the Shulton umbrella was announced in early 1990. The brands that were affected included Old Spice,Grey Flannel,Pierre Cardin in mens fragrances. Also included were the female fragrance brands of Nina Ricci Lair dutemps,Nikki and several others.Also included were the brands of Pine-Sol and Combat roach trays. The sale of the plants proceeded through the first half of 1990 with the Memphis Shulton plant sold to best of my recollection in April of that year. American Cyanamid had stock stuffed in warehouse facilities all over the US. This was prior to the advent of JIT manufacturing so I feel certain that anything that was purchased prior to June of 1991 was old stock.

Yes I had a huge stockpile of the fragrances for years and I even threw away 2 huge lighthouse decanters in one of my cleaning sprees. I wonder what those would have fetched on the evil bay? I had never thought that P&G would have changed an old classic. But I worked at the plant that manufactured Pine-sol as a QA Supervisor for almost 10 years and I saw the Clorox company make major changes in that old time brand. Sad but seems like most of the time to pay for the purchase companies cheapen the old brands.

Well I am out of the old stock so I quess I will have to see for myself how the fragrance has changed

Great post, and welcome to B&B.

Your time line is pretty much spot on from what we know concerning the acquisition of Shulton. What I'd like to add is that a majority of the old stock (pre PG acquisition) US-manufactured bottles ended up in Canada. Here in the states, cosmetics containing saccharine as an ingredient were coming under fire as being possibly carcinogenic, so Proctor and Gamble announced in late September 1990 that they would be dropping it as an ingredient from Old Spice, and I believe that the first bottles to have this new formulation rolled off the lines on November 1st 1990. Tell me if this timeline looks accurate to you:

Late 1989: American Cyanimid begins seeking a buyer for its Shulton division. Revlon takes a look, and decides to pass.

January 1990: Proctor and Gamble take a look and decide to roll the dice. Nothing formal has been reached, but A.C. begin to prepare their facilities for the proposed takeover.

February 1990: P&G purchase the first two Shulton facilities.

March 1990: Production of Old Spice soap and liquids ceases, pending formal buyout by P&G.

April 22, 1990: The Memphis Tennessee Shulton plant is the next to last Shulton facility to be sold to Proctor and Gamble. It is later sold to Kolmar Labs on January 31st, 1992.

July 10th, 1990: Proctor and Gamble formally announce the acquisition of the Shulton division from the American Cyanamid group.

July-September 1990: Somewhere in this period Proctor and Gamble begin their own production of Old Spice. Most of the Shulton stock is shipped up North to Canada, where it can sometimes still be found sitting on the shelves to this day.

September 14th, 1990: P&G follows Mennen's lead and decides to drop saccharine from its cosmetics due to unfounded hysteria surrounding new evidence that shows saccharine as a potential carcinogen.

November 1st, 1990: The first of P&G's many reformulations of Old Spice roll of the line. The real lovers of Old Spice throughout the world ain't been right since.

 

[Confilo]

Of what I have smelled the new and old cologne versions of Old Spice smell very similar but are definitely different. The new and old aftershave versions smell nothing alike. At the very least this is how I perceive it.

The old Shulton version of Old Spice is the scent my kids prefer on me the most of all the fragrances I own.

Chris

I agree; similar but not quite the same. I prefer the old version