The Proper Proportions

[Kbennett]

Any member of this forum worth his Fatboy knows what the following ingredients make: SD Alcohol 40 , Water , Glycerin , Fragrance , Menthol ,Benzophenone-1 , FD&C Blue #1 , Ext. D&C Violet No. 2. It is considered a classic, one of the great aftershaves one can buy. Best of all, it is dirt cheap.

I've been trying a number of unscented (almost not scent) splash options and have found none of them to be as soothing as Aqua Velva. Based on the ingredient list above, I don't see why I can't just brew my own...unscented AV. I figure if I drop the fragrance then the benzophenone-1 isn't needed, and I could care less if it has a color, so no need for FD&C Blue #1 or D&C Violet No. 2.

That leaves me with SD Alcohol 40, Water, Glycerin, and Menthol - all products not particularly hard to get a hold of. However, everyone who didn't sleep through high school science class knows that often times it isn't the ingredients, but the proportions in which they are mixed.

So my question is, has anyone ever made a 'bathtub' version of Aqua Velva with the easy to get a hold of ingredients? I don't have the first clue where to start in terms of quantities, and as much as I want to nurture my inner chemist, I don't feel like getting put on a government watch list for buying mass quantities of the ingredients each time I screw up and have to start over.

Any tips or advice from the aftershave home brewers around here? Be it the mixing or tracking down the necessary parts to recreate a work of art?

 

[dpm802]

I'm missing something here. Why do you want to home-brew AV?

As it is, AV is cheap, readily available, and one of the best products you can get in drugstore level shave gear ... why go through all the trouble and expense to make your own?

 

[faster_than_u]

I'm missing something here. Why do you want to home-brew AV?

As it is, AV is cheap, readily available, and one of the best products you can get in drugstore level shave gear ... why go through all the trouble and expense to make your own?

Because he wants a scentless one.

 

[dpm802]

Because he wants a scentless one.

Aha! Now I get it.

Good Luck with your project.

 

[BCatl]

My thought would be that you are essentially mixing a drink, so experiment away to get the feel you want. These people are good, so you might never get it exactly right.

Listerine is about 30% alcohol and doesn't sting the face much (I just tried it), so I would say you would need 8 or 9 parts alcohol to two/one part water to get a good sting going.

First, get some 80 (90?)** proof vodka and splash your face with it, see how that evaporates. I would guess the water slows the evaporation and prolongs the feel of the aftershave, so you can experiment the the amount of water needed, as you would with a drink. You might want to use distilled water if you have hard water in your area.

It wouldn't need much glycerin at all to my mind (a matter of drops). I know nothing about menthol, but looking at the order of ingredients, it couldn't be much to get the bang.

** if you don't get enough sting, try golden grain or everclear as your base.

By the way, the Listerine I splashed on is starting to grow on me, I think I'll add it to my rotation.

 

[LinuxMintyFresh]

Like the previous poster said, all you'll need is some grain alcohol to get started. I'd head down to the liquor store for Everclear and use the calculator on this page to figure out the proof by volume. After you figure out the alcohol-burn quotient that you feel okay with, it's just a matter of adding glycerin and menthol to your preference.