Decades Old Spice Shulton Bottles....

Hey guys,

New discussion on an old favorite. And hopefully we can get up to date information on experiences from people and products they are buying recently.

I picked up several ebay purchases of very old 1980's, I believe, Shulton Old Spice Aftershave and Cologne.

Today, out of curiosity, I finally tried some and, IMO, it's likely spoiled stuff. Missing all the floral notes and has none of the sweet notes of the Old Spice I've known. I don't remember it ever smelling like this and it's a bit watery/faded with only the very slightest scent remaining and a tad bit of odor that is 'off' smelling to me.

After about 30 mins of application, the 'off' smell fades and it's more tolerable. I think that age took its toll on these bottles. Has anyone successfully purchased a decades-old Shulton Old Spice aftershave or cologne that still has most of the fragrance intact?

If not, is the rumor that the Indian Old Spice stuff the real deal Shulton formula of old?

 

I have a bottle of AS from the 50's and a bottle of AS and cologne from the 60's both of which still smell great. I wonder if your bottle got diluted?

 

I just went down to the aftershave cellar and did a sniff test on all my vintage Old Spice products.

Anything that's almost full and was (presumably) kept tightly sealed smells fine. Anything that's less than half full and wasn't kept tightly sealed doesn't smell like I want to use it.

Grunge around the opening will tell you that the bottle probably wasn't kept properly sealed.

My best preserved products are in travel sets. I'm guessing they were probably given as gifts, put away in a drawer, never opened, and never used.

 

Agree, all my Avon decanters are full and smell OK.

 

Light, heat, and air will degenerate any fragrance. Mine are kept sealed tight in their boxes in a drawer away from all heat and light sources.

 

Here is nearly full bottle of the aftershave and it still has very nice scent. Do not know what year this is from, it is a glass bottle. Shulton, Inc. Clifton, NJ is printed on the back side. This should look familiar, won it in the last TSD raffle.



Dave

 

Thanks for the info guys. I burned $60 on cologne and aftershave on ebay "vintage" stuff. Turns out it was a fail sandwich for me. I will try to buy one more time, but a sealed box decanter for $50 instead and hope like hell it wasn't sitting in a garage for 20 years or the bottle opened and exposed to air. It just shows that it's getting hard and harder to find legit vintage juice that isn't 'compromised'

I really want a collectable, usable Old Spice after shave and cologne. I currently have a 9.5 ounce Shulton bottle that I emptied out of the bad juice and rinsed and am airing out so that I can transplant the real vintage stuff to it. This whole adventure is taking time. My 2nd Old Spice shave kit should be the vintage sauce. Any help that can be offered would be appreciated. At least I have the vintage bottles of after shave and cologne that are in really good condition, even if the juice inside wasn't.

Also, does anyone have the classic old spice deodorant stick? I 'might' be able to get a custom deodorant maker on Etsy to make fresh deodorant for the old container, which would be fascinating if it could be pulled off.

Building shaving setups takes a lot of time and patience.

 

Sorry you got burned. The more popular the Shultons stuff gets, the more expensive it gets. Also, unscrupulous sellers will pass off spoiled and soured stuff, to make a buck.
The Vintage colognes can go bad, if stored wrong. Lucky for me, I've not received a spoiled bottle yet.
I have varied Sulton old spice from the 60's, 70's, 80's, and early 90's. As well as a Shulton Old Spice with P&G ownership, from 1993. That's when P&G started screwing with the formula. There is a distinct difference, as soon as P&G took over. It's not as bad as the current old Spice, but not as good as the pre 1993 Shulton.

 

Good luck finding anyone that wants to part with a good bottle of Shulton.
That stuff is like gold. Plus, my wife, reaaaalllly likes it when I wear it.

 

You can find or ask question about Old Spice here: http://www.oldspicecollectibles.com/

I have many Old Spice Decanters and aftershaves, and have never had a problem with spoilage. Post a picture of your bottles. Good luck.

 

Here is my small collection of fragrances. Some of which cost hundreds of dollars. Look at the one I put at the top.

Inside that tin behind the 9.5 ounce OS cologne bottle there are 2 aftershaves, 1 can of OS foam and 1 classic OS shave soap puck. Upon further review, ONE of the two aftershaves seems to smell "close" to decent. The big cologne bottle I dumped out as it was obviously spoiled, watery, missing the floral notes and smelled 'off'. One of the two aftershaves also smells like time took its toll. But ONE, one glorious bottle in that tin actually smells like it has 'some' of its florals still there and is only presenting the very smallest of age in the scent. It's good enough to BARELY 'pass' for use, and I mean BARELY as I can still smell a touch of age in it and a faded floral.

Clearly the Shulton smells quite a bit different than my modern Old Spice from Proctor & Gamble. If the modern P&G cologne is truly maintaining the original scent, then even the best of my Shulton bottles is BADLY missing florals and some 'sweetness' in the mix. If the surviving Shulton is to be believed, then the original must have had quite a bit more 'reserved' scent. It's still nice, but I actually prefer the more modern bottle I own so far. I hope to obtain an example of a fully preserved Shulton offering for full evaluation.

Can anyone answer if the India-made Old Spice is close to the original Shulton? I have ordered what seem like the very last types of plastic red Indian Old Spice Aftershaves that were made before India started making the same modern bottles P&G offers. I ordered them from Ebay for inspection and testing. I want to get to the bottom of this ancient Old Spice question and want to possess a legitimate and usable Old Spice from the days of old. I will spend some bucks to make sure I get it.

 

If it says made in Rubicon, India, it smells close, but not close enough. After the Rubicon airs out for a while, it will smell close. Just spend a little extra money and find some Shulton Old Spice that's still inside the package, and looks good.

 

I am curious here guys, recreating old spice ....

I cant remember if it is wickhams or OSP who got the original scent formula for the original shulton old spice from the uk. I know its one of the two, and since the actual recipe still survives,

why try to recreate it?
especially after 25 years of the crappy bottomed cat pee stinking re formulation from 93?

 

I looked up both sites, and neither mentioned Old Spice formula or scent. Do you have a link to the one you are talking about?

 

i talked about it with one of them in a private message in tsr.. ill have to look through those.

But I remember one of them said that they had bought the rights and the recipe to make actual old spice scented stuff. The recipe came from the original frangance supplier.. so it would be dead on old spice before the big change of scent in the early 90s.

 

Like the OP, I have gotten a couple of "bad" bottles of OS from the bay. It's a lot of hit or miss with sellers and I have been lucky (and thankful) that I have gotten more good than bad. I usually try to stick to stock that's from the 80's as I feel those have a better chance of retaining their scent. I have since emptied and cleaned out the bottles that had the "bad" stuff and they are being kept for my own nostalgic reasons.
Good luck. you WILL find good stuff out there!

 

Hey all,

I have located and received an actual un-used, and in perfect condition Old Spice Aftershave & Deodorant that are 80's vintage. I was but merely a youngling during that time. I finally have an aftershave that smells like there is no 'age' or 'off' smell. It smells like a brand new bottle. Even the deodorant isn't dried out and still has that alcohol hint in it! Amazing condition!

Based on how this well preserved aftershave smells, I have to say that the Proctor & Gamble Old Spice "Classic" sold today IS NOT the same!!! These smell very different to me. The Proctor & Gamble version has an opening that has a 'dry'/artificial "sweet-floral" that is 'decent' but not like the Shulton "manly" smell of old. To the credit of Proctor & Gamble, the new Old Spice "Classic" DOES happen to smell incredible at about the 3 hour mark when that floral part fades away and you get a spicy, sweet, ambery dry-down that is amazing. But you have to wait 3 hours to get to the great smell.

I have yet to receive the sealed-in-package 6oz Telescope Decanter I bought off Ebay. I cannot wait to test it and find out how the original Shulton smells from the opening to the dry-down for full evaluation. I will, of course be using the original soap and the aftershave/deodorant I received with it. I want to have the classic Shulton scent in my collection and KNOW I have the legitimate original! Of course this means a it will be the sequel to my 1st Old Spice Shave Kit.

I have rinsed out the 9.5 ounce bottle the best I can and air dried it. When I get the 6 ounce Shulton Old Spice Telescope Decanter, I will use a tiny fragrance funnel to put the brand new Shulton juice into the mighty 9.5 ounce container! I must find another cologne bottle to vampire more Shulton for the 9.5 ounce monster bottle.

 

I have that same giant bottle. Found it a few months back and was lucky it was full of good smelling original juice, so I use it pretty sparingly. Used some yesterday, in fact.

Also, consider keeping an eye out for Avon Brisk Spice, early '80s vintage. It's almost identical to what you're looking for; miles closer to Shulton then modern OS. Some guys can't tell the difference between the two. I can't tell the difference unless I have both side by side but they are practically identical. Avon really nailed that one.

 

I bought some Avon Brisk, last year. I liked the scent, and there is very little difference between the two. But, I have to say, Avon Brisk was harder to find, than Shulton Old Spice. Therefore, the price on the Avon Brisk was higher. I just looked, and its still a little pricy.

 

Word got out, probably from us talking about it!