Anyone know of a "pure" Sandalwood aftershave? (HQ)

Discussion in 'Preshave and Aftershave' started by Tim Spencer, Apr 12, 2017.

  1. Tim Spencer

    Tim Spencer Well-Known Member

    Hey,

    I bought some sandalwood soaps for trial, but now I'm on the hunt for an aftershave worthy to match up with a good sandalwood cologne. The more pure the sandalwood with zero extra fragrance additions the better. I hope some longtime shavers in here have sampled sandalwood aftershaves. I prefer alcohol-based splashes and dislike balms, although if the alcohol-based aftershave has light amounts of skin moisturizers like glycerine, then that is perfectly fine.

    Right now I'm figuring my best shot at a 'pure' type of Sandalwood Aftershave is to maybe try D.R. Harris Sandalwood which claims to use a real sandalwood, not the fakey stuff. However, I'm not sure if D.R. Harris hasn't also added additional fragrance notes, which I'm not interested in. Can anyone tell me if D.R. Harris is a one-note sandalwood champ?

    How about the TSD Sandalwood? Is it a more pure single-note scent?

    I can't stress enough that the scent should ideally be fairly dry sandalwood with only 'maybe' a hint of sweetness. I don't want some highly complex smelling aftershave. If you have any suggestions I'm all ears.
     
  2. Tdmsu

    Tdmsu Well-Known Member

    I haven't tried it, but if the Proraso red splash smells like the soap, it might be up your alley.
    I think most sandalwood things now are not pure or maybe Synthetic in some way, since the real sandalwood has become increasingly expensive.

    Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
     
    Demidog likes this.
  3. brit

    brit in a box

    i have the proraso red aftershave and it has an earthy sandalwood scent.i have read somewhere that it is a simple sandalwood and not cologne like as tobs is.hope that helps a little.g
     
    Demidog likes this.
  4. Screwtape

    Screwtape A Shaving Butterfly

    You could ask @Queen of Blades about her TSD Sandalwood aftershave splash. Even if she does normally put a scent mixture in it, I am sure she would be happy to make it for you with nothing but sandalwood essential oil. The TSD Sandalwood soap seems to be a fairly plain straight sandalwood scent without any add notes of anything else.
     
    Poetical1 likes this.
  5. Norcalnewb

    Norcalnewb Magnanimous Moos

    I am a little limited in my sandalwood AS experience, as I have tried three: TOBS, Proraso Red, and Stirling. The TOBS is definitely not what you are looking for, and IMO neither is the Proraso. It has something else to the scent, almost a light powdery scent. Very pleasant, I find, but I don't think it is strictly sandalwood. Stirling's sandalwood seems to be more along the lines of what you are describing, but it isn't a natural sandalwood oil.
     
  6. david of central florida

    david of central florida Rhubarb Rubber

    Sandalo may be what you want. Crusellas makes it.
     
  7. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    Meehan Sandalwood Cologne
     
  8. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    Stirling lists their sandalwood as a fragrance oil, not an essential oil. I also believe they have remarked in an interview/thread conversation that sandalwood essential oil right now is prohibitively expensive.
     
  9. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    by pure do you mean more manly? If so, try Wet Shaving Products-I have their Sandalwood in soap and aftershave.
     
  10. Tim Spencer

    Tim Spencer Well-Known Member

    I meant like "pure" as in Sandalwood only, with no other smells blended in the aftershave fragrance. I figure there has got to be some artisan somewhere who pretty much just uses sandalwood oil or essence as the fragrance's only smell. I will look into WSP......I just bought the WSP Sandalwood Rustic Shave soap and will evaluate it with the other soaps.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2017
    Paul Turner likes this.
  11. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    Tim,
    Just a suggestion, why not purchase an unscented soap and buy the Sandalwood oil yourself. From all I have seen, most find the real stuff too expensive. Maybe mix the oil into alcohol if mixing it into the soap is difficult but I doubt it will be necessary. I think the soap will happily chelate the oil on its own
     
  12. Tim Spencer

    Tim Spencer Well-Known Member

    Nah. I have no experience at this fragrance mixing/product making stuff. I prefer to pay an artisan to do it. It's not so expensive that I can't do it, and by experimenting with vendors I can hopefully help people who end up with the same questions someday and assist them in saving money and time. Someone's got to do it first and document it.
     
  13. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    At $85/ ounce for the real stuff, that is an expensive experiment. For the knockoff stuff, Amyris, that is cheaper but that is not what you want. From what I see most essential oils can be purchased for about 1/6 to 1/8 the price of real Sandalwood oil. Not sure how much room for profit when an artisan is only charging $10-20 a 4-5 oz soap. Of course you are looking for aftershave, not soap.

    Good luck. I would be interested in the results but do not find it very probable.

    There is another alternative, see if an artisan will make you a custom batch if you provide the essential oil. They could order it for you from their suppliers. Couldn't hurt to ask.

    Best of luck
     
  14. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    Very good-that's the one I have(Rustic). Lee(the owner there)really packs it tight-I expect to have this around for a couple years!
     
  15. Poetical1

    Poetical1 Member

    I 2nd what Screwtape said.

    Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
     
  16. Tim Spencer

    Tim Spencer Well-Known Member

    Paul man you nailed it. WSP's Sandalwood is a PERFECT Sandalwood scent. I just got the WSP Sandalwood soap and smelled it. It's precisely what is needed to match my two Sandalwood colognes that I have sampled and plan to buy. It's so good that I've ordered the aftershave and will ask for a sample of the WSP cologne as well to test head-to-head against the other colognes I'm getting samples for. Great call Paul. You picked a winner.
     
    RyX likes this.
  17. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    Glad to have helped :). In fact, I'm using the WSP Sandy double-header tomorrow.
     
    Demidog likes this.
  18. Mr. Shaverman

    Mr. Shaverman Well-Known Member

    If you haven't tried it, you may find that Honey Bee Garden's Sandalwood splash is what you're looking for. As far as I know it doesn't have any other fragrances involved, and to my nose smells like sawdust shavings, but in a good way if that makes sense. Not to heavy, a very nice sandalwood scent, and it's inexpensive.
     
  19. Tim Spencer

    Tim Spencer Well-Known Member

    Klar Seifen's Shave Soap had the best scent so far and it convinced me to buy their aftershave to test on the next round again with Tam Dao EDP next week. If it passes, then I will test Klar Seifen with the other Sandalwood colognes and then test WSP's soap/aftershave along with Tom's Natural Sandalwood deodorant.

    Right now it seems that Klar Seifen is going to emerge the winner based on the soap scent and soap performance today. I'm really impressed.

    I'm going to try various deodorants to pair with Klar Seifen's Sandalwood. If anyone knows of a deodorant that will blend well with it, please suggest it.

    The runner up is WSP Sandalwood, which is still excellent, but didn't seem to 'blend' with 3rd party Sandalwood colognes. I believe the reason is that WSP's scent has a "raw" "fresh cut lumber" vibe to it that is very distinct and won't work with fancy colognes. WSP kept their scent rugged and it has a place with a more hard edged Sandalwood scent. So, nothing wrong with WSP, but it unexpectedly didn't 'blend' with Tam Dao EDP cologne like I assumed it would.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2017
    Norcalnewb and Paul Turner like this.
  20. Tim Spencer

    Tim Spencer Well-Known Member

    Can anyone describe the way santal from Fine aftershaves smell?
     

Share This Page