In praise of Witch Hazel

I am so glad to see there other huge fans of Witch Hazel. WH is my absolute GO TO products after every shave. My current love is the Thayer w/ Aloe and Cucumber. Soothing and the cucumber smell is refreshing like a tall iced glass of cucumber water on a summer day.

I try to avoid the alcohol wh as it seems counterproductive to the soothing sensation of WH. I prefer the alcohol work internally like @Bird Lives recommends

 

My Pop was in the Navy during WWII. He told me the only people on a Destroyer who were actually issued alcohol, were those who fueled the torpedos, because they were fueled with an alcohol blend called 'torpedo juice', and those who aimed the cannons. The "Fire Control" Officer who aimed the cannons had certain lenses they looked through. They were given alcohol to clean those lenses. During a battle, standard MO, was take a swallow of alcohol, and go "haaah!" on the lens and wipe with lens cloth, ha,ha,ha!

Now thats letting the alcohol work from within, very efficiently I must say...lol!

 

How do you all use your WH in conjunction with your favorite after shave? It would seem to counteract the WH if you use AS right away

 

Just used the Lemon Chill witch hazel. Awesome stuff!

 

Once I finish shaving I'll rinse with cold water, dry my face with a towel, and then apply a little bit of witch hazel. I'll clean up the sink area while it dries down and then put the aftershave splash on top of the witch hazel. Sometimes it's dried down completely and other times the witch hazel and aftershave mix a little bit. No problem with that.

 

A bunch of aftershaves have witch hazel in them and a lot of witch hazel is distilled with alcohol so there's no way for aftershaves to counteract witch hazel. Traditional witch hazel like T.N. Dickinson's contains 14% alcohol as it is. I apply witch hazel and then immediately follow it up with an aftershave splash or balm all of the time.

 

Good to know. I'm just starting to experiment with combinations of post shave stuff to help keep irritation at bay. Thanks for your input all!

 

Just bought a generic bottle of "Distilled Extract of Witch Hazel" from Walmart.
Look like it was made in North Carolina.

A few months ago, my oldest son gave me a jar of WH wipes that he had and was not using.
Said it was for shaving. I had not used WH before for that. Mostly forgot about it, and then....

looking it up on here - I see it is a highly favored AS treatment.

So, I am about to experience the WH phenomenon. Not sure about the scent. May be some experimenting soon.
Wish me luck!

 

I am currently using Thayer's Rose, which I got in a two-pack from my local Whole Foods. I have also used Dickinson's and the Wally-Mart generic stuff. They all work great, but the Rose is worth the extra money for the better scent. Also rose water is supposed to be a skin toner.

 

I had a bottle of Thayer's and I thought it was pretty good. But the Stirlings are better.