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For the Love of Old Spice - Illini's Shave Journal

Fightingillini22

Fightingillini22

Master TSC Shave Member
Been around TSC for 9-ish months now so figured no time like the present to start my own shave journal. In terms of the title, I'm the third generation of men on my father's side to love and use Old Spice, so it carries a special place in my wet shaving heart. I grew up a little after the heyday of decanters and such, but have strong affinity for the scent as my father used (and still does) both the deodorant and aftershave.

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Any who...after completing a great 3017 of Williams in February, I decided to keep that mentality going just a bit further and will be trying to kill my tub of Arko next. Don't necessarily plan to use it every single day, but want to free up some space in the den and will be focusing on it for most of my shaves in the near future.

This morning's shave was #18 on this tub, although I've killed 3 or 4 sticks of Arko in my wet shaving career previously. I don't hate the scent as much as others, just find it a little industrial. Performance is always top notch, with my only complaint being that it can dry my face a bit in the winter. Since I use a balm after every shave during our Chicago winters, no harm no foul there. Threw in some Godrej Lime Fresh into the mix to keep things interesting, resulting in a nice lemon lime scented shave.

Still plugging away with this Lab Blue as well. 28 shaves and still going. Wonder when it'll finally give it up?!

Tuesday March 2nd, 2021
Razor : Schick Krona
Blade : Personna Lab Blue (28)
Brush : Omega 11575
Pre : Hot Shower
Soap : Arko & Godrej Lime Fresh
Post : Afta Fresh & Barbasol Brisk

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Old Spice is a Timeless scent. Every time I wear the stuff I always get complemented from the likes of the opposite sex. When they inquire as the name...I tell them and they are always floored that it is Old Spice.

An Arko Man I see! I am with you, the scent doesn't seem to bother me like others say. I honestly just think it smells like...well...soap. But you are right...great performance from that cheap stuff!

Welcome to the journals!
 
Spider said:
Personnas are one of my favorites and give me great longevity. I’ve never really tracked it though. I guess I should use one next and see.
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Interested to see your results - while I shave daily, I do a hybrid WTG/XTG pass followed by touch ups where necessary, so probably around 1/2 of a "true" 3 pass shave. My 1.5 pass daily gives a DFS but would assume that my lower pass count per shave would result in greater blade longevity compared to a daily 3 pass shaver.

@GearNoir thanks for reading!

@fhalden thank you!

dangerousdon said:
Old Spice is a Timeless scent. Every time I wear the stuff I always get complemented from the likes of the opposite sex. When they inquire as the name...I tell them and they are always floored that it is Old Spice.

An Arko Man I see! I am with you, the scent doesn't seem to bother me like others say. I honestly just think it smells like...well...soap. But you are right...great performance from that cheap stuff!

Welcome to the journals!
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When my wife and I first started dating, she commented how much she liked the cologne I was wearing - it wasn't cologne just my vintage Shulton OS I had splashed on before our date. She was stunned it was OS! Think she even called it something she thought only grandfathers used. I can see why they tried to pivot their marketing to the younger audience with the bolder branding and commercials. Love that the Sea Shanty jingle still has it's place, though!
 
Today's shave is orange and blue, in honor of the University of Illinois basketball team (my alma mater) kicking the crap out of Michigan last night! Not only did we win decisively, we did it without our best player. It's been a long time since I've been excited about our basketball team, and feels similar to 2005. Really starting to feel like we can make some noise come March Madness!

Barbasol Sensitive has a mild but pleasant sweet fruit note to my nose, probably attributable to the papaya in the cream. Used as a preshave, it complimented the Arko quite nicely. Lemon notes obviously much stronger than the Barbasol fruit ones, but still there nonetheless.

Shave was a little rougher than normal with the 37c, with two small nicks on my chin. I'm thinking the Lab Blue might be a little too far gone for a slant razor, but not ready to write it off quite yet. Will see if I get similar results tomorrow with the same razor/blade combo.

Wednesday March 3rd, 2021
Razor : Merkur 37c
Blade : Personna Lab Blue (29)
Brush : Razorock Beehive
Pre : Barbasol Sensitive Skin
Soap : Arko
Post : Nivea Cooling & AV Ice Blue

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Fightingillini22 said:
I'm the third generation of men on my father's side to love and use Old Spice, so it carries a special place in my wet shaving heart. I grew up a little after the heyday of decanters and such, but have strong affinity for the scent as my father used (and still does) both the deodorant and aftershave.
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Ah yes the ancestral love of Old Spice! It was the first scent I had, to be like grandpa, when I was just a wee boy. That type of nostalgia sticks with you.
 
Welcome to the journals! Old Spice is a classic for a reason. Just a fantastic scent, and though I haven't tried any of their modern products I've heard good things about the shave cream from India. Arko is probably one of the best buys in the shaving world. I know some people grief on it, but I've never had a problem with the scent either, and the performance has always been excellent.
 
OpusX said:
Ah yes the ancestral love of Old Spice! It was the first scent I had, to be like grandpa, when I was just a wee boy. That type of nostalgia sticks with you.
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Even before I was shaving, I used Old Spice deodorant to be like dad! When it was time to shave, I replicated his kit which at that time was an Atra, Edge shave gel in that orange can, and a bottle of Old Spice. He had used Barbasol when I was even younger but had "upgraded" to that blue gel at some point. I "upgraded" to the Fusion at some point in the 2000s, migrated to Barbasol in college because it was cheaper than Edge, then finally made the jump to DEs in 2014.

One thing has stayed constant - Old Spice!!

Smattayu said:
Welcome to the journals! Old Spice is a classic for a reason. Just a fantastic scent, and though I haven't tried any of their modern products I've heard good things about the shave cream from India. Arko is probably one of the best buys in the shaving world. I know some people grief on it, but I've never had a problem with the scent either, and the performance has always been excellent.
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I went down the Indian OS rabbit hole back in the 2014-ish time frame, acquiring multiples of the shave cream and splash. I found the scent at that time to be very close to the old Shulton stuff I have. Picked up a couple more bottles of the splash when I spent a month in Mumbai in 2015 as well. At some point, P&G India changed both the branding as well as formulation of both cream and splash, and I think general consensus is that it's now similar to what we can get here in the states in terms of fragrance. Haven't done a side-by-side on my own yet...maybe I should...

I also used to buy the ViJon OS clone and mix 50:50 with the current P&G offering as it mixed closer to the vintage profile, but that stopped too when ViJon discontinued their line. Sad days. Not that the current P&G offering is bad, just different enough that it was fun to try and get closer to the older profile.

Graybeard57 said:
Welcome to the journals. That jingle is in my brain now. o_O
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:love:
 
After thinking about all the Indian OS goodness, I had to reach for some of the splash this morning. Took a break from the Arko and lathered up CBL Back Alley Barber that lives in an OS mug. Such a fantastic scent, performance excellent as always. Chased with Soap Commander Endurance and then Indian OS, manufactured in April of 2015 per the box. Scent of this splash is a dead ringer to the vintage OS I have sitting at my desk. It's a damn shame they changed this formulation too.

Officially 30 shaves on this Lab Blue, with no issues to speak of this morning. Must have been a lapse in technique with the slant yesterday!

Thursday March 4th, 2021
Razor : Gillette Prewar Ball-end Tech
Blade : Personna Lab Blue (30)
Brush : Omega Proraso
Pre : Hot Shower
Soap : CBL Master Barber Back Alley Barber
Post : Soap Commander Endurance & Indian OS

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I haven't used OS since the mid-70s. I doubt I'd remember the original scent very well, but I remember liking it at the time. At some point I used green Afta, which made my irritated skin feel better, and stuck with that for years. A couple of years ago I bought a modern version of OS, Swagger, and enjoyed it. Decent skin properties in the Swagger; I imagine it's the same as their new "original" scent.
 
Graybeard57 said:
I haven't used OS since the mid-70s. I doubt I'd remember the original scent very well, but I remember liking it at the time. At some point I used green Afta, which made my irritated skin feel better, and stuck with that for years. A couple of years ago I bought a modern version of OS, Swagger, and enjoyed it. Decent skin properties in the Swagger; I imagine it's the same as their new "original" scent.
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I'll be honest, the only way I can really tell a difference between modern and vintage profiles was through having both available to smell side-by-side. Is the current P&G formula THAT much different than vintage? I personally don't think so. Is it noticeable when you compare directly to the vintage stuff? Definitely.

I'm still very happy to use the current formula and it still takes me back to my childhood. With access to the older stuff, I can definitely notice the shift and I wish they kept it as is. But that's how the world goes!
 
Fightingillini22 said:
I'll be honest, the only way I can really tell a difference between modern and vintage profiles was through having both available to smell side-by-side. Is the current P&G formula THAT much different than vintage? I personally don't think so. Is it noticeable when you compare directly to the vintage stuff? Definitely.
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I notice quite a difference between the two. I'm fortunate to have found a large supply of vintage goodness from antique stores over the years. And ironically, the vintage stock I have bought cost me far less than buying the modern stuff.
 
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