Old Spice Original

This is the smell of my grandpa. Now, I don't specifically have memories of him tied to this scent. I remember he used to dress neatly, keep his hair combed up, and that he always smelled good but I don't actually remember what he smelled like I don't think or at least my olfactory senses don't take me back. I know this is his scent though, because my dad said he remembered him using Old Spice after his morning shave and that he used a hair product called Wildroot (a classic men's grooming product that was popular back then). I also remember that when my grandpa died, one of the things that was given to me was his old glass bottle of Old Spice. I don't think it was THAT old, I think it was the exact same bottle as in the picture which I believe was the design they used in the 90s and maybe into the early 2000s even. I also remember there being an older bottle with the old pirate style ship which must have been from the 80s. That was my first foray into Old Spice, and I liked it but fragrances really didn't move me the same way as they started to later on when I got into them when I was a teenager. Anyways, fast forward to the present day and I'm so into fragrances, I've started to come around to all of these great sophisticated smells. Things like Dior's Fahrenheit which really got me into this hobby, Chanel's Platinum Egoiste which blew my mind and still blows my mind every time I smell it, Dior Homme which might be my all time favorite fragrance now and which also completely shocked me with how great it was. I've even got into some niche, stuff like Sultan Vetiver by Nishane which is so gorgeous and nothing really even comes close in terms of objective quality and overall beauty to that fragrance IMO so far in my journey. Yet, here I am, getting into Old Spice and really enjoying it more than I ever had. It's not even just Old Spice, it's all of those ridiculously cheap aftershaves and colognes that our grandparents, great grandparents and maybe our dads even wore. They're a lot better than what I'd really given them credit for, and the quality for the price is outstanding while the scents themselves are completely timeless IMO. What's more is that you can just almost mindlessly throw these things into your cart and just try them whether it's ordering online or throwing them into a literal cart at Walmart because you can buy a lot of them there, they're so cheap that there's hardly any guilt involved. Even vintage bottles are cheap for these types of things because most people don't really want them that badly that they're going to pay a lot of money and they turn up at estate sales and things and people buy them for a dollar and they turn them over for a decent but humble profit by selling them on eBay for $20-30. So, with all of that said, what are my actual thoughts on the actual Old Spice scent? It's awesome. Even today it's awesome, even in the plastic bottles it's still solid and it still retains a lot of the character that I remember from that older bottle I had years ago. It's not as strong, the notes are little bit muted, but I think it's always going to have a spot in my rotation along with the other classics. I think anybody of any age can wear this, but maybe it's more of a 30+ scent, and maybe a lot of people would dismiss this as a "grandpa" scent. If you wear it with confident though, nobody's gonna think that but you might get the odd "you smell like my dad" comment, which you should take as a compliment because most people love their dad! You can wear this stuff anywhere, maybe not the sexiest date night choice but you could do worse. It's warm and fresh at once, and even though it's cheap it smells like a working man who pays his bills and who loves to take care of his family, like my grandpa.

It's funny because this classic perfume is perceived to be cheap when the actual juice most likely costs more than many of the mainstream perfumes sold under big name celebrities. Most do not realize that those with the fancy bottles and the fancy packaging and a $100 retail price tag do not realize that the perfumers had a $2 budget for total juice cost to work with. So really is Old Spice all that cheap? Most likely that plastic rather nondescript generic bottle and the "been around forever" packaging contain juice that ounce per ounce is far more costly and valuable than those in the catchy, gimmicky bottles. This perfume marketed mainly toward men has been around like forever and there is a good reason for it: it is a masterpiece. It is a beautiful masterpiece of perfumery that is timeless. Even Olivier Creed set the record straight in an interview when the interviewer tried to knock Old Spice, that it was a masterpiece he would be proud to have created. Of course with the plastic bottle and all we know that it's not made using top quality natural absolutes and tinctures but let's not forget that when we buy perfumes costing ten times as much we are not getting anything better other than the packaging and presentation, unless it's from a niche perfume house. But to me Old Spice is a perfectly agreeable perfume that is goes on spicy with a touch of citrus until the top notes burn off. Then you have the warm spices and carnation and geranium on the base of vanilla and amber. And it doesn't last all that long but at the inexpensive price a touch up splash before lunch is not going to cause anyone to go broke. It has reasonable sillage but you don't have to worry about clearing out the room. It's a nice, safe fragrance that I cannot imagine anyone finding annoying or offensive. Something that just about any man or woman could enjoy wearing once in a while, as I most certainly do.

"Unbiased" reviews don't exist I would think, unless you have a knowledge base to make objective judgements about what makes perfumery perfumery on a technical level, that is, experience working in the field at a level where success or failure can be measured by a metric beyond your own POV. The rest is taste, regardless of how many bottles one owns. Bias literally means 'angle' or 'slant' and frankly we all have one. That's fine of course...we are talking about a product most of us associate with pleasure and possibly attraction; bias is the fun part to explore because we might learn a little about ourselves. But I do take exception to people claiming that they are unbiased (see RckChk's lost/found post above, in all caps, no less!) when it seems like they have mistaken arrogance for authenticity. Why assume that other people's reviews are somehow less objective than yours for whatever imagined/projected/assumed #reason ('member berries'?) Anyway, discussing Old Spice, which has had so many iterations and so many intergenerational associations, is bound to be interesting. I never had a father, uncle or grandfather who wore it, but I think the aftershave splash was a very thoughtfully constructed composition when I first bought a bottle (1980's), and think that the current version of the same, though sadly not what it once was, is still worth spending time with for the reference if nothing else. Actually, it still smells good to my nose, washed out but legible. Like Pinaud Clubman, I'd sooner wear this (carefully) than a lot of other things that cost a good deal more.

Old Spice a OG Gold Jacket wearing classic. Some say its dated, I disagree. After reading several posts on various forums I have found that P&G had changed the original formula back in 2008 which upset a lot of their loyal users with that being said I will also be reviewing Meijers Spice Scent which is made by Vi-Jon. Many argue that the Vi-Jon version smells like the original Shulton version. Reviews: When I first bought these I did not think that I would actually be able to tell much of a difference between the two. Boy was I wrong. The Vi-Jon version is definitely more spicer which reminds me of what my grandfather used to wear back in the day. The current Old Spice version smells more vanilla like and does not smell spicy to me. However I do enjoy the scent. The current Old Spice version does last longer vs the Vi-Jon clone. Old Spice will last about 5-6 hours, Vi-Jon maybe 3-4 hours. The Gents Ranking: There is no doubt that P&G changed the formula and that it smells different. In the end I would rank the Vi-Jon clone as a 10/10 and Old Spice a 9/10. If you are able to find the Vi-Jon clone it will likely be a few dollars cheaper than Old Spice. However, Old Spice is only like $7 so it really does not matter much. I would highly recommend both if you enjoy a classic manly scent. The Gents Aftershave Rankings: 1:Original Clubman 2:Vi-Jon Spice Scent 3:Old Spice 4:Clubman Bay Rum 5:Ogallala Bay Rum 6:Clubman Special Reserve 7:Clubman Vanilla 8:Clubman Musk 9:Clubman Lime Sec 10:Clubman Lilac Vegetal

* * * "Give Dad Old Spice . . . the good-grooming hobby!" (from vintage Shulton ad) Back in the day, men wore Old Spice as a "signature scent" without even knowing what a signature scent is, splashing on the after shave or cologne every time they shaved, leaving the most pleasant trail. That trail—both clean and fresh, and warm and comforting—was the catalyst for my love of spicy scents and perfumery in general. Now, Old Spice holds so many memories of youth, dads and granddads, and family life in simpler times. I just obtained a vintage bottle (by Shulton, not Proctor & Gamble who has taken this classic and its flankers in confusing directions) in perfect condition, the juice as fresh and intoxicating as when it was new in the '60s or '70s. So many men wore the after shave, so that's what I wanted. Dabbed some on my wrists and am sitting here, swept in reverie as notes parade by, in twists and turns, not at all in linear fashion—nutmeg, allspice (pimento), carnation with its hint of clove, cinnamon, vanilla, jasmine, tonka bean, musk, heliotrope . . . Am looking for an antique wooden cabinet to display my perfumes, where Old Spice (launched 1937) in its milk-glass bottle (not today's plastic!) with blue, three-masted, sailing-ship illustration* will fit in nicely.✿ * Different image and product than those on Fragrantica. Scent family: Amber Spicy Longevity on me: long-lasting