Making your Own Aftershave

Anyone done this?  Basic ingredients are pretty standard.  I found a baseline recipe and then was going to tinker with different essential oils.  The alcohol in this recipe calls for vodka or ever clear.     I'm just curious if anyone has made their own aftershave and how it turned out.  I suppose there is a reason there are so many aftershaves out there, this process must not be as easy as I'm thinking it would be in my head.  Welcome any insights!!

I use ever clear to make collodion for developing my wet plates ( photography ) that stuff I strong . I would be interested in trying to create my own aftershave , I make my own preshave oils already .


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Mine is a mix of witch hazel, alcohol, aloe gel, glycerin, alum powder, and a couple menthol crystals. I don't see myself ever buying an aftershave splash again.

I make my own and it works for me. :-) Sorry, but you asked and it's the truth.

I didn't set out to sell it, that just happened after I made it for myself. I was basically thrust into business and just kept in it. Of course I'm simplifying things a bit. Making a really good one is a bit more complicated and expensive to develop than I'm letting on. But I was retired and had the desire for something that I couldn't buy.

I mix Dickenson's witchhazel with menthol crystals. It's cool, refreshing, and cheap splash. Scent is, well, Dickenson's, but it dissipates very quickly. If I want scent I splash what ever afterwards, usually one of the Fine AS or TOBS sandalwood.

Anyone ever tried making their own unscented alcohol aftershave splash?

I never thought I would be a balm guy but lately I have been using them more (could change with summer coming) but I still crave the burn of an alcohol splash. I have been using  T.N. Dickinson's Witch Hazel for the 3 years since I started traditional wet shaving but that only has 14% alcohol, so while nice, I dont get that burn of a traditional splash.

I'll leave the scented stuff to the experts and will use that when I want a scented aftershave but was wondering about making an unscented version. Here in Iowa we don't have access to the 95% alcohol Everclear (can get the 75%) however due to Wisconsin I happen to have some of the 190 proof (got it for one of those little alcohol stoves).

So I was just going to cut either the 190 proof or the 150 proof with some witch hazel (some distilled water with the 95%), add a few drops of glycerin and then maybe one batch with menthol, and one without. Would it be better to use the 95% or the 75% alcohol?

I understand I can just splash the grain alcohol on my face (I'll definitely get the burn) but was more checking on what ratios anyone else has tried etc.  I would guess that most traditional aftershaves are 40-50% alcohol.


I'm not really looking for anything with great skin conditioning properties just looking for the burn and would use a balm if I feel the need for skin care.

Thank you.