This fun aftershave lotion project was another reader request. I can’t find the email or comment to thank her, but thank you! This was an awesome thing to puzzle out, and I’m really happy with the result. I first made this cream towards the end of Movember (otherwise known as November), and I gifted wee bottles of it to all the men in my life who had sprouted dodgy mustaches over the previous weeks in what could be called a none-to-subtle hint.
I’ll be the first to admit I have little previous experience with aftershave. Remember that scene in Home Alone when a still-cute Macauly Culkin shaved and used his dad’s aftershave, and then made that funny face in the mirror? Yup, that was all my aftershave experience. So I started off with some research.
It turns out the general themes of aftershave are soothing, moisturizing action, and pain regulation (which makes shaving sound like minor surgery and makes me wonder how my legs have fared so well all these years).
The water part was made up with aloe vera juice, to put a check in the “soothing” category, and witch hazel (for its astringent properties).
I chose grapeseed oil for the oil as it’s light, fast-absorbing, and mildly astringent. The essential oils are a, err, manly blend of peppermint (also a pain reliever) and cedarwood, with just a wee hint of birch tar for a smokey finish (like scotch…).
Peppermint & Cedarwood Aftershave Lotion
7g | 0.25oz emulsimulse/ritamulse (or other complete emulsifying wax—not beeswax!)
16g | 0.56oz grapeseed oil
2g | 0.07oz Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)53g | 1.9oz aloe vera juice (not gel!)
20g | 0.7oz witch hazel
2g | 0.02oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)4 drops peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada)
6 drops cedarwood essential oil
1 toothpick swirl of birch tar or vetiver essential oil (dip a toothpick into the bottle and swirl it into your lotion)Broad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Weigh out the emulsifying wax, grapeseed oil, and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) together into a small saucepan and melt over low heat. While they melt, measure the aloe vera, witch hazel, and vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada) into a small glass measuring cup, warm them a little, and stir to combine.
Once the oils are melted, add the water part and heat everything through to ensure everything is melted. Remove from the heat and whisk continually as the mixture cools. Whisk until the lotion is thick, creamy, and a little frothy. Whisk in the essential oils and preservative.
Decant into a pump-top bottle and smooth onto just-shaved skin.
This is something I need to try too! I don’t have witch hazel or cedarwood eo, but I’ll find something else instead of them.
Cucumber juice is astringent, so you could use that instead of the witch hazel 🙂 Oatmeal, vinegar, and tea that’s high in tannins are also good options. As for the cedarwood EO, just choose something you like.
Hi Marie,
At last a nice aftershave as requested a couple of months ago and with aloe vera to give that soft touch. How critical is the birch tar? (I am TT at the moment)
I am really going to have a bash at making this one. Would a smidgin of tea tree be amiss to take care of any nicks/cuts. Thnaks again this looks like winner.
Thanks, George! The birch tar is totally optional, it just adds a nice smokey hit—it’s all up to personal preference/what you have. Vetiver would be a good swap, if you have it. And adding tea tree is a great idea! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Marie you read my mind! I’ve been saying for 2 weeks I would make some sort of after-shave something with the witch hazel and aloe vera juice sitting in my cupboard. And here you are to solve all my problems! I just made some.
I’ve also been wondering just how my legs have survived so many years. And armpits! Those are sensitive!!!
Ha, fantastic! Great minds think alike 😉 So glad this is working brilliantly for your pits, lol.
Thanks for the recipie. Are you using witch hazel with alcohol in it. For some reason I’m not getting this to become creamy, rather it keeps separating..
You’re welcome, Hilda. My witch hazel is alcohol free, but a bit of alcohol shouldn’t cause the emulsion to split. What emulsifying wax are you using? Have you changed anything about the recipe?
Using emulsimse. In the end it did come together, but I used an electric whisk 🙂
Thank you for your answer 🙂
Awesome! Glad it worked out for you 🙂 Thanks for reading!
WOW – Cedarwood EO is definitely not what I expected! Hopefully the boys like it better than me!!
Ahh, as you can probably tell from all my comments on your posts, I am absolutely loving your blog! I would also like to thank you for just how wonderful your replies are! You really take the time to give meaningful responses to your readers, and you are so, so lovely about it!
This is a great idea for a recipe. I’m just about to make a batch of shaving cream (basically whipped body butter with the addition of baking powder and castile soap) and this would go perfectly.
Is there however any other way to make this recipe a bit more nourishing and turn it into a face moisturiser as well? I was considering adding some cocoa butter to the oil, but I wasn’t sure how this would affect the level of emulsifier that i’d need.
It’s funny how some EOs are a total surprise—I definitely have some that have been booted to the obscure soap department so I can use ’em up and then re-purpose the bottles for something else 😛
If you haven’t made this recipe already I’d recommend that you do before you decide to add any new ingredients. It is already a lovely, moisturizing lotion, following similar proportions to most of my lotion recipes.
May I ask why you’re planning on using baking powder? It’ll fizz when it gets wet, and may add a bit of exfoliation, but it’s not a common ingredient for anything other than baking, so I’m just curious.
Hello, I want to try this recipe but being an American who`s country hasn’t caught up with the rest of the world I am having problems with converting the measurements. Being the smart Canadian you are can you help me convert to measurements my mind can wrap itself around? Thanks, and I really enjoy your website. Great ideas.
Hi Lynn! Grams are a metric weight measurement, so you will need a scale in the end here. I’ve written a handy two-part article on the basics of the metric system to get you started—part one and part two. The internet is also full of awesome unit converters if you still want to work in Imperial. My favourite is Google’s—just search something like “10g in oz” and a great little converter will pop straight up (just be sure you’re using weight ounces not fluid ounces). My biggest recommendation is to just get a digital scale that measures in both grams and ounces—that way you can just toggle over to grams and be done with it 🙂 Hope that helps!
Hi Marie,
I am wondering if I can substitute aloe vera juice with aloe vera gel?
Thanks
Sadly not—aloe vera gel is to aloe vera juice as powdered chocolate pudding mix is to a pure chocolate bar. They are both based around the same major ingredient, but the gel has a lot of other stuff added to it, like preservatives, thickeners, artificial colours, and pH adjusters. It’s the pH adjusters that are the biggest problem as they tend to break the emulsion, which means you have to chuck the whole thing out 🙁 If you don’t have aloe vera juice, feel free to just use water. Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
This was a huge super-fail for me! I haven’t made lotion before, just butters and such. When I removed it from the heat to whisk together, it all looked peachy keen at first, then suddenly started separating into the “water” and “butter”. Any ideas as to why/how that happened?
Oh no! I’ll need more info to help you trouble shoot—did you follow the recipe exactly? Did you make any substitutions or tweaks? What exactly did you do?
Shouldn’t this recipe have a preservative in it? You didn’t mention one in your recipe.
Love your blog.
Hi Linda! You definitely could add some if you want to—I discuss preservatives more in my FAQ.
love the idea of this recipe but I could not get it to work.. it never turned into a thick substance… just stayed super liquidy despite me whisking away as much as I could. How long are we supposed to heat everything through once adding the water part? I bough emulsifying wax but the company does not clarify what it is made out of, could this be the problem?
Hi Krystyna! It sounds like your ewax might be to blame here—some take three or four days to actually thicken up. Have you tried letting the lotion rest for a few days to see if it fixes itself? Do you have a link for the ewax, or a more specific name?
Thanks for getting back to me! It looks like it did thicken up after a few days forsure. Just needed some time to settle!
Here’s a link to the E-wax but i do think it turned out after all.
http://www.voyageursoapandcandle.com/Emulsifying_Wax_p/62146.htm
Fantastic! What a relief 🙂
Hello,
You mention adding the “water part” in the directions, but I don’t see how much water to add. Can you specify?
Thank you!
Andrea
Hi Andrea! The “water part” simply refers to the part of the water that is water soluble, so in this case we’re talking about the witch hazel, aloe vera, and vegetable glycerin. Witch hazel and aloe vera are mostly water 🙂
This looks fantastic! Do I have to worry about this going bad? I typically only add preservatives to my sugar scrubs since they sit in my shower for 2 months with exposure to water.
Hi Crystal! Anything that contains water can spoil, and this definitely does.
Made this with the boyfriend and he loves it! We found it thickened up quite quickly and nicely. Next up will be a shave bar to go with it. Thanks for all the great recipes, Marie 🙂
Awesome! Enjoy and thanks for DIYing with me 🙂
Hey Marie,
I used your cream soap base and the recipe for cocoa peppermint whipped soap to formulate an Oatmeal Mint shave lotion. The Base is equal parts CSB and Just boiled aloe with a quarter that amount of shea butter. Added to that is clay, glycerin, finely ground and sifted oatmeal, and peppermint EO. Do you think I would need a Broad Spectrum Preservative or should the PH of the soap keep it yuck free?
Hi Chris! I’d try testing the pH—that’s the only way to be sure. If the pH is 8 or lower, preservative up!
Do you have a recipe/formula for a masculine aftershave lotion? Or do you suggest that this doesn’t need any modifying to be used on faces instead of legs? Thanks
This recipe was developed to be a masculine aftershave lotion, so as written is what you want 🙂
Can this be mixed with a hand mixer?
Absoloutely!
If I remove the witch hazel would this require a preservative? I love the feel of this and made it last night(with witch hazel).
Hi Candy! If the recipe contains any water you still need a preservative; both witch hazel and aloe juice are predominantly water. They also comprise ~75% of the recipe, so don’t just eliminate them; that would be like dropping all the flour from a bread recipe to make it gluten free 😉 You won’t get anything close to what you were hoping for!
Perfect! Thank you so much! My hubby LOVED the lotion! I enjoy your blog so much! Your recipes are lovely!
Woohoo! Thanks so much for reading and DIYing with me 😀
I love this and I also enjoy learning new things on your blog. I love Cedar wood oil. As well as learning about emulsimulse, I never knew that this was out there.
Thanks, Jay! Happy DIYing 😀
Hi Marie, I found your blog when I was searching for a recipe for my favorite aftershave because the producer unexpectedly died and his business was closed by his heirs. His ingredient list is very similar to yours, so I’m hopeful that the results will be similar. However, his cream was pretty thick and it sounds like yours is a little thinner. Could you recommend a way to thicken?
Hey Daniel! Some stearic acid as a stand in for some of the oils would thicken it up, but I would really recommend making it as written first so you know what you’re starting with 🙂
Great article. I am just getting into DIY products for my family and I and you’re website is becoming something of a reference for me.
I had two questions I was hoping you could help with. First, I was wondering when say witch hazel it is something like Thayers (mixed product) or is it a pure extract (I assume the latter)? Second, you recommend aloe vera juice instead of gel. Other than concerns about spoilage that you note on the linked page, is there any downside to using pure gel (I’m having an easier time tracking down good quality gel vs juice). Thanks so much.
Hey Adam! Thanks for reading 🙂 When I mention witch hazel it’s a distillate, usually alcohol free, like this.
The problem with aloe gel is that it’s rarely “pure”—aloe doesn’t come out of the plant as a gel. It can be strained/pureed into a juice, but you have to add stuff to make it gel, and heaven knows what that stuff is. How has the pH changed? Have they added preservatives? Fragrances? Chelators? How will those things impact the recipe? Not to mention the recipe calls for something the consistency of water, so using something substantially thicker will impact that as well. It’s sort of like using chocolate cake instead of cocoa powder—there’s some of what we want, but then probably a whole lot of other stuff we don’t. Hope that helps!
Which preservative did you use? I want to make this for my husband for Christmas.
Liquid germall plus!
Hi Marie
beautiful blog and so much to go through!
I have been looking for an after shave lotion that would act as a moisturizer for men at the same time (you know how we are).
I haven’t tried yet your formula but I would appreciate answers to the following:
1. Is this formula light enough to really be put in an airless pump bottle (I suppose this is what you are referring to at the end of the recipe)?
2. If I wanted to add some alcohol just for that oomph factor would that replace some of the water phase elements? how much alcohol overall would be ok (from the overall) without causing emulsion breaking? Could I just use Thayers kind of witch hazel which already has about 10% alcohol and then add more alcohol to meet the overall alcohol limit?
3. I noticed the recipe calls for 7% ewax. isn’t that a bit too high? the one I use (Milliard) call for a range of 3-6%.
4. Related question – If eventually I decide to add some Shea Butter and want to keep the lotion with a “dry feeling” and high absorption rate, should I reduce the ewax?
Sorry about the many questions. There’s just so much to know that I yet don’t know 🙂
thank you so much.
Hey Albert! Thanks for reading 🙂 So… this recipe is over 3 years old and I haven’t made it since, so I don’t remember a lot about it. Regarding the e-wax; there isn’t really a “too high” since it’s a non-irritating ingredient. There’s “more than perhaps necessary”, but given this is designed to be rinsed off, a bit extra can help boost the rinse-off factor. In any event, usage rates of e-waxes should be calculated on % of the oil phase—giving ranges as percentages of the entire formula is functionally useless and has definitely left me fielding questions on why an emulsion broke when the formula had far too little e-wax, but was following the manufacturer’s % of the formula recommendation.
If you want to incorporate shea butter, you would want to reduce the amount of one of the oils by whatever weight of shea you intend to incorporate.
I haven’t experimented with incorporating isopropyl alcohol into emulsions, so I’m afraid I can’t comment there regarding upper limits, but it would come out of one of the water parts.
Hope that helps!
Hi Marie,
Can I substitute Aloe juice with aloe Vera powder 200:1?
I’m loving your recipes. I’m new to all this DYI stuff and find your website super helpful. Thanks
Yup! Just use the proper percentages (0.5% aloe vera 200x to 99.5% water) to make your own juice. Most of the store bought stuff you purchase is re-constituted from the same powder and sold at a gross markup anyways 🙂 Happy making!
Can I add stearic acid to this? What do you think the results will be? Also I wanted to add 1.5 grams of Phenonip to this as well…do you think that is enough preservative?
Stearic acid will make it thicker. All preservatives have a recommended usage rate, and you should follow that (by weight!). You should use the maximum amount (but no more) as we aren’t working in sterile labs and need all the help we can get! The recommended amount for Phenonip is 1%, and this recipe makes 100g, so 1.5g grams is too much—if you’ve already done that, throw it out. Too much preservative isn’t good! Also, please read this awesome resource; there are some conflicts with parabens and other ingredients you should be aware of if you’re going to use them 🙂
Hi Mary! I can’t put my hand on aloe juice- may I use the gel from aloe leaves (removing the skin and putting the center into a blender)?
You mentioned aloe gel would not work because of the additives, but mine would be pure…
thank you very much
Sadly not 🙁 Fresh stuff is SUPER hard to preserve. If you did you’d need to use it all up in three or four days. You might try and get some aloe juice powder and hydrate your own 🙂
Hi! Both this and the silver powder sound fantastic, but I’m not sure which to try. I have a big problem with ingrown hairs on my pantyline. I have been to the doctor and had all sorts of tests so it isn’t an illness, just that i’ve inherited heavy hair (when i cut my hair from waist to ear-length, that initial ponytail weighed 1.5 kg dry) and weird EDS skin. So I want to try something to help my wobbly bits stop being sensitive and gross. My research suggests lavender is out as it encourages cell regrowth – great if you want to trap the problem under skin – but cedarwood, tea tree or chamomile might help. I just don’t know whether to adapt a balm or try a lotion or your powder as a “bikini mask.” If you feel you can’t advise or provide a link, that’s cool. I know you’re busy, and being a basic patron doesn’t entitle me to extra effort. You already provide so much awesome stuff and I’m grateful.
Hey! I think you and I have similar issues in this department. I’ve been trying AHA and BHA products recently, as well as a 22% urea cream. The urea cream is working really well so far! You can learn more about urea here, but the general gist of it is that it helps with skin turnover/exfoliation, moisturization, and making it more resistant to irritation. All good things for the world of ingrown hairs in sensitive places 🙂 This is still a relatively new thing for me, so I’ve been experimenting with a 22% urea cream I purchased. I do have some urea powder, though, and I am getting really excited about formulating with it after noticing my results with the store bought stuff!
And a huge thank you for being a patron 🙂 I really appreciate it!
Oooh it sounds like buying some urea pellets was a great mistake 🙂 heading over to that link now. Thank you very much!
I am continuing to see great results! YAY urea!
Hi Marie as this was back in 2014 wondering if you have a new emulsifying wax favorite for this formula since you are constantly finding new in exciting things