Now We're Layering!

Maybe you've received a scent for Xmas that you'd like to use up quickly? Or your own insuppressible instinct to acquire scents, probably based on malnutrition of some sort, has turned you into a scent addict, a hoarder? Even though you got them at a discount store, you know you can't just spray more on; that would be gauche.

The correct behavior is to "layer" the scent. The beauty is, you don't need to have the matching soap, balm, deodorant. Those can be improvised.

Perfumed shaving soap

For scenting Williams with eau de toilette, I didn't even consider using proper shaving oil, such as that offered by Black Tie Razor Company, though you probably could. I have a whole bottle of mineral oil just dying for something to do, and I don't expect this has to be particularly compatible with one's skin, washed off pretty much immediately. I do fine with Arko.

A small drip from the open bottle seemed about the same as two drops, enough to smear/partially coat the center of my scuttle bowl. Three sprays of "green adventure," I knew from previous experiments, would scent a small bowl of lather; I left it to evaporate alcohol while I fetched boiling water with the salsa section and loaded my brush. I only added a single drop of glycerin when I found that the lather was collapsing without it.

So I guess that's the secret, then: balance lather-killing carrier oil with glycerin. "Duh," says every artisanal soap maker. Yeah, well: you're fired. Who's laughing now? It's not just them, though: consider all the perfumed sticks out there. Williams, on the other hand, was always meant to be useful for cleansing skin also. I used leftover lather on my pits, washing Victorian style, and found it non-irritating and effective still.

Perfumed after shave balm/deodorant

Regular readers will already know the rest. Mixing a middle-sized gob (small almond?) of men's 3-in-1 moisturizer with a single spray of perfume coats both the shaving area and the two armpits. The latter being pretreated with ammonium alum, a stable film begins to form; rubbing potassium alum over the remaining slickness makes it near bulletproof. But on the face, I just use balm as a sort of cream rinse, lifting all irritating shaving residues with a damp cloth.

Plus the intended use

One spray each side of the neck, once on a wrist, shared with the other wrist. These three sprays would be the normal strength for this particular fragrance. Layering increased utilization 133% without making me smell too "adventurous." It improved the atmosphere of the bathroom, and left me feeling more that the scent was my own, not just applied in spots.