Reviews of Old Spice (1937)
by Procter & Gamble (orig. by Shulton)

I am a fan of the new Old Spice! I like it much more than the Old(er) Spice from past memory from Shulton. The new formulation was added by Procter & Gamble to make the classic fragrance a more balanced and subtle spicey oriental. The old fragrance that I remember from my younger days was similar but was totally dominated by the spices, especially cloves, through the drydown. I don't miss the old one at all! If I want that kind of heavy spice fragrance there are other better options, but this is really good now. The new OS is a delicate balance of citrus, florals, woods and aldehydes that minimizes the older spice notes. Still has the same recognizeable Old Spice smell, but is more balanced and more graceful. I like it quite a bit. My only complaint is that it stays innocently oriental instead of moving into more resinous territory towards the drydown like YSL Rive Gauche or Divines L'Homme Sage. But, OS is a very pleasant anytime daytime fragrance.

This scent is a chamelon. When we were at the college, I have met at least a dozen of men wearing it and i could rarely guess it before told. It is so different on different men that it is hardly possible to make a comment on. One of my friends smelt great in it, aldehydes, cedarwood and musk dominantly, but another friend was awful with it; cloying cinamon and cloves like a rancid desert. generally it is misty and woody on darker men and spicy and tasteless on porcelain white. but of course there are exceptions.

This review is under revision.

Whatever they are selling as Old Spice nowadays is not Old Spice, I smirked at the "whiff of Pampers" comment below but he is right on the money. Old Spice now has a powdery base to it which was not there before when my Grandfather and Dad wore it.

It is a shame really, reformulations rarely bode well especially with the timeless classics, but to uneducated noses most will probably not even notice the difference. As long as Old Spice is the number one seller P&G has no reason to revisit it's ingredients or formulation to make Old Spice more true to form.

The good about new Old Spice is it still lasts, longevity is pretty respectable, I put this on at 2pm and by 10pm I could still smell it on me. Also after the first hour the dry down is still pretty nice albeit powdery now.

The bad is the first 30 minutes are brutal, kind of like a jacked up intensity urinal mint. Older Spice did not have this effect, while strong it was refreshing.

I hope P&G revisits it's formula someday and finds away to bring Old Spice back to true to form.

The old version of this was fantastic. Sexy, male, alpha. And I could wear it, too, so it wasn't exclusive to male skin. (very spicy citrus on me, a great summer scent without any girly powder or fru-fru floral. Refreshing.)

The new version IS different and not nearly as nice. Still fresh and clean, it's very much lacking something. I miss the original.

Maybe the version sold to Australia is a diluted version suited to 'modern' tastes but this fragrance exudes none of the charateristics spoken about here when I smell it.

Bay rum with little to no lasting power. Big whoop. Burt's Bees Bay Rum and Royall's Bay Rum are SO much better.

Yes, it's nice. It's all right. Masculine and unobjectionable. Just can't buy my fragrance at the CVS. I realize I am a snob now. What can I do? Maybe I'll go back to it when I am retired and I need to economize a bit more.

Joe

One could do worse I suppose...

Well, I'm 27 and live with my mom (hey, post-college life hasn't turned out exactly as I'd planned...laugh and you get a smacking!), and there's been a bottle of Old Spice in our upstairs bathroom since I was an early teen. I'm sure I got it as some lame C-mas gift. Anyway, for whatever reason, tonight I decided to wipe off the dusty bottle and apply some of the juice that had been gestating within to a strip of paper. And...well, you could do worse...haha. It's not great, by any stretch of the imagination. I would prefer it over nothing I own. But, it's not exactly the joke it's made out to be, either.