Thayer's Witch Hazel

Just noticed on the shelf at my local Walgreen's, they have a variety of Thayer's witch hazel aftershave.  "Aftershave Lotion" and "Aftershave Balm."  I'd never noticed this stuff before.  It's offered in a few different scents, as well as unscented.  How do the Shave Nook experts feel about the Thayer's aftershave products?  Any to look for?  Any to avoid?
- Bax

I regularly use generic witch hazel as an aftershave.  I have found it works as well as the more expensive Thayers brand.

I use Thayer's every day

(07-16-2021, 07:04 AM)22bulldog Wrote: I use Thayer's every day

+1

I'm a huge Thayers' fanboy and, yes, it is a bit more expensive than some other brands.

But note that Thayers' is an all natural product that extracts the relevant oils directly from the plants whereas other (less expensive?) witch hazel brands are often distilled.  Distilled witch hazel if essentially a witch hazel alcohol that does not contain all of the efficacious oils in the plant.

The Thayers' website says: "Our products are... not distilled – so they contain 195% more tannins, which are naturally occurring substances found in the bark and skin of some plants, including Witch Hazel. Tannins have mild antioxidant properties and help to balance skin’s pH levels."

How significant is this difference?  Maybe someone with professional knowledge of cosmetics chemistry can inform us.

BTW, Thayers' products that add some organic alcohol to the ingredients are called "astringents" whereas those without any added alcohol are "toners".

I’ve tried store brands, Thayer’s and Dickinson’s witch hazels. Finally settled on Dickinson’s. It smells waaay better than the generics, and does (for me) what Thayer’s does at a much lower cost.

I used to use Dickinson's but realized by process of elimination it doesn't soak in fully and leaves my face oily and caused pimples.  I haven't had pimples since my teen years and that was 50 years ago.  I finally started just using alum, Nivea, and aftershave or cologne depending on what I am doing afterwards.

I use thayers unscented “skin toner” witch hazel. It’s clean, has a neutral scent, and regulates the PH of my face oils quite well. A single bottle lasts a long time - and I use it after every shave.

Thayer's Rose Lavendar and unscented Aloe Vera (which is not really very unscented thanks to the Witch hazel scent) is pretty good. I love the Rose scent a lot.

I also use Dickinson's equally good and cheaper !

Sent by the Shave Maharaja from my SM-A705GM using Tapatalk

Interesting!  I'll give Thayer's a try!  Based on SN threads in the past, I tried plain ol' Witch Hazel, then I tried adding some essence oils, but never really liked the result.  I'll try Thayer's and see if that might work for me.  It has a cool old-timey lookin' label.  I usually judge a book by its cover.  That was my criteria for picking up women in my younger days, too.  I sure hope that strategy works with Witch Hazel.  It was a bad plan in college (but none of THOSE witches were named "Hazel"). 
Thanks for the inputs, gents!
- Bax

(07-16-2021, 12:39 PM)chazt Wrote: I’ve tried store brands, Thayer’s and Dickinson’s witch hazels. Finally settled on Dickinson’s. It smells waaay better than the generics, and does (for me) what Thayer’s does at a much lower cost.

I’m the opposite, to me Dickinson’s has a weird scent to it, I couldn’t enjoy using it in its own so I used it for mixing with other stuff.

Here's a post of mine from the old days.  You might find it interesting...    http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=35458

Actually, I mix everything into the witch hazel. I start with a 300mg soluble aspirin into a new bottle of Thayers. then as bottles of balm are finished there is always a little left in the bottle. I use a little witch hazel to rinse out the remaining balm and pour the mix back into my bottle of witch hazel. As the bottle of witch hazel I am using after shaving approaches empty I add fresh witch hazel to the mix or start a new bottle.

(07-17-2021, 11:46 AM)David Wrote: Here's a post of mine from the old days.  You might find it interesting...    http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=35458

Interesting, indeed!
Thanks for sharing!
- Bax

(07-18-2021, 04:44 AM)Bax Wrote:

(07-17-2021, 11:46 AM)David Wrote: Here's a post of mine from the old days.  You might find it interesting...    http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=35458

Interesting, indeed!
Thanks for sharing!
- Bax

I just placed an order and called them to confirm.  They are just going to distill so should have a batch ready very soon if anyone is interested in ordering some.