We wanted to start off this week’s two
part item on the correct way for men to use scents or colognes by
talking to an expert so I slipped into Claridges to talk to Deborah
Gayle, General Manager of The Refinery grooming emporium which has its headquarters just opposite the famous Mayfair Hotel.
I started by asking how men should use a
scent or cologne. Deborah is “I think there should always be a few
choices of scent because I think we have all been in the tube when
someone has been wearing a night time scent on during the day and that
is really too much so even if they only have 2 they should have a
daytime and nighttime scent. The day time should be fresh and not
overpowering because it’s not very pleasant and then a different scent
for the evening”.
In terms of correctly using a scent
Deborah says “The really important thing is to layer so if you
particularly want to smell of a specific fragrance, everything else that
you put on your body should be as un-fragranced as possible in terms of
soap, body lotion deodorant, whatever else you are putting on. Make
sure you use unscented ones because otherwise what is going to happen is
all the chemicals, which are in these different cleaning products, and
the chemicals in the perfume all start heating through your body heat
and will start fighting with each other. That will create a quite strong
sour smell when it all clashes and I think people forget that and the
thing is people at the lower end of the market, there deodorants are
heavily chemically perfumed. There is nothing very natural in there.”
Deborah is also a believer in the
complete range of bath and body products from one company “If you are
going for a scent which offers the full range of deodorant, shower gel
and body lotion you have to make a big commitment to that one scent but
you can be sure that there will be no clash of different scents.”
We talked briefly about where a man
should apply a scent. “A lot of guys get it wrong and think that a
scent, a man’s smell, should be an ‘aftershave’. In my view you should
avoid putting spirit based scent directly onto your face after shaving
because many have a lot of alcohol in them and that’s when you get the
shouts and the pain. Ideally what you should do after you shave is
either use an aftershave balm or an oil, something that will calm the
face down. Do not spray your face with aftershave or perfume. What you
should do you should put the fragrance on your pulse points on your neck
area. One of the nicest things to do is to spray it into the air and
then walk into it. But to have it shovelled onto your face is not
clever and not good for your just shaved skin you will find it is much
too fierce. “
So finally we moved on to how a man
should test or select an aftershave. ” The most important point is not
to just spray and buy, spray and go away, have a coffee. Everyone’s
body is different and there are different chemical in our bodies and our
bodies have different heats. Our skin is made up of different elements
and a fragrance on your skin could smell quite different to a fragrance
on my skin. The smell won’t develop fully until it’s sunk in and the
body heat has gone through it, about 20 minutes.
Whatever you do, do not buy on the basis
of a scent sprayed on a piece of paper, that is never going to change.
There is nothing human about paper. You must always try it on your own
skin. I could smell a scent on two different men and it would smell
completely different.”
We trust that all of you budding Gentlemen will take Deborah’s advice and smell wonderful.
The
Refinery is London’s one-stop Grooming Emporium for men. Established in
January 2000 it offers barbering, skincare and spa treatments in
exclusive luxury retreats in Mayfair, Harrods and Knightsbridge. It
combines the comfort and atmosphere of a gentlemen’s club with the
vitality and sense of well-being of a health spa.
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