Homemade Bay Rum Aftershave

[Loki]

I stumbled upon this interesting recipe for making your own Rum Bay Aftershave.

Rum Bay is my favorite smell, so I'm always on the lookout for them. But if your into making homemade and natural products give this a try. I'm mixing up my first batch this weekend.

Basic Bay Rum Aftershave Formula

2-4 cups dried bay leaves (From your local natural food store)
A few sprigs of dried rosemary (optional)
Rum. I'm going to use Cruzan 2 Y/O Dark, which really is an amber.

Break the dried bay leaves in half. Fill a quart or pint mason jar with as many leaves as will fit to about 3 inches from the top. Add a few sprigs of dried rosemary, if desired. Add enough rum to come a good 2 inches above the leaves.
Screw on the cover, and let set for 1 month; strain.

Variation: Add a bit of grated organic orange peel, cloves, and ginger root, as desired.

I cant wait to give this a go...I'll make sure and sampe the rum as I go.

[jpolaski]

That sounds excellent! Time to hit the package store

[tonyespo]

Many, many, many years ago I read on another shaving forum a story of how Bay Rum was made. It was said that is was made with real Rum whiskey. It was stated that the local barbers who gave straight razor shaves to the sailors used the Bay Rum as an antiseptic for the nicks they caused. They would dab some on the cut and give a glass full to the sailor to drink and numb the pain. They put Bay Leaves and spices on the Rum. I have told this story to a few people but I don't think anyone every believed this is how it all started.

[prism]

I read the same thing Tony. It is how Bay Rum started. As for drinking it, well, that continued for quite some time. The stories of the Old Breed Marines getting drunk on it (and Aqua Velva !) during the Banana Wars in Central America are legendary! Vic

[whiskers314]

I stumbled upon this interesting recipe for making your own Rum Bay Aftershave.

Rum Bay is my favorite smell, so I'm always on the lookout for them. But if your into making homemade and natural products give this a try. I'm mixing up my first batch this weekend.

Basic Bay Rum Aftershave Formula

2-4 cups dried bay leaves (From your local natural food store)
A few sprigs of dried rosemary (optional)
Rum. I'm going to use Cruzan 2 Y/O Dark, which really is an amber.

Break the dried bay leaves in half. Fill a quart or pint mason jar with as many leaves as will fit to about 3 inches from the top. Add a few sprigs of dried rosemary, if desired. Add enough rum to come a good 2 inches above the leaves.
Screw on the cover, and let set for 1 month; strain.

Variation: Add a bit of grated organic orange peel, cloves, and ginger root, as desired.

I cant wait to give this a go...I'll make sure and sampe the rum as I go.

Hmmmm...I don't think you will find "bay rum" leaves at your local health food store, instead what you will find is Bay Laurus nobilis the cooking herb. If you use this you will smell like Italian Cuisine. What Bay Rum calls for is Bay Pimenta Racemosa , a totally different plant. Here are 2 recipes, one is for an aftershave the other is for a soothing aftershave butter or balm (which can also be used as a pre-shave, shave oil or after sun rub): http://howtogrowamoustache.com/category ... um-butter/
http://howtogrowamoustache.com/category ... ftershave/ Hope you find these useful! Cheers!

[drmoss_ca]

Welcome, Whiskers! I love the fact that your first post is to correct an error from five years ago - you must have got quite annoyed as you waited for us to solve out captcha/spambot problems. You are completely correct about bay leaves vs the bay tree. Mind you, I like bay leaves too, I just put five in a pot roast.

Chris

[whiskers314]

Welcome, Whiskers! I love the fact that your first post is to correct an error from five years ago - you must have got quite annoyed as you waited for us to solve out captcha/spambot problems. You are completely correct about bay leaves vs the bay tree. Mind you, I like bay leaves too, I just put five in a pot roast.

Chris

Hi, sorry if I offended you. 5years ago or not this forum pops up when searching bay rum recipes so I thought for new folks like me, I would answer the question. Hope it helps someone!
Cheers and sorry again

[drmoss_ca]

No offense at all - please feel free to dig up all the old errors you can find! Sorry if my amusement came across as criticism...

Chris

[brothers]

I stumbled upon this interesting recipe for making your own Rum Bay Aftershave.

Rum Bay is my favorite smell, so I'm always on the lookout for them. But if your into making homemade and natural products give this a try. I'm mixing up my first batch this weekend.

Basic Bay Rum Aftershave Formula

2-4 cups dried bay leaves (From your local natural food store)
A few sprigs of dried rosemary (optional)
Rum. I'm going to use Cruzan 2 Y/O Dark, which really is an amber.

Break the dried bay leaves in half. Fill a quart or pint mason jar with as many leaves as will fit to about 3 inches from the top. Add a few sprigs of dried rosemary, if desired. Add enough rum to come a good 2 inches above the leaves.
Screw on the cover, and let set for 1 month; strain.

Variation: Add a bit of grated organic orange peel, cloves, and ginger root, as desired.

I cant wait to give this a go...I'll make sure and sampe the rum as I go.

Hmmmm...I don't think you will find "bay rum" leaves at your local health food store, instead what you will find is Bay Laurus nobilis the cooking herb. If you use this you will smell like Italian Cuisine. What Bay Rum calls for is Bay Pimenta Racemosa , a totally different plant. Here are 2 recipes, one is for an aftershave the other is for a soothing aftershave butter or balm (which can also be used as a pre-shave, shave oil or after sun rub): http://howtogrowamoustache.com/category ... um-butter/
http://howtogrowamoustache.com/category ... ftershave/ Hope you find these useful! Cheers!

Whiskers 314, good catch. I want to thank you for supplying these two links. This looks like maybe a worthwhile experiment sometime. Also, I want to say thanks for joining SMF, and welcome to the forum. Please continue searching the SMF pages and posting about the topics and issues that you find of interest.

[whiskers314]

Thanks Gary for the warm welcome!

[Squire]

Good morning Whiskers, when I glanced at your post the other day I overlooked the fact you had just joined so welcome aboard.

[whiskers314]

Thanks Squire! Good to be here. Yes I am new...in fact, I did a quick poke around for a "new folks" intro forum but failed to find one. Am I blind? Thank you again guys!

[drmoss_ca]

Not blind at all - we just don't have one. Generally new posters are recognised as such and welcomed when they make their maiden post, as has happened in this thread. Please feel welcome and stay as long as you like. We hope you have much to teach us, and you may learn a little from the accumulated wisdom here.

Chris

[whiskers314]

Not blind at all - we just don't have one. Generally new posters are recognised as such and welcomed when they make their maiden post, as has happened in this thread. Please feel welcome and stay as long as you like. We hope you have much to teach us, and you may learn a little from the accumulated wisdom here.

Chris

Great! Thanks for having me!

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Welcome to SMF Whiskers! I had no idea that bay leaves were a different variety than what's used in after shaves. Thanks for posting.

[whiskers314]

Welcome to Whiskers! I had no idea that bay leaves were a different variety than what's used in after shaves. Thanks for posting.

No problem Craig! It's a common misconception. Honest;y, I wish it was the same for the prices of bay rum leaves are astronomical!
I am really enjoying this forum thanks to the warm and welcoming folks such as yourself!
Cheers,
Douglas

[ShadowsDad]

Rumor has it that Bay Rum was actually first used by sailers of old. Water to wash with was none too plentiful on board a sailing ship, but bay leaves in the caribbean were plentiful and smelled great when rubbed over their stinking bodies. Some sailer got the bright idea to steep leaves in rum, 'cause that's what they had, and bay rum was born.

The story about shaves and marines might be true, but it would be much later historically.

FWIW my first bay rum, before reformulation for national sales, was made with rum. There is no functional difference as far as the splash goes between using rum or rubbing alcohol. It's there as a solvent and a preservative. Once the alcohol is evaporated there is no residual rum smell.

[whiskers314]

ahh yes, I have heard this one too. very romantic. But I believe it was probably being used by the islanders long before the sailors showed up.

[ShadowsDad]

It's a matter of historical record.

A prerequisite to bay rum is rum. In order for the islanders to have made rum they would need metallurgical skills since a still isn't made from stone or shell. Which islanders had a thriving or even struggling smelting knowledge/industry? Or one that was even just emerging?

[whiskers314]

It's a matter of historical record.

A prerequisite to bay rum is rum. In order for the islanders to have made rum they would need metallurgical skills since a still isn't made from stone or shell. Which islanders had a thriving or even struggling smelting knowledge/industry? Or one that was even just emerging?

True. I should have been more clear. The islanders, were using the leaves as a medicine and rub on scent before the introduction of sugarcane and rum production. Once the islanders were working in the distilleries it would not be a huge step to add, what they already considered a medicinal leaf, to the rum and create an "elixer" or "tonic". This seems like a more evolutionary progression. Sadly, we may never know the true origin of bay rum but only left to speculate.