SMF

I have the Monte Carlo with oil. Bought it about 2 years ago after reading about it on a forum. emailed T&H and they let me order it over the phone. It is a marvellous smell. Very fresh, juicy, non-powdery violet-based scent. Superior to Eucris hairdressing fragrance, which is also violet-based. In fact, that's all the latter seems to smell of. Much less complex than Monte Carlo.

Dave, yes the Eucris used to smell a bit like Violet's but not any more. Now it smells mostly of Lily's. I find the Monte Carlo to be quite smilar to the San Remo by Trumper's. Also a wonderful tonic.

Jani, Ah....okay. I liked the scent of the San Remo a good deal. It does not have any oil though, correct? There's an interesting story about the suppossed origin of San Remo in that regard.
Regards,
Gordon

Gordon, no it doesn't have any oil. What's the story of the supposed origin? Could it be tied in with their once co-ownership?

Jani, Well, suppossedly, George V complained of the oil in his hairdressing staining the interior hat bands in his fine ( presumably Lock & Co. ) fedoras. So, Trumpers concocted San Remo dressing to solve that little problem. Or so it's said.
Regards,
Gordon

Gordon, that's a very interesting bit of info. How the devil did you come across it?

Jani,

It thought I knew some things but Gordon makes me look like an amateur! Consider this- Gordon has amassed all of this information prior to the Internet. How he did this is mind boggling.

FWIW, I too love the scent of San Remo. Very old English barbershop to my olfactory senses.

Regards,

Bill

Bill, Well thanks, and to a considerable degree it's true. Discipline! ( harumph! ) and determination!....by George!...that's what it took in those days.....eh?.....well, yes, being crafty helped also ( chuckle ). But some stuff did come via the internet, once I finally learned to use it. Some articles and what not that are no longer available, or buried so deep by now that no one will find them. I used to hunt down these little tidbits with the same tenecity with which Chris Fisher hunts new products to try.
Regards,
Gordon

Yes, I have read the same little 'tidbit' regarding origin of "S.Remo" some years back by a lady who had been employed at George Trumper. The scent is downright pleasing. No oil ,and yet, it does have a little 'something' to give the slightest hold. Bill, I recall you being the 'source' of the faintest whisper of info. regarding "Isis". Supposedly scented with one of Trumper's oldest 'formulae'. I have been told by someone who went to London, and met with Paulette Berschs' son, that "Eucris" was the very first product made/sold by Mr. Trumper himself. This I cannot be for sure however. The "Coronis" was dated (as a handful knew who care) at 1937 for the 'Coronation' of King George VI. The others....well they are the 'classic' cologne water variants.... so can kind of put a date to. The last formulated I believe were the "Floreka's". The bottles they came in were also downright pleasing.

Best,
Fitch

My dear Gordon, Bill, et al.

Firstly, I am STILL awaiting a reply to that letter. Thank you for supplying your baseball while I was in the cooler. As you can see it's quite worn. I also apologise for drawing a face on it and weeping so bitterly when i had to return it. I do realise it's only a ball now. But it was a long time in the cooler and my only company. Anyway, I'm glad Geo is back in good hands.
To business. I have this wee snippet of information from the kindly Miss Rebecca:

"In regards to when the Amber Floreka was introduced, unfortunately, these records are not available to me, however, I have spoken to the manager of our Jermyn Street branch and he was told anecdotally that a customer first used the Green Floreka in approximately 1942, and I would therefore presume the Amber was brought in around the same time."

I have the Amber Floreka in a glass bottle. Find it slightly heavy betimes (it is the heavier of the two, despite what the website says/said) but when I was in the shop and sniffed it, it smelt exactly the same as the (also green) Truefitt C.A.R. lotion, which performs well, but whose scent I can't take to. Can anyone confirm this? Save me from myself before I end up ordering a bottle then hating it..


Also, regarding Eucris hairdressing. I bought a plastic 100ml bottle about 2 1/2 years ago. It smelt just like Ajaccio Violets to me. I attributed the slight difference to the presence of the mineral oil.

Must say, I prefer the castor oil dressings as I have curly hair and it absorbs well. Mineral oil ones can be a bit greasy. My Monte Carlo is with oil. Big mistake as it's mineral oil!

I would like to own a proper old haircream. Have C.A.R. hair cream (v.good) and D R Harris Crystal Hair Cream (Tragacanth gum-based, like the former, but weaker). Trumpers Limes is weak, alcohol-y and full of the usual modern gel plastics. I can't get my hands on any Floral (hair) cream. Can any of you great patriarchs of the good old days describe the ingredients/ composition and performance of any of these old haircreams, before extinction/modernisation?

Fitch, Well, we've touched on this before I believe, and while I can't prove it, I doubt that Eucris hairdressing was Mr. Trumpers first product. I would date it's appearance as sometime shortly before, or possibly slightly after, the First World War. If this is accurate, then surely he was componding some other products in the period between 1875 and, say, 1910. My vote would be for Bay Rum, Spanish Leather, and maybe a couple of others to be a bit older. But the Eucris hairdressing and his Violet shave cream were probably the products that Mr. Trumper became best known for ( in certain circles, of course ). The original smelled not unlike the current hairdressing I'm told, only stronger.
Regards,
Gordon

I wont be a 'quibbler' with anything you have said Gordon. Both 'Bay Rum' & 'Spanish Leather' would fit the timeline pretty well. Particularly 'S. Leather' being, not only, the much older scent 'type' of the two, but 'en vogue' during the later decades of the 19thc. You know anyone who was worth their salt had a version. I can only imagine applying some of "Roger & Gallet's", and then, taking-up the Chicago Tribune to read about the outbreak of the "Anglo-Boer War." For all we know however...the first product could of been a violet pomade or moustache wax. 'Heady' stuff it is no?

Best,
Fitch

Oh you boys!
Michael's gonna come in like Dr Manhattan and level this argument..

Where is the aul curmudgeon these days anyway?

Trumperman wrote:Lynn,

FWIW, I went through a few bottles of the Nettle and it was quite nice. I used the Melissa on my daughters hair when she was a baby. For the record the Trumper Hair Conditioner was mainly beeswax and worked quite well too. (just don't get around too many bees!)

Regards,

Bill

Hey Bill,

Can you tell me what the Trumper's Melissa shampoo is like? Did you try it on yourself?

Dave, Oh, he's around...at least temporarily. We managed to prod him out of his Aegean villa for a wee bit. Hopefully, he'll stop by here, but I must tell you that even Mr. Bargepole is not old enough to settle this question definatively.....not quite, anyway ( chuckle ). BTW, it was he who gave me a run-down on how the old Eucris hairdressing smelled.
Regards,
Gordon

I must ask Gordon, did you and/or Bill used to live in England? Are either of you ex-pats?

David, Interesting. Another member asked me the very same thing just a couple of days ago. No, unforunately, I've never even been there. We had an opportunity in the '90s but my wife couldn't fully get with the program and eventually that window closed economically. Bill used to visit London fairly often, but not very recently. I keep waiting for Michael to offer to put us up at his Cambridge digs, but so far, no invitation has been forthcoming ( chuckle ).
Regards,
Gordon

I'm sorry for resurrecting this ancient thread but I recently stumbled across a bottle of the Lazy Scalp on Ebay, unfortunately, someone else bought it (I hope someone on here bought it instead) but I managed to score a bottle of vintage Isis and San Remo hair lotions.

Lovely! It was always the old Eucris Hair Lotion for me (although as a well-shaken aftershave application rather than as a hair oil). I find it a bit sad that no modern shavers have any idea how very well they may moisturise and scent their shaven faces with a properly shaken mixture of mere mineral oil and the scent they might like.

And the best of all: the way Trumper's Eucris hair dressing would synergise with the often decried Taylor's No.74 original into an absolute bomb of old-man-scent. Smells just like the grandfather who won medals at Passchendaele, which is the right kind of old man for me.

Crikey Chris, Taylor’s No 74 Original is one of my favourite aftershaves.