Acqua Di Parma Ruled Out:

I just got through watching a couple of youtube videos that featured this cream and I have decided that the price of this cream is just too high. $80 USD's for 3 ounces of shaving cream is a trrible price point no matter how good it smells and how well it performs. I can't justify spending $80 dollars on a cream when I can spend that on straight razors and equipment to maintain straight razors. With Xpec and MDC, you get alot of product and a little bit goes a really long way. Another reason that I have ruled it is because I have extremely sensitive skin and I might not be able to use it. So it's best to avoid something that has a high price point because if it disagrees with your skin in a bad way, that $80 dollar price tag will be a heart breaker.

Considering Making Aftershave Splashes:

It's not been decided yet, but I am considering making perfumer's alcohol and custom aftershave splashes. I don't have much to buy in terms of equipment but the packaging, and fragrances will be my biggest costs. I do have a limit on how much I can make. According to federal law, I'm only allowed to make 10,000 gallons of finished product per year. So I would have to keep some records and what not which I don't mind doing. Hobby distilling is like traditional or wet shaving. It's extremely addictive and for the past 9 months, I've been fighting that urge to get back into hobby distilling. I quit due to my mobility issues that were caused by bone/cartilage cancer. So I am thinking about and I'll be talking to the TTB about it and doing a little more research. My main concern is whether or not I have to change my permit and whether or not I have to get a bond.

Soap Making is Out:

Here lately, I have been looking for a new hobby and I considered making my own shaving soaps. But after all of the research, talking to various soap makers, and looking at various forms of equipment, I have decided NOT to pursue this hobby. I'm just not set up for it in terms of equipment and I don't have enough capital to buy the necessary equipment to make soap. The costs are far more than what I've spent in the past on distilling equipment. However I am set up to make perfumer's alcohol (AFP-VA-20005). All perfumer's alcohol is alcohol rendered unfit for drinking and filtered to where it has no smell which is really easy to create, but is hard to distill. I'm considering making my own aftershave splashes which I'm told that I would be the only making them completely from scratch. Everyone else usually buys their denatured alcohol and adds their proprietary ingredients. I won't be buying it at all which will be unique. The shipping is already taken care of for me basically. The only way I could ship bulk orders would be UPS and Fedex Ground services. So it wouldn't take much for me to get back into hobby distilling at all. My mom managed to talk me into keeping my boilers so the only pieces of equipment that I'd have to buy would be a distilling tower, some plastic tubing and a submersible pump which is really easy to get.