The Best Aftershaves for Every Skin Type and Style (2024)

AFTERSHAVES USED TO be thought of as just substitutes for cologne. Has your grandfather ever referred to your fragrance as your “aftershave?” Ours has, too. And sure, even now, a big part of aftershaves is the fragrance. It’s what makes using them a good experience and what keeps you coming back for more.

However, nowadays, the best aftershaves for men should do more than just scent your skin. It’s all in the name: you use these products after you shave to freshen your skin, but also hydrate it (your skin needs moisture after you’ve been dragging a razor across the surface), soothe potential post-shave irritation and razor burn and also help prevent razor bumps also known as ingrown hairs.

Best Aftershaves for Men

When you look at an aftershave this way, the fragrance almost becomes secondary. A good aftershave is going to improve your shaving experience way beyond the scent and actually improve your skin. That said, aftershaves can be both functional and fragrance products. We endorse both, seeing as most of us want to not only look good, but smell good, too.

So when choosing an aftershave, look for versions that not only smell great, but include ingredients that improve and soothe your skin for the most well-rounded experience. None of the options on this list will steer you wrong.

What to Consider

Fragrance

Most aftershaves will have fragrance, that’s just a given. Especially when we’re talking about old school versions, the fragrance is often the selling point. What type of fragrance you gravitate toward is a personal thing, but you should look for something that’s on the lighter side.

Not only will this help keep the aftershave from irritating your skin, but “aftershaves have a softer effect than strong colognes,” says Julia Zangrilli, founder and owner-perfumer at Brooklyn’s NOVA fragrance house. “They’re a no-brainer way to ensure you smell great without going overboard.” One note: if you have sensitive skin that’s easily irritated, you may want to steer clear of fragrance completely and opt for an unscented aftershave.

Ingredients

Seeing as how aftershaves also need to improve your skin, look for ingredients that do a few different things. You’ll want moisturizing ingredients like shea butter and jojoba oil to help impart moisture into your skin and keep it from drying out post-shave. You’ll also want ingredients like salicylic acid, tea tree oil and witch hazel which help to prevent ingrown hairs from getting stuck in your skin as they grow out. And you’ll notice some aftershaves include cooling ingredients like menthol that give them a nice, cooling sensation when applied to skin and can further help soothe irritation.

Formula

Most aftershaves will come in liquids, emulsions (milky liquids) and balms (like a lotion texture). Which one you choose really depends on what feels best for you, but personally we find balms to be the easiest to use and the most hydrating.

Read More: 2024 Men's Health Grooming Awards

How We Selected

For the past three years, we consulted with Men's Health's Grooming editors and writers on the top grooming products for men. Experts, including our Grooming Editor Garrett Munce, have tested every aftershave and evaluated their effectiveness, scent and overall application. Continue reading to see the best aftershaves for men with different preferences and skin types.

The Ultimate Shave:

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Here are seven aftershaves that you can wear with confidence, knowing each provides just the right amount of fragrance. Bonus: “Because aftershave products are so soothing to the skin, you can re-apply at lunch for added skin conditioning and to refresh your scent,” Zangrilli says.

Zangrilli says “any and all citrus notes” smell both clean and refreshing, which mean they're ideal for everyday wear. Grape seed extract and shea butter hydrate and firm your skin, while glycerin helps lock in moisture. This is probably the lightest fragrance among the options on this list. Use it if you want your partner—or the coworker sharing your cab to the airport—to smell you, but no one else.

The fragrance is so light, in fact, that this aftershave can also double as a daily moisturizer. We’d suggest you only do that if you do not have sensitive or especially dry skin, but the formula is hydrating enough that it could work for most skin types. The hydration factor is most important here, since this after shave balm is designed to not just give you a little bit of fragrance, but soothe potential irritation and prevent skin from drying out after shaving.

Good aftershaves don’t have to break the bank. This inexpensive option checks a lot of the boxes you want in an effective aftershave. It has a cooling effect on your skin that helps to soothe irritation (it’s the menthol in the formula) plus it helps prevent razor bumps and ingrown hairs (that’s the tea tree oil) and it imparts moisture that your skin so desperately craves after a shave (thanks to shea butter). The lightweight balm is easy to apply and doesn’t leave a greasy or sticky film on your face.

Sure, the mint scent isn’t quite as fancy as the scents of many other aftershaves on this list, but if you’re willing to overlook that, it’s totally fine. The scent itself is inoffensive, subtle and fades pretty quickly so it’s not the kind of aftershave you’re going to use as a cologne alternative. In our book, that’s okay, because it functions as well as many aftershaves twice the price or more.

If you’re only focused on aftershaves for their fragrances, the idea of an “unscented” aftershave may seem weird to you, but consider this: the main job of an aftershave isn’t just to make you smell better. It’s actually to soothe post-shave irritation, calm razor burn, hydrate your skin and potentially prevent ingrown hairs and razor bumps. That’s a heavy lift for one product and scent doesn’t always pay into it. In fact, added fragrance may irritate sensitive skin, which is counterintuitive to what an aftershave should do.

This unscented gel is a bit of a misnomer because it actually does have a fragrance - it just comes from the essential oils in the formula instead of adding more in. What we love most about it, though, is that it makes your skin feel tingly and cool immediately after putting it on, which is not just a nice sensation in general, but helps to soothe irritation as well. Inside the formula, you’ll also find witch hazel, which helps to prevent ingrown hairs – another added bonus.

This Portuguese aftershave is retro in all the right ways. Masculine but refined, its fragrance features notes of oak moss—the word musgo is Portuguese for moss—which Zangrilli calls a “classic, old-school” scent, but in subtler doses than the stronger products in the Musgo Real line. It also includes Echinacea and witch hazel to soothe and soften your skin after shaving.

Really, the main draw of this luxury aftershave is the unique and classic scent, but in addition to that, the lightweight emulsion formula (think kind of a milky watery texture) is lightweight and doesn’t feel heavy on your skin, but it still imparts deep moisture to your skin to help curb potential irritation and soothe razor burn. It leaves your skin feeling velvety smooth and smelling even better.

Unlike some of the aftershaves on this list, this one is very much not about the fragrance. This balm is all about function and is specifically designed for men who have coarse or curly hair that is prone to ingrowns. The curlier the hair, the more easily it gets trapped below the skin as it grows out (which is what leads to ingrown hairs). Not only does it contain salicylic and lactic acids which help to gently exfoliate skin and keep it clear of dead skin cells that can clog follicles, but it also contains witch hazel and tea tree oil which act as astringents and further help to prevent bumps.

Even though the main function of this aftershave is to help control ingrown hairs, it’s also ultra soothing and moisturizing, thanks to ingredients like shea butter and jojoba oil, and helps to curb potential post-shave irritation. The bottle is small, but all it takes is a tiny bit of this to cover the entire shaving area.

Almost anything from Taylor of Old Bond Street—or TOBS, as it’s known among shaving junkies—is going to serve you well. But while some of TOBS’s line is on the stronger side, this soothing aftershave gel provides just the right amount of natural sandalwood and cedar fragrance. This gel’s combination of allantoin and witch hazel conditions and refreshes your skin.

This is very much an old-school product from an old-school brand, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. In fact, it holds up very well against more modern formulas thanks to not only it’s pleasing, classic scent but the fact that the cooling gel texture helps to soothe skin and potential irritation and the inclusion of witch hazel in the formula acts as an astringent that helps both treat and prevent ingrown hairs. It’s a traditional solution to modern shaving problems.

Meet the Expert

• Julia Zangrilli, founder and owner-perfumer at Brooklyn’s NOVA fragrance house

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