Reviews of Hai Karate by Healthpoint Ltd
Hai Karate by Pfizer (1967) is proof that people don't judge something by what is is, but what it claims to be, and the legacy this stuff leaves behind of being cheap nasty-smelling cologne for desperate men in the late 1960's or 1970's is one it will never shake without the smell inside being reintroduced in a different bottle, with a different name, and probably even at a different price point. Commercials infamously showed a dude wearing Hai Karate fending himself off from girls, and the aftershave came with instructions on how to do perform these "karate" maneuvers to keep the wearer safe from mass molestation. Something with this kind of tongue-in-cheek marketing could obviously never be released today, as people did unfortunately take it serious back then, and would likely be even more inclined to do so now in a terminally-online world without nuance or sarcasm.
The basics of Hai Karate are it sits well within the established tropes of the fougère structure as then-recently reconfigured by the successful Brut by Fabergé (1964), coupled with an opportunity to capitalize on Hong Kong action cinema exports that were storming through movie theaters at the time. Everyone was loving Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba, and eventually American kung-fu stars like Chuck Norris. All of this aligned to make a scent that doesn't smell out of place in a barbershop or wet shaving session, but has the kitsch related to far-east exoticism, and the unfortunately association with desperately horny guys thanks to the ads which were more meant to be fun than pragmatic. The opening is green with with typical bergamot and herbs like rosemary, a twist of aniseed and some cinnamon like British Sterling by Speidel (1965) has; lavender and geranium in the heart with powdery heliotrope and a vanillic coumarin oakmoss base finish it off.
As an unassuming period shaving accessory, you might be none the wiser smelling this, never realizing how much of a go-getter it was supposed to be based on the marketing. It's only when you factor in the adverts, the packaging graphics and naming, plus that cringe-worthy LP they actually released with it, does it all come together to become the infamous and short-lived cultural phenomenon it was. What's weird is Hai Karate wasn't even the first fougère to have these far-east themes, as Jade East by Swank (1964) beat it to the market, releasing alongside Brut. Others like Oriental Jade by Renard (1966) and Pfizer sub-label Leeming releasing Black Belt by Leeming (1968) the year after Hai Karate. Even Avon got in on the craze way late in the game (as they often did) with Avon Tai Winds (1972), which ditched the aniseed or cinnamon in favor of more musk and green notes. Hai Karate is neither as good, nor as bad, as it's made out to be. Thumbs up
The basics of Hai Karate are it sits well within the established tropes of the fougère structure as then-recently reconfigured by the successful Brut by Fabergé (1964), coupled with an opportunity to capitalize on Hong Kong action cinema exports that were storming through movie theaters at the time. Everyone was loving Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba, and eventually American kung-fu stars like Chuck Norris. All of this aligned to make a scent that doesn't smell out of place in a barbershop or wet shaving session, but has the kitsch related to far-east exoticism, and the unfortunately association with desperately horny guys thanks to the ads which were more meant to be fun than pragmatic. The opening is green with with typical bergamot and herbs like rosemary, a twist of aniseed and some cinnamon like British Sterling by Speidel (1965) has; lavender and geranium in the heart with powdery heliotrope and a vanillic coumarin oakmoss base finish it off.
As an unassuming period shaving accessory, you might be none the wiser smelling this, never realizing how much of a go-getter it was supposed to be based on the marketing. It's only when you factor in the adverts, the packaging graphics and naming, plus that cringe-worthy LP they actually released with it, does it all come together to become the infamous and short-lived cultural phenomenon it was. What's weird is Hai Karate wasn't even the first fougère to have these far-east themes, as Jade East by Swank (1964) beat it to the market, releasing alongside Brut. Others like Oriental Jade by Renard (1966) and Pfizer sub-label Leeming releasing Black Belt by Leeming (1968) the year after Hai Karate. Even Avon got in on the craze way late in the game (as they often did) with Avon Tai Winds (1972), which ditched the aniseed or cinnamon in favor of more musk and green notes. Hai Karate is neither as good, nor as bad, as it's made out to be. Thumbs up
This classic seems to linger in the background for obvious reasons. One it's long discontinued and two it's clearly from a long bygone era when fragrances, especially masculine ones, had character, identity and most of all quality! Longevity is mediocre and the scent is wonderfully and quintessentially masculine. What I like best about this classic is the hilarious commercial associated with it. This is one of my favorites.
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Of all the Barbershop Fougeres I have tried, Hai Karate is the best. Sadly, I cannot afford more than a small decant of the original. Plus these fragrances turn with time. I use a combination of Pinaud, Master's Focus Aftershave and Hai Karate Clone oil. They smell 95% like vintage.
I really don't understand all the hate this fragrance gets. It's not as if there's anything all that brash or offensive about it. It's a slightly louder version of Pinaud Clubman, Canoe, Jade East and others. It's like Royal Copenhagen with a brighter citrus and a more ambery drydown. That's it! If anything, I could understand the criticism of its lack of originality rather than ugliness of it's composition.
Hai Karate has an image problem. I think what people really recall was it's tacky marketing. It served to glamorize it in past decades and now manages to tarnish it in the modern day. Barbershop Fougeres were ubiquitous in the 70's. Whether it was Avon Wild Country or the aforementioned Copenhagen, I think people got sick of smelling them and put the most memorable one on the chopping block for abuse. By the 90's it was an old man in a member's only jacket kind of smell. And it was frightfully uncool.
But it's been a heck of a long time since then, and now we can order what we want online and enjoy these fragrances with an open mind. We don't have to just take the attitude of vocal Gen X'ers and loathe the Barbershop Fougere. Rive Gauche is one of them and people fawn over it. So is Paco Rabanne pour homme. These are okay because they cost a little extra money, so they get a pass.
Hai Karate is a classic and should be regarded better than it is. It should be remembered as a cousin of Canoe and Clubman. It's not a cleaning product or an insect repellent. It's not the worst fragrance ever made. That's an urban legend of the online fragrance community, spread by people who probably haven't smelled it since high school. It's plain old fragrance snobbery.
Hai Karate is a fun scent with a retro charm. Millennial ladies have complimented me when I wear it. It smells unique in a world spritzed head to toe in synthetic, fruity aquatics. Of course, I wouldn't wear it to a wedding, but there's still a place for it in a casual setting.
I really don't understand all the hate this fragrance gets. It's not as if there's anything all that brash or offensive about it. It's a slightly louder version of Pinaud Clubman, Canoe, Jade East and others. It's like Royal Copenhagen with a brighter citrus and a more ambery drydown. That's it! If anything, I could understand the criticism of its lack of originality rather than ugliness of it's composition.
Hai Karate has an image problem. I think what people really recall was it's tacky marketing. It served to glamorize it in past decades and now manages to tarnish it in the modern day. Barbershop Fougeres were ubiquitous in the 70's. Whether it was Avon Wild Country or the aforementioned Copenhagen, I think people got sick of smelling them and put the most memorable one on the chopping block for abuse. By the 90's it was an old man in a member's only jacket kind of smell. And it was frightfully uncool.
But it's been a heck of a long time since then, and now we can order what we want online and enjoy these fragrances with an open mind. We don't have to just take the attitude of vocal Gen X'ers and loathe the Barbershop Fougere. Rive Gauche is one of them and people fawn over it. So is Paco Rabanne pour homme. These are okay because they cost a little extra money, so they get a pass.
Hai Karate is a classic and should be regarded better than it is. It should be remembered as a cousin of Canoe and Clubman. It's not a cleaning product or an insect repellent. It's not the worst fragrance ever made. That's an urban legend of the online fragrance community, spread by people who probably haven't smelled it since high school. It's plain old fragrance snobbery.
Hai Karate is a fun scent with a retro charm. Millennial ladies have complimented me when I wear it. It smells unique in a world spritzed head to toe in synthetic, fruity aquatics. Of course, I wouldn't wear it to a wedding, but there's still a place for it in a casual setting.
Every Basenoter has a first fragrance purchase they remember.
Unfortunately, this was mine. As Foeditus says- vile stuff!
Having just crossed the line into being a young lad interested in females, I slapped some on, eagerly anticipating the hoards of girls I would soon be fighting off as shown in the infamous commercial.
It went poorly.
The girl I sat next to in French class deduced the horrible smell was coming from the water proofing treatment her dad had done to her new boots.
I see the notes profile and it looks like this should be at least "ok."
It was not.
In hindsight, I think maybe this was created in the infancy of synthetic scent notes and it ended up like a Frankenstein monster of a fragrance.
Surprising that this traumatic virgin flight of wearing scent didn't scar me for life and scare me into a life of not wearing anything.
Unfortunately, this was mine. As Foeditus says- vile stuff!
Having just crossed the line into being a young lad interested in females, I slapped some on, eagerly anticipating the hoards of girls I would soon be fighting off as shown in the infamous commercial.
It went poorly.
The girl I sat next to in French class deduced the horrible smell was coming from the water proofing treatment her dad had done to her new boots.
I see the notes profile and it looks like this should be at least "ok."
It was not.
In hindsight, I think maybe this was created in the infancy of synthetic scent notes and it ended up like a Frankenstein monster of a fragrance.
Surprising that this traumatic virgin flight of wearing scent didn't scar me for life and scare me into a life of not wearing anything.
Oh boy, I admit that I had to get a bottle only a decade or so ago just to have said, "Yea, I tried it." :-)
Once I got past its fully pretentious name and adolescent marketing strategy, what I got was an okay, non-cloying, non-beastmode aromatic oriental musk scent that I can imagine that a lot of teens / teens at heart would wear with a bunch of crazy notions in mind about what was to come next! (Some of that was reflected in the "pheromone" scents that came out in subsequent eras, meant to promise all kinds of luck with the opposite sex.)
Hai Karate is inoffensive but not revolutionary (sorry, Pfizer!). It starts with a sharp, bright citrus slap, then it warms down to something like a warm, musky Old Spice or Brut scent (contemporaries to it) with some oriental sweetness (amber, maybe). It has average longevity, maybe to reflect the brief but intense encounters that young guys would have wearing it!
I give it props for being good enough to get relaunched even after FIFTY years since introduction. Hai Karate is interesting, nostalgic, and full of laughable but benign gimickry echoing what a whole bunch of us men probably wanted as far as a sure-shot tonic to draw the ladies LOL!
Once I got past its fully pretentious name and adolescent marketing strategy, what I got was an okay, non-cloying, non-beastmode aromatic oriental musk scent that I can imagine that a lot of teens / teens at heart would wear with a bunch of crazy notions in mind about what was to come next! (Some of that was reflected in the "pheromone" scents that came out in subsequent eras, meant to promise all kinds of luck with the opposite sex.)
Hai Karate is inoffensive but not revolutionary (sorry, Pfizer!). It starts with a sharp, bright citrus slap, then it warms down to something like a warm, musky Old Spice or Brut scent (contemporaries to it) with some oriental sweetness (amber, maybe). It has average longevity, maybe to reflect the brief but intense encounters that young guys would have wearing it!
I give it props for being good enough to get relaunched even after FIFTY years since introduction. Hai Karate is interesting, nostalgic, and full of laughable but benign gimickry echoing what a whole bunch of us men probably wanted as far as a sure-shot tonic to draw the ladies LOL!
Hai Karate, which translates to "Yes, Empty Hand," is from the get-go its own indictment of what you'll be walking out of the store with. In body and functionality it is as if Royal Copenhagen had fewer aromatic ingredients, more musk, and was issued by Jovan. It has a reputation for smelling precisely like an all-too-young dude who 'knows what women like,' but has absolutely no idea what women like. It is basically just a sweet and powdery musk with plenty of misplaced bravado.
My father told me he wore this in his misbegotten youth, and that is funny and somehow endearing to me, though I will spare you his stories of embarrassment.
While I don't think it is a terrible scent (just very dated), it perfectly represents the painfully awkward teenagers of the 70's who wore it. Hard to karate-chop all those women when my jeans are so tight.
My father told me he wore this in his misbegotten youth, and that is funny and somehow endearing to me, though I will spare you his stories of embarrassment.
While I don't think it is a terrible scent (just very dated), it perfectly represents the painfully awkward teenagers of the 70's who wore it. Hard to karate-chop all those women when my jeans are so tight.
I jumped at the chance to own Hai Karate when I saw it on sale for GBP 2.49. A Christmas present for my Dad when I was young, along with Burlington, Pagan Man et al. A subject of jokes as a go - to topic for cheap fragrance or last minute, ill - considered gifts, up there with Tommy Hilfinger, bought at the local market.
Fist impression was a trip or slip in a cupboard of cleaning materiels, leaving you wondering what you, ve just knocked off the shelf. Dries down to a powdery, rather feminine concoction. Not something I could wear and enjoy. Gets a neutral for its value in putting a smile on my face from the moment I spied it.
Fist impression was a trip or slip in a cupboard of cleaning materiels, leaving you wondering what you, ve just knocked off the shelf. Dries down to a powdery, rather feminine concoction. Not something I could wear and enjoy. Gets a neutral for its value in putting a smile on my face from the moment I spied it.
There is a possible citrus scent, but all I really get is an artificial and synthetic scent. This is the only fragrance that has caused a sneezing fit too. Other classic aftershaves are still great Brut, Denim, Blue Stratos, but Hai Karate doesn't live up to those.
This is a review of the new UK licensed Hai Karate.
This is a review of the new UK licensed Hai Karate.
Yesterday at my local supermarket I discovered Hai Karate (by pure accident) semi-visible on the display shelf. Without thinking I snapped it up at an RRP of only 3 GBP! Hai Karate was a happy find as I've wanted to try this classic aftershave again after not seeing it anywhere since the late 1980s! Back then it was well marketed and popular, bearing a good reputation. My father used Hai Karate in a rotation of Old Spice, Brut and Quorum. I'm currently sporting Hai Karate and simply put..."I like it", it brings back childhood memories. The scent in bottle is completely different in comparison to the dry down. On opening the bottle top it smells very pleasant like a fresh, sharp, medicinal citrus tonic. In contrast, the dry down has a Brut 33 feel to it, that watered-down quality but nice all the same. Green and powdery, it's kind of like a green tea scent with a bit of amber in the background. Hai Karate is fresh, clean and smells good. It is without doubt part of the '80s classic scent family. If you enjoy Old Spice, Brut, Denim, Blue Stratos, etc. then add some Hai Karate to your collection.
SoftI just inherited an almost empty bottle of cologne and a full bottle of after shave. It had been kept in a dark cabinet for most of 45 years. It smells soft and a touch animalic. I did a side-by-side comparison with my vintage Love's Baby Soft and the best way I can describe Hai Karate is Love's for men. Powdery and slightly animalic. Not what I was expecting from all those TV commercials from my childhood, lol.
all of the rancid and nuclear waste comments are dead wrong. This frag is actually pretty soft on the drydown. I actually am in the process of looking for a smell alike.
A collector friend of mine owns an old bottle and after many claims (i used to beg him with insistence) he allowed me to inhale the juice even if just from the glass. It's not enough for a complete review. All I can write is that perceived a sort of cold, metallic bit anisic strange sort of smell. Something rancid jumped on mind conjuring me an initial trait of Salvador Dali Pour Homme's top notes but in a less dark, colder and more herbal way. I read that the fragrance becomes powdery at the end of its development and i guess it treats about a woody powder with a sort of minty and rooty undertone. What i can do for the moment is to express a neutral rating.
Got a small plastic bottle of this with a toy electric razor in my Christmas stocking when I was a kid of about 6. Was my first introduction to aftershaves. Invokes fond memories of my childhood when I smell it. Tends to offend the noses these days that have become used to feminine aquatics. I have a reproduction version of this called New Generation Hai Karate and it is spot on to the original, but has very poor longevity on the skin.
Talk about kickin' it old school boy ! The original old school classic... Folks behind the frag are also trailblazers in advertising the product. People often compare the Hai Karate TV ads (marketing schemes) from the 60's and 70's to today's TV ads of the Axe line. If this original frag was an ass kicking ninja it would only have one name... MAN - LI. ! ! ! Wooooo Weeeeee ! ! ! This is a pretty strong scent indeed. Drydown not as strong after the powdery notes set in. Only some men can pull this one off. ;) Soak in it and the scent will karate chop other peoples noses for miles. HAI YAA ! ! !
Vile, disgusting synthetic creation that should have been aborted before birth.I couldn't agree more with tvlampboy's thumbnail: "All that is vile and hellish in the world, but captured in a bottle...." and Tropirock's Ephitet "RIP, Hai Karate. Return to the bowels of hell from whence you came."By all means use it for removing biro ink marks from fabrics but wear rubber gloves, you wouldn't want to get any of this stuff on you.
This has the distinction of undefeated champ for bad 60's/70's colognes. I laughed out loud when I read tvlampboy's thumbnail: "All that is vile and hellish in the world, but captured in a bottle....". I guess that about says it. RIP, Hai Karate. Return to the bowels of hell from whence you came.
I don't think this one is necessarily as bad as people are saying. It's almost thumbs down for me personally because it's anisy (or something along those lines) and powdery, and these are common offenses of scents that I don't like. But aside from that, I find it to be adequate...fairly similar to others from days of yore that survived and became cheapies. Paul Sebastian? Canoe? British Sterling? Maybe the age of my sample's source bottle accounts for this, but it didn't seem strong enough to be offensive, in fact it's significantly weaker than I expected from what I had read here. I would survive wearing this every once in a while.
Okay, well in defence of this scent (seeing it has virtually ALL negative reviews), it was cheap back in the day apparently (I was too young to remember first hand though) and upon smelling it today, it is/was not too dissimilar to Brut but perhaps not quite a strong. Brut is a timeless classic no matter if you may or may not like it, and I find that this, being similar, is a pretty ok (nothing special) scent for the price.Okay, to pick up a bottle now will cost you a small fortune on eBay and then maybe you could say it's not value for money, but judging it on it's early price and quality of scent, I'm giving it a thumbs up (albeit a borderline middle of the road thumb.)
In 1972, I won a bottle of this so-called "cologne" as a door prize at a dance. I tried it before I went to see a movie. The stench was so overpowering it gave me a severe headache and people sitting next to me kept moving away to another row after a short while. Quite humiliating... True story!
September 2011 update: Recently, I brought back home some of my belongings that I had left at my father's place when I took my first apartment in 1978 and I found my old (and virtually unused) bottle of Hai Karate. Oddly enough, I was rather pleasantly surprised. Of course, I would never wear this fragrance now because it is too "barbershoppy". However, I find the scent much less offensive than I originally thought. Maybe it has faded a little bit over the years. Anyway, it does remind me of some good times I had in the 70's. Just for that, I changed my rating from Thumbs down to Neutral.
September 2011 update: Recently, I brought back home some of my belongings that I had left at my father's place when I took my first apartment in 1978 and I found my old (and virtually unused) bottle of Hai Karate. Oddly enough, I was rather pleasantly surprised. Of course, I would never wear this fragrance now because it is too "barbershoppy". However, I find the scent much less offensive than I originally thought. Maybe it has faded a little bit over the years. Anyway, it does remind me of some good times I had in the 70's. Just for that, I changed my rating from Thumbs down to Neutral.
All that is vile and hellish in the world, but captured in a bottle and sealed with a lid (to help keep the toxic fumes from stripping nearby pieces of furniture and killing small, furry creatures in the vicinity).
This was some vile stuff. Even forty years ago, when I had little discernment and even less taste and almost no money, I used it two or three times and then tossed the bottle–it was rrreeeaaallllllllyyyyy bad.
This is one cologne that I am thrilled to see discontinued. Bleah!