Certain circles of men consider body wash products as “strictly for women”, and that to use anything other than bar soap is less than manly. After conducting a three month experiment with different types of shower gel products I can tell you that the only manly effects of using bar soap are being sticky and smelly. You may not notice the filmy residue that bar soap leaves on the body or the dryness it causes your skin, but you will after you try out a decent body wash product. When you experience for yourself the feeling of better skin and smelling cleaner you’ll never go back to bar soaps.
To properly use body wash or shower gels you need a natural or plastic net loofa. The loofa was one of my main concerns about the “unmanliness” of using body wash products. The colorful net sponge balls look right at home in a woman’s bathroom, not in a man’s sanctuary of cleanliness. Find a color you can live with and get over the prejudice of loofas, my brothers. Nothing’s gained by being smelly or having ingrown body hairs from soap scum. Back brushes and washcloths aren’t effective at working up a good lather and you will end up using two to three times more product. I highly recommend getting a loofa on a stick, like a back brush. They sell these at your local one dollar store so there is no need to spend money at a fancy retailer. Pour a circle of body wash or shower gel in your palm and rub it all over the loofa. Squeeze it a few times and scrub your wet body. Don’t rinse the loofa until you have finished lathering up, if the lather starts to fade, give the sponge a few more squeezes.
I started with testing the high end products and bought several trial bottles of body wash for men from Bath & Body Works. The price is not great; a three ounce bottle of “Twilight Woods For Men” or “Citron” costs almost as much as 12 to 18 ounces of an Axe or Old Spice product. However, it’s worth noting that a quarter sized circle in your palm of B&BW; product lasts for a whole shower, while Axe products required almost three times as much gel to do the same job. Old Spice required about twice as much product as B&B; but overall had the best scent in my opinion. I was unimpressed by the Axe Detailer which I felt was overpriced and seemed that due to its shape it would mildew quickly. The Axe commercials are funny, but remember, “dollar store loofa”. On a stick.
In all cases the body washes outperformed bar soap. I felt noticeably cleaner after just one use. After a week I had softer skin and very few instances of ingrown hair, a condition that was painfully common using bar soap. In the three months that I have conducted this experiment the instances of ingrown hair has stayed down and I still feel cleaner and stay fresher feeling and smelling longer. I encourage you to go get a body wash product in the price range and scent that is right for you. Bar soap, let my brothers go!
