Review: Dove Men + Care Bar Soap

I mentioned before that I prefer using bar soap to body wash and there is one brand (Irish Spring) that I absolutely love; both because of the price and the fact it works really well.

However, very recently, I’ve been having an issue with dry skin. I usually get it this time of year because of our furnace running. But, it has gotten to the point I find myself scratching at it constantly and my elbows are so bad, they are starting to get red and cracked.

When I first saw commercials for the Men + Care body wash and bar soap, it honestly wasn’t something I was interested in because regardless of what the advertisement said and what was on the box, I still thought of Dove as a soap my wife would use; not me.

However, my skin was itching to the point I needed to try something. And, since I’m not the type of person who will use body lotion (I have too much hair on my arms for that), I gave in, ran up the street to Walgreen’s and purchased this soap.

The first thing I noticed about this brand is it is quite a bit more expensive than the Irish Spring I usually use. I paid about $1 more for two bars than I do for three bars of the Irish Spring. And, because of that, I did feel I needed instant results from this to justify the price.

Surprisingly, I got those results.

The bar of soap was a little bit on the wide side for me and, not only was it hard to grip in the shower, it also didn’t fit in my soap holder (I couldn’t close the lid). But, that was the only complaint I had about this product.

I used this just once and immediately started noticing a difference. I didn’t feel as uncomfortable in my own skin as I had before and, even though my elbows were still a bit on the dry side, there was noticeable improvement after just one use.

One thing that surprised me about this is, even though the soap has moisturizer in it (which is why I tried it), I didn’t get the lotion-like feel on my fingers or skin that I was expecting. Instead, my skin just felt less dry and clean.

The soap also promised to give me a deep clean when using it and, as I expected, it had those little beads in it that other soaps have. However, unlike other soaps, I didn’t feel like I was washing with sand paper and I didn’t end up with those little beads on me or on the shower floor like I have gotten with other brands. I did appreciate that.

Another thing I appreciated about this soap is it didn’t have the strong perfume-like scent I was expecting. Like I said before, I think of Dove as a soap for women. So, I was expecting it to smell like a field full of flowers or something like that. But, instead, it didn’t have much of a smell to it at all.

Because of the price, I don’t know if this is a soap I would use on a regular basis. But, if you are like me and suffer from dry skin during the winter months, this is a product that is worth trying.