Body washes seem to be the unquestionable standard in what guys choose to use to clean up, with Old Spice and Axe being the brands found in every locker room and shower. Yet if you’ve used Epsom salts or even tried a bath bomb, we boldly suggest that the humble soap bar is the new way to enrich your bathing experience even if you only have time for a shower.

Smelling like Fruity Pebbles may sound like one of those saccharine products from Bath & Body Works, but in fact it was actually Vitaman’s Face Scrub. Like Z Skin’s Morning Acne Facewash, this exfoliator confusingly felt like we were slathering on a lotion, probably because it felt fatty (like pureed avocado) and also had too few walnut shells and too little bamboo powder to actually exfoliate our skin.

For all the hate gel gets, it certainly has its time and place: a black tie event or a board meeting when we want to look like we are modeling for Ralph Lauren Black Label, or for those of us with thicker hair it’s an integral part of our medicine cabinet to style our manes. Sometimes though you don’t need all that firepower - a looser, ‘ten minutes out of the shower look’ is desired.

Body washes from Axe and even Old Spice are like the McDonald’s of male grooming - they consistently put out a good product appealing to the masses. It’s definitely not Jack Black’s Turbo Wash, but for literally 1/4th of the price you get 6 ounces more and in these inflationary times, who doesn’t like a bargain?

We were previously in the camp that one didn’t need a shaving oil but then we tried it and ate a big slice of humble pie. No matter how hot the shower and how soon you shave afterwards, using a shaving oil (along with your choice of shaving cream) right after your hot shower all but guarantees a smooth shave that doesn’t leave you bleeding or irritated.

Whether you’ve been out camping for a few days or just need to wash the city off of you, sometimes you want to feel squeaky clean. But without exfoliating every day or using something so harsh that it dries out your skin, that’s a tall order.

Scrubs, like cleansers, are a dime a dozen. And one of our mantras around the Superette office is that if you’re going to do something, do it right. That’s why we’re always disappointed whenever a product tries to reinvent the wheel and fails spectacularly. Z Skin Cosmetics’ ambitions sound lofty: founded by Ryan Zamo and informed by his mother’s background as a horticulturalist and his father’s Hungarian roots, they use a herbs and oils from around the world (which they note more than once) to craft a skincare company that sounds like Origins…

When a grooming or self-care product costs upwards of $200 after taxes, you expect a lot. The first hurdle to clear is fairly straightforward when it comes to fragrance: to smell good. And while that’s highly subjective, we were definitely not feeling Eight & Bob’s The Classic.

Masks are a dime a dozen and we feel they kind of seduced the last hold outs over the course of this pandemic. What else was there to do when watching Netflix than dipping your toe into some self-care if you weren’t already? After striking out over the last few products we tested, we were relieved to come across something we believed in (oh and really liked). If you haven’t already discovered Vitamasques and their Hydrate Blue Agave Biodegradable Face Sheet Mask, go buy it now.

While we love our Cetaphil, our job is to always be trying different things. This week we used Z Skin’s Morning Acne Face Wash which promises to “scrub away those stubborn pimples and impurities” using using finely ground herbs as an exfoliator. We have to wonder where those herbs were though - when we squeezed the cleanser from the tube, all we got was a thick, cream-colored paste that truly felt like a lotion.

It’s a cliche now to claim that products are made for busy lives - when, during the past half century, has this not been a part of our culture? Dual products have also had a bad reputation in general thanks in large part to shampoo/conditioners or the all-in-one shampoo/conditioner/body wash. We were intrigued though by the potential of Port Products’ Double Down Face Cleanser & Exfoliating Mask, a two-in-one detoxifying clay AHA/BHA cleanser and facial mask combo: this was the first cleanser that could also be used as a mask that we had come across.

Most of us just wet our face, slather on some shaving cream, and start shaving. But aside from the crucial step of using a cleanser before we put on the shaving cream, there’re also products that make shaving an even better experience like Anthony’s Pre-shave Conditioning Beard Oil.

We’ve tested a lot of fragrances, sometimes from big fashion houses, and lots of them have been meh. Meh as in ‘completely indistinguishable from one another’. So when we came across Etat Libre d’Orange’s Exit the King, our belief that a good cologne could exist as restored. Founded by Etienne de Swardt in 2006, the house has 38 fragrances with a bombastic backstory which can easily be forgiven for the originality of the perfumes.

If you didn’t start using under eye cream in your twenties, it’s time to start now (some of us have been to class reunions and we can say we’re looking better than others…) L’Oreal’s Revitalift Anti-Wrinkle and Firming eye cream treatment cream not only promises to fight wrinkles but also firm skin and reduce the look of dark circles IN 4 WEEKS.

We’ve tried quite a few things from Vitaman and none of them have really cut muster so we’re a little perplexed as to how this shaving gel from Vitaman won a GQ Grooming Award. This is another clear shaving gel that doesn’t foam up with the idea that you can see what you’re actually shaving if you have some facial hair you’d like to keep.

We’ve talked about how the men’s body wash market is really dominated by Axe, Old Spice, and Jack Black and for good reason - they make a very nice-smelling body wash that lingers on your skin, with Axe and Old Spice delivering in value. Billy Jealousy’s Hand and Body Wash came across our desks and we were curious to see if the Big Three could be taken down.

If you’re not one of those guys who use body wash for their hair, the only special shampoo you’ve probably used is Head & Shoulders for dandruff. Everyone seems to want that elusive head of thick, soft hair, and tries a mix of products to get it. The problem with lots of shampoos is that they strip your hair of natural oils leading to problems like dry, damaged hair, an itchy scalp, and/or excess oil production. That’s where Modern Mammals steps in.

Hand lotions are a dime a dozen and especially if you work with your hands or you’re in the thick of winter, you need something that works to repair your hands (and fast). Unfortunately that doesn’t always translate into something that smells nice too. Stress Check Kind Hands by thisworks proves this doesn’t have to be the case.

As climate action has become front and center, Sanctuary is one of the only brands we’ve come across who has been so thoughtful in their products’ impact. It gets even better though when you get to the actual fragrance itself: fresh rosemary is juxtaposed with crisp apple and warm amber, while heady leather woods and tonka bean rounds out the scent.

There are only so many times you can smell the same smell over and over again before your eyes (and nose) begin to wander down the aisle - why is it that all men’s products kind of smell the same? So if you’ve ever wondered why guys can’t have shampoos that smell like mango and ginger, then let us introduce to Davines.