[mireaux7]

This is the Hygiene thread. A place to talk about different hygiene products. Everything from soap, bodywash, toothpaste, conditioner, hairspray, hair gel, dental floss, shoe inserts, underarm deordorant, cologne, perfume, ..you get the idea.

Toothpaste: I used to use Crest,..but have since boycotted them since a lot of the recent products do not carry the ADA seal. I have also experienced loose tissue sluffage from using their products. In case you dont know what that is, its when an oral product is so coarse or intense that it causes the tissue lining inside your mouth to come loose and onto your toothbrush. it looks white, and looks thick. (dont mean to gross anyone out, although I know I may have). I mostly use Colgate now, sometimes I will use arm & hammer or aquafresh. Aim is a good toothpaste to use as well, and it can usually be bought for under $1.oo.

Shampoo/Conditioner: Unlike my girlfriend, who think she can only use the most exquisite haircare products, I use pretty much just the basics. Suave is compareable to a lot of the pricier brands. VO5 is good too. Both can be bought for under a buck. and if youre a dude with short hair like me, thats all you really need.

Handsoap: I try to buy handsoap with antibacterial properties. Makes sense, right? Aloe Vera, Vitamin E and other moisterizing agents appeal to me as well, and usually affect my buying decision. Bath & Body Works is an excellent place to shop for liquid handsoaps, in fact, they have a known rep for having great handsoaps. They are a bit pricey at times, but sometimes you can catch them with a sale, like 5 soaps for $15.oo. They come in these attractive containers too.

Bodywash: I like Old Spice, Coast, Adidas, Axe, and Irish Spring. Ive noticed that men's bodywashes usually come in larger bottles than ladies' bodywashes. Makes sense, being that the average man is about 20% larger than his female counterpart, plus we guys tend to stink up a storm when weve been outside working all day on our cars or yards.

Bar soap: It seems to be fading out somewhat, as bodywashes are gaining popularity. I still use bar soap in conjunction with bodywash when I bathe. To me, the combo makes for an excellent cleansing. Lava soap is excellent for getting oily grime off of your hands, and honestly is seems to hold a monopoly as being the sole bar soap with pumice in it. Ivory and Dove soaps are good to use as well, they both have a milky sort of coating quality when using them..they are great cleansing soaps.

Underarm deordorant: This is a tough one, because its a toss up. I use both types: The clear and the solids. My all time favorite is Degree Sport, because the scent takes me back to my youth and a girl I had a big crush on, colognes do that too, so do certain songs on the radio. If I am going to wear a tanktop, obviously I wouldnt want to use a solid, so I will put on a clear instead. A lot of clears are oily. Right Guard and Speed Stick are the best Ive tried, I try to steer clear of the rest.

Cologne: The right cologne can easily get an unsuspecting woman's attention. Im not afraid to shell out big bucks if the smell is nice. I mostly like colognes with a crisp, cool, sporty "aquatic" scent. Some musky type of colognes are good for us guys to wear too. You should mix up your cologne variety, try wearing different colognes when you go out, youll be surprised at how many heads you can turn if youre wearing the right scent around the right ladies.

This post has been edited by mireaux7: 02 June 2007 - 06:26 PM

[Slade]

Honestly, 99% of all of these products come down to brand loyalty. Studies have been done; that 99 cent bottle of shampoo or conditioner works just as well as the silly 15 dollar bottle with the fancy French name.

I find cheap toothpaste, and really like the way Axe Tsunami spray smells, but I don't think they carry it anymore. I prefer deoderants with strong anti-perspirants, becuase I've been known to randomly have my armpits sweat like crazy if it's above freezing outside, and that makes shirts gross, and wastes my body's fluids.

It is also impossible for me to get a close shave, whether I use one of those wacky Mach 3 razors or a 10 for 1$ pack from the dollar store. Neither will give me a clean shave, no matter how many times I go over a spot, nor which direction, no matter how many layers of skin I slice off in the process.

I love Lava soap because it's coarse without being abrasive, and the pumice makes it float. It's just fun, and useful, too.

[mireaux7]

It is also impossible for me to get a close shave, whether I use one of those wacky Mach 3 razors or a 10 for 1$ pack from the dollar store. Neither will give me a clean shave, no matter how many times I go over a spot, nor which direction, no matter how many layers of skin I slice off in the process.

I find Schick razors to be good. The quatro series has one of the closest cuts Ive experienced. Gillette is good too,..but the problem with Gillette's razors is that the metal is so thin that the blades easily dull out fast. I bet thats their strategy though..to sell more disposable razors faster that way.

[Cyzyk]

Shaving cream is for women. If you have the chems to grow facial hair, you should have the guts to shave like a man; just water and a razor.

[Sailor Abbey]

shave like a man; just water and a razor.

That’s how I shave my legs.

I use Venus razors though. Very close shave. They’re ungodly expensive though. 12$ for a back of 4. Ridiculous... but what are you gonna do.

[Spoon Poetic]

Ditto, Abbey. They're expensive but they're worth it.

And for some reason, if I use shaving cream, I get cut up all over the place. No shaving cream, no cuts.

I use generic shampoo, generic body and hand soap, Clean and Clear Morning Burst exfoliating face wash, Degree deodorant/antiperspirant, no perfume, that Cinnamon Crest toothpaste, and a very specific Oral-B (I think anyway, I just know it when I see it) toothbrush with cool rubbery thingies on the outside (and I've managed to get about 10 other people hooked on it, too ).

And Slade, for the most part I agree that generic and name-brand are the same. But I have to argue that sometimes name-brand is better; in the instances where someone came up with something new, and the patent is new enough that there can be no generic copies. So I have sprung for name-brand shampoo for a while when my hair was being absolutely unruly from too much sun damage and stuff. It helped awesomely when nothing else was working, too. The generic versions came out right after the name-brand version had already gotten my hair healthy again. Another example is the Morning Burst face wash, there's no generic version of that yet or anything remotely similar. I've also never found a generic antiperspirant that worked as well as Degree, or a generic razor that's as good as the Venus (which I think is by Schillette). *shrug*

This post has been edited by Spoon Poetic: 04 June 2007 - 12:08 AM

[Deepsycher]

I go to a small local organic health food shop for my shampoo. They don't contain a whole lot chemicals compared to most I see selling in other shops with artificial claims to keep my hair straight. It costs a lot more but that includes that my hair doesn't itch like the others so I don't mind. I have yet to find an organic toothpaste.


For brand names selling the same stuff at a higher price I compare the ingredients. I don't now for sure know how people can fall for that if the ingredients are right in front of them with them knowing about it. Unless they didn't state that. For those with the ingredients in front or behind my guess is that the expensive brand names use psychologists in the design process to further brainwash a matched generation of decoration and label bounded or addicted people with claims so the decorative packaging and logo becomes the ingredient to feed of their imaginative or emotional want. Which provides a false sense of security by making their packing look pretty. Just what I am seeing and I don't mean everybody. I do know that I once fell for that trap in that everything that looks pretty is better, brainwashed under someone's ignorant advice.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 04 June 2007 - 05:46 AM

[princesskadee]

i saw a story on oprah, a young black girl is becoming a self-made tycoon as she is selling her homemade shampoos to wal-mart (this hasnt happened yet, but will soon be on their shelves).

[Sailor Abbey]

I use Aveeno products mostly - for soaps skin care. Not that I'm big into skin care. I don’t get into that girly stuff too much, just the basics.

Some moisturizer for those dry winter days - running 6 hrs on the dogsled will dry your skin out pretty quick. I think I have some foaming cleanser for days I really feel gross - a cleansing mask I use about twice a year when I feel unpretty. I use their lotion products too. I don’t know why... but they consistently make my skin feel happy.

I use Garnier products for my hair. I really like their conditioners. I cant even tell you the last time I brushed my hair. Now that its short, I just sort of shake it out when I get out of the shower and let it dry and its fine. That’s the sign of a great conditioner when you don’t even need a brush.

I buy whatever deodorant is on sale - I'll even buys men’s deodorant. It seems to work a little better.

I think I use the arm&hammer whitening brand tooth paste. Or something like that. Im not going to bother to get up and check though.

[princesskadee]

I buy whatever deodorant is on sale - I'll even buys men’s deodorant. It seems to work a little better.

"strong enough for a man, but ph balanced for a woman"

oh, wait,.thats secret's motto-a female deordorant!...doh!!!

[Slade]

Cyzyk: Yeah, I don't often use shaving cream anymore, mainly because I usually still manage to cut myself, and I don't get a closer shave, and my skin doesn't care much unless I'm shaving down my neck, which I have to do to get a close enough shave that it looks like I at least tried.

[mireaux7]

it seems like its becoming harder these days to find a retailer that still carries Soap on a Rope.

I know bath and body works, avon, etc carry it.

but im talking about good old manly scents,.like old spice, brut, adidas, stetson, drakkar noir, old english, etc.

does anyone know of a store that still carries soap on a rope?

[Jane Sherwood]

Hmmm...let's see. It's hard for me to find products because I'm extraordinarily picky/obsessive compulsive about taste, smell, texture, and any residual feeling left on my skin after something's washed off. Plus I'm still paranoid about allergies, even though I'm sure most products are hypoallergenic these days. It was a nightmare just finding a detergent I could handle when I was a little kid.

Soap/Handsoap: It was hard to find one I could bear to stick with, but I use Suave Naturals cucumber melon body wash. It's very nice, and unlike most of what I've tried, any lingering smell is actually rather pleasant. And for my obsessive hand washing, Softsoap Antibacterial.

Shampoo: Pert Plus 2-in-1 medium conditioning, every day.

Toothpaste: I have loathed all forms of toothpaste my whole life. I know it's necessary, but every single time I've used it - no matter what flavor or type - it's made gag and wretch, and a lot of times I'd have to go back and brush again because it made me vomit. So I don't use toothpaste - I use good old-fashioned baking soda. It works for cleaning when I need it, and the taste has never been a problem because I love salty things.

Cream/Lotion: The only time I ever use any kind of lotion is during the winter when the skin on the back of my hands dries out and starts to crack open and bleed. I found out Neutrogena Visibly Firm works very well with this (even though it's technically supposed to be a face lotion) and has almost no smell, but I can still only put it on before I go to sleep, because if I had it on during the day I'd go nuts from not being able to touch anything properly, and I'd have to reapply it every time I washed my hands (which is quite often).

Razor: A blue Venus razor and warm water has always worked fine for me. I tried Nair a bit, but decided it was just too much trouble. One, because of the smell; two, because of how freaking oily it is no matter how thoroughly you try to wash it off; and three, IT COOKS YOUR SKIN IF YOU LEAVE IT ON TOO LONG! You don't even have to follow a variation of JM's particular experiment with it to get the same results. But still, it's mainly just for shaving under my arms or wherever has started getting downright uncomfortable. I think I only ever shave my legs once every...three months or so. Hey, I never wear anything but long pants - EVER. Why the hell should I even bother if nobody sees them anyway?

Facial Cleansing: Again, I'm very wary of creams and lotions. So if my face feels oily or dirty, I'll either reach for a Clean & Clear oil-absorbing sheet, or jump straight to the hard stuff. Pure. Rubbing. Alcohol. No fancy products or anything, I just want the job done, even if it does require a bit of careful breathing. And since I've found I have almost no problem with sudden stinging pains, it's good with any existing zits or bloody spots.

Deoderant: Dove Sensitive Skin, fragrance free. Always.

Perfume: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES.

This post has been edited by Jane Sherwood: 09 June 2007 - 07:08 PM

[Spoon Poetic]

Just a random question - is anyone else here allergic to benzyl peroxide? I feel like the only one in the world that has to read through the ingredients before buying a facial cleanser.