Review: Axe Skin Contact Hydrating Shower Gel

Guys like to be touched. Maybe not all the time, or by just anyone you could pull off the street, but we do. Dry, itchy, flaky skin? Not as touchable as it could be. Also, it's not particularly comfortable to live in. Unfortunately, sometimes, especially in winter, it seems like guys have a choice between uncomfortably dry skin and clean skin. There aren't a lot of products out there marketed directly to guys who'd like softer (or at least less itchy) skin.

Enter Axe Skin Contact Hydrating Shower Gel.

On the surface, this is a product that looks to be a clear winner. At around $5-6 per 12 ounce bottle, it's not a bad value, especially if you use a nylon mesh bath sponge (an object known to the rest of the world as a 'shower puff'). It definitely has a fragrance -- Axe made their name hocking deoderant body spray, after all -- but it's not overpowering in or out of the bottle. In the shower, it works up to a foamy, satisfying lather.

In short, as a shower gel, it performs its job admirably. But does it moisturize as well as clean? Well, yes and no.

Axe Skin Contact Hydrating Shower Gel feels like a conditioning bodywash. It rinses clean, but definitely leaves skin feeling protected. If you've never used a product like this before, the effect can be a little disconcerting. Rest assured: if your skin squeaks under your fingers, you're clean. My skin feels noticably softer and smoother, including my hands, which have a tendency to be a bit dry and rough. The cuticles around my fingernails are less prone to drying and cracking as well, which in the winter is definitely a good thing.

The problem is, it isn't a very powerful moisturizer. Axe Skin Contact Hydrating Shower Gel is a little bit like a straight C student on exam day. It goes in, does the bare minimum to pass, and then hauls ass out of there (presumably to go throw a football back and forth with the rest of Unilever's Axe shower gel line). If you're prone to serious dryness (in the winter, for example) you may still need to apply lotion or another moisturizer after you dry off.

Overall, if you're looking to get clean and get relatively smoother, softer skin in general, Axe Skin Contact Hydrating Shower Gel will get the job done. If you're prone to minor dryness, you might be able to drop the lotion from your routine, but I'd hold off on throwing out the bottle until you've given it a test run. At the very least, keep it around for those dry winter months when everybody itches. If you're lucky, maybe you can earn some brownie points by lending that lotion to somebody you wouldn't mind touching you.