I had little experience with body washes—mostly because I always thought that they were just meant for women. This study has really washed away that stereotype and there now seems to be just as many body washes for men as there are for women. Is it now cool for a guy to place a plastic tube in his right hand, shake vigorously, squeeze and then cover himself in the creamy substance that shoots out? I would have to say, “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

Before I get into the cast of characters that willingly (and most unknowingly) participated in my study, let me lay down the parameters of my research. First thing you should know is that I am a 6’1” and weigh 265 pounds—so there is a lot of body to wash. Also, all the showers I took were in soft water. I take two showers a day during the week (one before work and one after the gym) and one per day on the weekend. Needless to say, I spend a good amount of time in the shower—even more so now then when I was a teenager—when liquid soap really would have come in hand.

My entire life consisted of using soap and shampoo separately, so it took some time to adjust to some products that offer both in one bottle. I was looking to see if the body wash performed as well as soap and shampoo. So lather, scent, that “clean feel,” the shampoo (if applicable) and how long the product lasted were all taken into account. I’m also going to look at each manufacturer’s claim and the packaging.

The one thing I did want to touch on before I get started is the fact that just about all the manufacturers mentioned in some form or another that their body wash doesn’t dry out your skin like soap. For the record, I never really noticed this with soap and I didn’t see any difference in my skin between using soap and body wash. Some of these companies also make soap, so unless they are getting out of the soap business, I don’t understand why they are bashing the product that made them what they are today.

The Cast

• Nivea for Men Active3 (8.4oz - $4.49)

• Axe Dark Temptation (12oz - $4.99)

• Old Spice Red Zone Body Wash After Hours (12oz - $4.99)

• Dial for Men – Hair + Body (18oz - $4.99)

• Lever 2000 Body Wash with Crisp Cucumber & Aloe Extracts (18oz - $5.99)

• Suave for Men – Dual Charged Hair + Body Wash (12oz - $3.49)

Check Out My Package
As previously mentioned, I had some serious doubts about the acceptance of body wash for men, so the packaging had to not only be masculine, but somewhat functional as well. Suave, Old Spice and Lever 2000 had very unappealing bottles. There was nothing remotely interesting about them and I can see them very easily getting lost on a store shelf that is full of other body washes.

The Nivea bottle wasn’t very appealing either, but I do have to give them kudos for construction. Their bottle, unlike Kim Kardashian, has an extremely narrow bottom. Since this baby has such little back, it barely takes up any precious bathroom real estate. I found this to be particularly helpful at the gym—it fit nicely in my gym bag and was not a burden in the shower.

The Dial body wash came in second for packaging. I like the fact that the bottle is contoured to the hand and even has “finger grips” on the side so it doesn’t slip out of your hands. It is a tad bulky, but I did have a bonus-sized bottle with an extra 33% of body wash.

The best and most unique packaging goes to Axe. It is sleek, has grooves for your fingers and sports a few different non-slip textures. Their bottle is like the Arthur Fonzarelli of body wash containers and I give it a grade “Ayyyyyyyy!”

Shaving
Nivea was the first (and actually the only) company to send me their body wash in time to test out for the study. I first heard about Nivea for Men: Active3 from a co-worker who told me that you can wash, shampoo and shave with it. Of course I didn’t believe him one bit about the shaving part and knew that it was imperative to include this product as part of my study.

I visited the Nivea web site and saw an excellent video demo on how the product works. What really impressed me was just how much this guy’s body in the video looked like mine—and the thickness of the lather when the guy was shaving. It looked as if the body wash was dispensed from a Nivea fire extinguisher.

Morning couldn’t come fast enough. I picked up the bottle of Nivea, squeezed some out, and rubbed my hands together—and rubbed, and rubbed, and rubbed. No lather—just a gooey, blue mess—but my hands sure smelled clean!

I washed off my hands and decided to just rub it directly on my face after applying some warm water. Once again, I rubbed. This time there was a hint of lather. It took me about five seconds to leave the bathroom and get the camera for a picture. By the time I got back to the bathroom, my lather was gone. So, I rubbed again and it came back. Getting a picture of this lather on my face was trickier than trying to snag a legitimate photo of Big Foot.

I started to shave with my Gillette Fusion razor (no plug intended, just giving you the facts) and as far as the actual shave—it wasn’t much different than any other morning shave with shaving cream (minus the lather). However, the one thing I did notice is that the body wash did not come off my face as easily as shaving cream. In fact, it seemed that the more I shaved—the more it lathered instead of disappearing! Even though the shaving took longer and was not as easy as shaving cream—I did not notice any difference in the end result of the shave itself.

So then I started thinking, “I wonder if the other body washes could provide me with the same sub par shaving experience as Nivea?” To my wife’s chagrin, I decided to shave with all the other body washes*.

I can honestly say that there was no noticeable difference between the body washes for shaving—they all had little or no lather. If you shave in the shower, which I do not, then I can see where it would be beneficial to be able to shave with your body wash. However, if you shave outside of the shower, then I really don’t see the need to abandon your shaving cream for any type of body wash that claims you can shave with it.

Shampoo
Out of the six body washes I tested, Dial, Nivea and Suave also had the ability to be used as shampoo. My hair is fine and short, so I don’t know if I was the best test subject for hair, but I did not notice any difference between the three as far as shampoo went. Of course, I then had to try the other three (Axe, Lever 2000 and Old Spice) on my hair*.

Once again, I did not notice any change in my hair regardless of the product. In my opinion, the body wash worked just as good as the 2-in-1 (and 3-in-1) body wash products and even shampoo. Now I have no idea if I am “damaging” my hair by using body wash instead of shampoo, but as far as cleanliness—the body wash worked just fine by itself. If I had locks like Fabio, I probably would want to use something made specifically for hair, but since I don’t plan on adorning any romance novel covers in the future—the body wash worked just fine for me.

Body Wash
Since the results of the first two tests leveled the playing field, the deciding factor has come down to how well these body washes performed on my body. All of the body washes had the pleasure of getting extremely intimate with me, however, some of them would not be around in the morning for breakfast.

Here are the results from worst to first:

6) Old Spice After Hours: I had absolutely no intention of including Old Spice in my comparative study simply because I thought their clientele consisted of the type of guy that sips prune juice and sits around waiting for his Social Security check. However, I was intrigued by their claim of possessing an eight-hour scent technology and thankfully, the scent only lasted about eight minutes.

Not that I have ever been to an airport lounge, but if I was going to go to one, this would be the body wash of choice. Visions of toupees, butterfly collars and ash trays filled my head as I lathered up.

I’ll give Old Spice credit for trying to go after a younger market, in their case, younger is anyone with a pulse, but it is hard to shake the stigma of being outdated when you have the word “old” in your product name. I also think the scent name “After Hours” is completely misleading, because I don’t think anyone wearing this is out past the hours of the “Early Bird” special at their local diner.

5) Lever 2000: I’m a big fan of Lever 2000 bar soap, so I figured that their body wash would be just as good. Heck, I was even willing to look past the fact that this product had cucumber extracts, simply because it was Lever 2000. Boy did I get my “lever” pulled on this one!

Unlike the bar soap, this body wash did a pretty shoddy job on my 2000 body parts. The lather just wasn’t there and I couldn’t get past the cucumber smell. It made me smell like a tossed salad and that is the last scent that any guy would want to walk around with—especially in a communal showering environment.

4) Suave: Now the Suave wasn’t terrible and it was much better than the bottom two, but it couldn’t crack the top three. It was about a $1.50 cheaper than the other brands and did an OK job. There was a decent lather, but the scent was as timid as Taylor Swift at the VMAs. I would use the Suave if I was single and not looking for a significant other, however, excessive use just might be the reason that you’re spending your Friday nights at the laundromat.

3) Dial for Men: Out of all the body washes that I tried, the Dial for Men had the best lather. I didn’t take any pictures of me in the shower, but this lather made me feel like I just went through the Wonka Wash. I also liked the fact that the Dial body wash went on thick and stuck to my body while the other brands adhered to me like a slip-n-slide.

The Dial had a nice, clean scent and I actually felt revitalized in the shower. It did a great job cleaning, but the scent seemed to lose its luster after the 25-minute commute to work.  There was such a noticeable difference between the Dial and the bottom three body washes, so please don’t think that the Dial is just barely better than Suave. It’s like comparing Jay-Z to Vanilla Ice.

2) Axe Dark Temptation: I have to admit that I was a little hesitant to try the Axe because the last thing I need is to have even MORE women attracted to me. Then I find out that the body wash has a chocolate scent—which is not the best thing to smell like if you are on a diet!

As soon as the Dark Temptation came out of the bottle, I noticed that this wasn’t blue or green like all the other body washes—it was brown. I understand the whole chocolate schtick but why would anyone want a body wash that looks like motor oil and goes on like syrup? The scent was great, but every time I put it on I felt dirty. Not Christine Aguilera “dirrty,” but it felt weird covering myself in something that looked just like the insides of dear Mrs. Butterworth.

 
Can you tell the difference between Axe and syrup? Axe is on the left.

Once I got past all that I realized that the Axe body wash is pretty awesome. It lathered up just fine and really had a very pleasant, chocolate-like smell. Don’t worry, you’re not going to be walking around smelling like a 6-foot Hershey bar, but you can detect the hint of chocolate goodness. I also liked the fact that the Axe scent lasted a lot longer than the other body washes and even held up after working out at the gym. Just be careful because I found myself taking periodical whiffs of my forearm and it’s not too easy to explain your way out of that one to your co-workers.

1) Nivea for Men Active3: After my experience with the shaving part of this product, I was hoping that the body wash worked a little better—which wouldn’t be too hard. The Nivea had a very appealing scent while I was shaving and it didn’t disappoint when I took it in the shower. It seemed to really kick in once I lathered up. It still did not look like the Nivea commercial, but it wasn’t too far off.

To me, the Nivea was the definition of body wash. It did a great job of cleaning, smelled great and made me feel the most energized—whether it was first thing in the morning or in the middle of the day after a workout. This is a body wash that could cause shower soap dishes to rise to the top of the endangered species list.

The End Result
I would have no problem using any of the top three body washes on a regular basis, but you have to know when to use them.

Dial for Men is a manly body wash and is perfect to use after any type of physical activity. It really brought some life back to me when I used it after mowing the lawn on a hot summer day or working out at the gym.

Nivea is the daytime body wash of choice. This is your 9-to-5, corporate America clean. Works great during the day and will give you that little wake-up call you need after your mid-day workout at the company gym.

Axe is definitely the brand to use when you are going out at night. Whether you are going out with your significant other or looking for one in the club—Axe is what you want to have on when your clothes come off. (Damn that is a good tag line—don’t you go stealing that Axe! Call me, we’ll talk.)

 Here are some links to learn more about the body wash in this study:
>Axe
>Dial
>Nivea
>Old Spice

Legal Stuff:
*My legal team wants me to cover my ass in something other than body wash, so please understand that I am not a representative of any of the manufacturers in this study and am not being paid by them to use their products. My review is for demonstration purposes only and if someone decides not to use the product as instructed, they do so at their own risk.