** This is a review of Palmolive Active for Men, not their 2 in 1 Bath and Creme as you might think from the category.

I was supposed to be buying Christmas presents at Müller Drogeriemarkt, but the second I noticed this gel on sale at 99 cents (~60p) I had to buy it. I’ve been using it virtually every day since, despite the growing selection of gels and foams and bubbles in my bathroom. Before I even used it, I liked it. There are 2 reasons for this – firstly the packaging. Blue (my favourite colour) is very much the order of the day here. The midnight-blue container is topped with a navy blue lid and full of a deep turquoise blue liquid. Secondly, the smell. I don’t often open bottles before buying them, having been frowned at more than once in the UK by eagle eyed shop owners for doing so, but I did so here – not least because I’d found the bottle in the baskets outside the shop on the street, far from the view of evil shop assistants. It smells, or rather it reminds me of every man I’ve ever smelt. At least the clean ones. It’s a weird yet appealing mix of musky aftershave, minty fresheness and who knows what else. They describe it as having “a fresh herb scent” which I guess just about sums it up, although the “herb” part leaves me in a bit of a German frame of mind. They put herbs in everything. Tea, bubble bath, toothpaste, chocolate bars….you name it.

So, I looked at it and smelt it and noticed the price, and within minutes it was on its way home with me, waiting to be tried that night. The gel is pH neutral and contains sea minerals which I assume must be a good thing, otherwise they wouldn’t say so. You need the same amount as with other shower gels and use it in the same way (on a mitt / puff / your hand), but the effects aren’t what I was expecting. Maybe it’s because it’s made for men who don’t care about having silky soft hydrated ski
n. I don’t know, but what I did begin to realize is that after drying off my skin was, well, dry. Not nice and dry as apposed to wet, but rough and dry as apposed to smooth. The claims by the manufacturers that it will “vitalize and care for your skin without drying it out” seem a bit of a lie here – my skin’s not sensitive, and is fine with all other gels, both in this range and outside it, but it’s never reacted like this before. It wasn’t all that unpleasant, but I definitely needed to slap on some moisturizer afterwards.

I thought it was very much a morning product – it would give you an invigorating start to the day, but wouldn’t send you off soundly to sleep within minutes of using it. It bubbles up rapidly and smells great, but I think it cleans a little too well – wiping off the dirt is one thing, but peeling off bits of your skin with it is quite another.

As with other Palmolive gels, the bottle gets slippy in the shower because of the shape and the fact that info is printed onto labels and not the bottle directly. The lid was also hard to open

It’s around 2 GBP for 250 ml in the UK, but look out for it on special offers. Despite the criticism, it would no doubt be an ok product for the men in your life, but I wouldn’t call it a feel good girly gel, nor rate it as excellent value at the price. On sale wherever good (and, evidently, bad) bath products are sold.

Ratings below are based on a UK price.