No matter which other shower gels I try due to them being on offer or receiving them as gifts there's one that I always go back to and always have a bottle of in the airing cupboard and that is Sanex Dermo Protector. With very few exceptions I find that most shower gels perform similarly and long ago gave up expecting any of them to miraculously change my skin in any dramatic way. So now my expectations of a shower gel are pretty basic - does it get my skin clean and leave me feeling fresh and does it smell nice? I've tried a couple in the past which have actually made my skin feel softer and more moisturised after use but as I'm not willing to pay Molton Brown prices for an every day shower gel I rely more on body lotions to achieve this affect rather than shower gels nowadays.

I first discovered Sanex many years ago when, as a schoolgirl, I went on a foreign exchange and the Spanish fanily I was living with used it. I ended up using it too and absolutely fell in love with the smell of it so that when I came home I made a concious effort to search it out. Nowadays it is much more readily available and you can usually find it in most supermarkets and places such as Boots, Bodycare and Superdrug. Prices vary wildly, however, so I always buy mine from Bodycare where a 500ml bottle costs just £1.95. In Boots you'll pay £2.85 for the same bottle and in Tesco, surprisingly, it would cost you £2.99, so it is definitely worth shopping around. Considering that most branded shower gels you find on offer are usually reduced down to around the £1 mark for a 250ml bottle, the price of this is quite good I think and, obviously, with it being a much bigger bottle it lasts a lot longer so I always feel like I'm getting better value for money.

The Sanex shower gel comes in an opaque white plastic bottle with bright blue contrasting lid and branding on the labels. The labelling states that it is "dermo active 3" which apparently means that it protects, moisturises and rebalances your skin. The reverse label also gives further information on ingredients used, contact details for the manufacturer (something that surprised me as it's made by Sara Lee! Isn't she the chocolate gateaux woman??) and, importantly for me, that the bottle can be recycled after use. Something Boots could do with learning from in regards to some of their own shower gels!

The shower gel bottle stands on its bottom and has a blue flip top lid on the top. It's a very sturdy bottle as is the catch on the flip top lid so I never have any worried about leakages or spills, but having it on the top does mean that you have to stand it upside down when you get to the end of the bottle so that you can get the last bits out. This isn't too much of an issue however as the lid is flat on top so it stands upside down easily and, as I said, the lid fits snugly so there are no leakage issues. Because it comes in larger than average bottles for a shower gel I do have slight issues with holding it securely, especially with wet hands, as the bottle is quite wide (about 4 inches), although the design has changed slightly over the years so that there is now an indentation halfway down with little grooves in it, making it much easier to grip if you manage to get your thumb in the right place.

When using this shower gel I do much as I do with all other shower gels and just squeeze the bottle to release a 50p piece blob onto my shower puff. I then give it a quick rub under the flow of water and use the shower puff to wash my body with it. This gel really does lather up quite nicely, giving lots of soft foamy bubbles rather than big ones and feels nice as you move it over your skin. The consistency is just right in that it's not so thin that there's any danger of it just dropping off into the bottom of the bath nor is it so thick that it makes it hard to work into your skin.

My absolute favourite thing about the Sanex Dermo Protector, though, is the smell of it. To me it's exactly what a shower gel should smell like - it's nice and clean and fresh and light and when I'm using it it feels really refreshing and uplifting. I suppose it doesn't hurt that the smells reminds me of living in Spain either so to me it's a very summery fragrance and always brings to my mind the prospect of getting skin clean and refreshed after a hot day in the sun.

As to its claims of protecting, moisturising and rebalancing the skin can I confirm any of them. Yes my skin looks and feels healthy enough when I use this shower gel, so I suppose that's the rebalancing part coming into affect and although I moisturise my skin further after most showers with a body lotion of some kind, I don't feel like I absolutely have to do this, it's more because it's part of my routine. If, however, I'm in a rush and don't moisturise my skin I don't notice any negative affects (apart from the usual drier areas on my knees and ankles) so I would say it's averageley moisturising but definitely nothing special. As for the protection claims, I'm not sure what it's supposed to be protecting my skin from so I'm not going to pretend that I understand that part! So, overall, whilst it does treat my skin kindly and never has any adverse affects on it I don't believe it to be any more moisturising or cleansing than other shower gels I've tried.

All in all this is, and has been for a while, my go-to shower gel. It performs more than adequately on my skin, leaving it feeling clean and fresh and doing everything that I've come to expect from a shower gel. It can't perform up there with the premium brands such as Molton Brown but I think it more than holds it's own against the Doves and Niveas out there. It isn't especially highly moisturing but neither does it dry my skin out and when I use it my skin does look and feel healthy. For me, though, the best bit about this shower gel is the smell. It really is divine and gives a really clean fresh element to every shower I have, and the smell, more than anything else, is what will keep me stocking up on Sanex.