Imperial's Inferior Man Gel Hell (Imperial Leather for Men Shower Gel & Shampoo)

Member Name: Nar2

Product:	Imperial Leather for Men Shower Gel & Shampoo
Date:	04/05/09 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Shampoo and shower gel in one, only £1 cost price, does lather up

Disadvantages: The smell is hellish. Pine toilet cleaner and 80s mini cab.

When it comes to shower gels I like a good variety of products in my bathroom. From premium to "Man only," products to supermarket brands and more famous names, I like to find something particular to use on each day rather than just stick to the same fragrance for weeks at a time. Despite my wide range of products however I was recently accommodating a couple of friends who were staying with me and in a rush attempted to do a quick all round shopping before they arrived. Normally I'd stick to brands I know, and when it comes to soap products I like Imperial Leather amongst others.


"Try me for £1," it shouted from its tempting red label on the shelf! I read "Buy me, " for the lack of time I had to actually read the label. Dressed in a curvy easy to hold 250ml frosted blue bottle, Imperial Leather for Men promises much for a mere pound as it is a shampoo and shower gel product combined in one. I didn't have much time when I snatched it off the shelf and headed towards the checkout in the supermarket, even though its smaller white writing on the front label promises "a deep invigorating experience," and a "long lasting fragrance."


When I got it home and the next day in the morning before my first friend arrived, I got into the shower and applied the shower gel on my body. Now when it comes to shower gels for men, I find it funny that brands will go to the bother of colouring potions and gels with a more manly type colour than the usual snot green or pastel mint or peachy yellow shower gels and creams tend to display. So whereas I may have been expecting black with silver specks or something that looks like engine oil, I was pleasantly surprised to find a dark and blue clear gel looking up at me before I applied it to my sponge; if it had been light blue I'd have mistakenly thought I was applying toothpaste gel to my body.


The product does claim to have a luxurious and lathering experience so I wasn't expecting much as the gel turned into a white lather, light and soapy with bubbles forming upon contact with hot water. Luxurious it isn't (but it's only for £1!) as the shower gel rinses off fairly quickly and the lather it surmounts to is too light to be taken seriously. The scent however mystifies me; it has a pine fragrance with a little extract of man's aftershave mixed in for good measure although the first hint I got was 1980's pine toilet cleaner! Let it be said that whilst I love a bargain, I'm not keen on shower products that smell like something I used to use to clean the toilet with! After I rinsed down my skin didn't feel soft or smooth, but rather just washed out of the shower and the "lingering," fragrance died down into something akin to freshness, as you would get if you had washed with normal soap. If that is supposed to create the "deep, invigorating," effect Cussons would have you believe, then I'll go back to washing with wood!


Upon putting it in my bathroom so that one out of two friends staying could try it, I questioned whether they could recognise the scent. I couldn't work out for the life of me what this scent was until my friend nailed it! "Oh it does smell like Pine toilet cleaner from the 1980's," he went on, "but if there's anything like Pine in it, its exactly like the those Magic tree fresheners you used to see in taxi cabs dangling off the central rear view mirror." Oh wow! I smell like a Magic Tree air freshener from a mini-cab! And there you have it, folks. Not only does it wash you down and smear your skin in a Magic Tree air freshener type scent, Imperial Leather for Men will have you thinking you've stepped into time with 1980's household products!


Sadly there are also disappointments in the other claims of this product. As a shampoo there were some startling effects. On the basis that of the hair I have left and is of a dry nature, I got a lot of dandruff following the use of this product. It cleans hair well but starts to lose its strength the moment it is rinsed off hair and no surprise really that I didn't feel as if my hair was properly washed - Imperial Leather for Men is a soap free product and is claimed to be pH skin friendly.


All in all a lot of claims for a shower gel/shampoo combo for men and at a price that won't hurt the wallet. But if I'm ever in a rush again I know I'll be staying well away from the Imperial Leather for Men range in their shampoo/shower gel combo. Good enough perhaps for a day of sport when you need something in a hurry but the scent of Magic Tree is enough to put me off for life. If you're a man and you can put up with that, then by all means try it but it won't win you many admirers. Thanks for reading. ©Nar2 2009

www.huggableskin.co.uk

Summary: Another let down from Imperial.