Face it, even as male geeks… We do desire to look good and be presentable to the female side of the human species. Sadly… Even some geeks fear using nice, but girly products to keep themselves in top form. Sadly for a long while… Top echelon men’s care has been a sector dominated by brands like Men’s Science, Anthony, and Billy Jealousy. As with top echelon goods, they cost a pretty penny. While I have used those brands and appreciate them, I also empathize with my geeky male brethren. Some of us are students working to degrees and bumming around with no cash. There are also those who are saving up for that one piece of equipment  be it a bolt-on turbo kit for their car, Radeon 5970, or Street Fighter Tournament Edition Arcade Stick  and skimming out on “frivolous” expenses… To those geeks, otaku, etc, I salute their enthusiasm for their obsessions of choice. However I will say that hygiene and grooming are not only important on the ideal of finding a woman but also for the sake of your fellow human being.

This brings me to the purpose of this article… I want to show you my budget picks on good grooming products that don’t cost too much. They also come off as a little manly on scents boot. I actually sort of stumbled on these 2 product lines from forgetting my gear at my girlfriend’s apartment on going back home to my dorm… I can safely say, they get my vote for approval for a budget solution to looking and feeling good. I also would like to remind you that I am going off of one product from the product line and speaking on my opinion of the line as a whole from my experience.

Dove Men+Care Body Wash/Bar Soap
Of all the bathing products, Dove makes some of the best out there with excellent moisturizer properties. However… For the longest time, the products have been a little bit on the girly side with fruit and flower scents for their products. I don’t blame guys who need Dove soaps to help keep their skin from drying out, cause moisturized skin is far better than dealing with cracked and itchy skin. At the same time, I can understand not wanting to smell like a girl to boot. I can only assume that Dove saw this little predicament from a masculine side and felt compelled to make a men’s care line. Enter Dove Men+Care… Moisturizing properties like standard Dove products, but yet with guy friendly smells and masculine utility. The body washes and bar soaps are dual purpose as both bodily cleansing and facial care. For guys, it means on top of luffing off the dead skin cells from the body, it can be used as a facial scrub to clean up the face for a brand new day. This is a novel idea as it can also minimize shower time before hitting out to the street. Ladies and girls, consider this a good thing if you need to take a shower as this double function will get your man out of the shower both quicker and cleaner. I procured the “Extra Fresh” formula with a skin cooling/soothing agent as the Texas summer is quickly coming. The scent is similar to a sharp citrus with some mint undertones. The scent is also very subtle which is good because bath products should never be overpowering to the nose. The Micromoisture â„¢ technology that Dove advertises helps to build lather quickly and moisturize on contact with the skin. As a facial wash, it’s very basic and does the job quite well. The subtle scents put other more harsh cleansers to shame as you aren’t smelling the chemical cleansers. I can say that I can recommend the Dove Men+Care without hesitation.

The Dove Men+Care body wash retails around $6.50 for a 18oz bottle; the bar soap goes for about $4 for a a 2 bar pack, or 8 bars for $12. Both products can be found at your local drug stores, Wal-Mart, and Target stores local to you. For more details on the Dove Men+Care product lines, please visit the Dove Men website.

Axe Hair
For the record… I don’t much like the Axe body sprays, deodorants, or body washes. Their scents are rather overpowering and as my female editor Wyno has once said in the past “It’s a turn off… seriously. It may be ok for a little boy, but not a man.” I will give some of the shower gels/scrubs exceptions as some of them are rather benign on scents. The Axe Hair line is their final vector in covering men’s grooming, for now… The have different formulas for differing needs from your bare basics to your hardcore dandruff defense and shine formulas. From my earlier mention of forgetting my bathing gear at my girlfriends, I picked up the Axe Intense shampoo + hair scrub as it was meant for people who use a lot of hard styling products and/or have oily hair. For those who know me personally… You all have seen the extreme spikes and know it takes hair glue and freezing spray to get them how I like them. The sad fact is on removal of all of the hair glue and breaking down the freezing spray residue is that it is tedious… Sometimes it even requires me to shampoo a second time with my regular shampoo. The Axe Intense shampoo was a breath of fresh change for me really… Just a small pinch and it managed to get me clean in one try. The scent from the Intense formula is a sharp cutting lime smell which is refreshing as well as cleansing. A little bit goes a long way and that’s great for shampoo as it keeps costs low. I will say that I can recommend this for a geek looking to keep product line for keeping the hair clean but also not “smelling like a pansy”. I can’t comment for the styling products as I have lacked a budget to get any of the waxes and pomades.

The Axe Hair shampoo lines run about $6 for a 12oz bottle and $9.50 for a 22oz bottle. For formulas that have a separate conditioner, 12oz will run you about $6. Axe Hair products can be found at your local drug store, Wal-Mart, or Target stores for purchase now. If you want to learn about the different formulas, please see the Axe Hair website.

Moral of the story kids… Don’t forget your bathing gear at your significant other’s home or you’ll be out from some cash.