Hygiene products (men various)

aurongrande_2

OK, this thread is going to be on various hygiene products; oral, facial, body, etc.

I will try to keep this as beneficial as possible. I apologise in advance for the length of the post, but read through and bear with it, you may find something interesting, useful etc.

Basically, I have spent years trying various products due to sensitive skin, tartar prone teeth, acne, thick-tough hair, etc. Thus, it was difficult finding suitable products. Still am finding some better products.

These are my choices, and are not necessarily the cheapest, but may be able to be found cheaper elsewhere. However, due to the town where I live, there are very few shops, so I cannot really shop round for best buys on certain products.

Shower products

Shampoo - I've tried Head & Shoulders which doesn't get rid of dandruff. Imperial Leather cleans but dries my hair too much. Another few that's advertised for women, but do not live up to the hype they're advertised under. Dove doesn't clean, but certainly hydrates my hair. Eventually I settled on Tesco shampoo. not the value one, but the next one up. It cleans quite nicely, and doesn't dry my hair out too much.

Conditioner - same stuff as shampoo. Eventually I chose to stick with Tesco brand on both counts.

Shower gel and bath gel - I tried various products with this, until yet again, I settled on Tesco brands again. I liked the Dove bath gel, but it's too expensive.

Acne treatment

Acne has been a long standing problem for me since I was young. I tried various products. Clean'n'clear, clearasyl, prescribed medication, almost the works. Some halved the amount of acne I had, but then the acne would come back with a vengeance. Nothing was working. Then, I discovered by accident a simple cheap product that works wonders, and it isn't even listed as acne treatment. The product is Tesco anti-bacterial handwash (not the value one.) After a few days of use, my acne had vanished. Still use it to this day, and still no acne.

Oral hygiene

This has also been a long standing problem for me. Every time I went to the dentist, he/she always had to clean my teeth (I hate that chisel things they use to chip plaque/tartar from your teeth.) So I made this a mission to find suitable products. Eventually I settled on the OralB Pro toothbrush (can't remember exact name.) This electric brush is brilliant, but still, I could use it half a dozen times a day because the toothpaste and mouthwash I was using wasn't working.

So, I tried different toothpastes and mouthwash. Colgate, Aquafresh etc. None of them worked, until I finally tried Arm & Hammer. Almost immediately, there was a difference. However, I still needed more. Mouthwash. After trying various big brands and cheap brands, I eventually settled on Dentyl.

Not long after using the combination of Arm & Hammer with Dentyl, I ended up going to the dentist for a checkup. The dentist barely had to do any cleaning.

Shaving

Razors - Like my hair, my beard is pretty tough so I need to keep it short or risk it destroying even a £200 electric shaver (which it did before.) I tried disposable blades, cheap and not so cheap. Big brands, small brands etc. Eventually I grew to like the Gillete Fusion, but because it was too costly, I settled on the next best thing. The Wilkinson Sword Quattro Titanium. Still a bit costly, but still worth it.

Gel/Foam - I discovered early on that shaving foam is not very good with my beard and skin, so I settled on Gel. So this became a matter of figuring out the best brand and type. After several trials between brands, I eventually found Nivia to be the best by far. Smooth, moisturising and long lasting, but very expensive. Eventually, after going down the brands, I settled on the simple Gillette Moisturising Gel. Don't bother with the more expensive Fusion Gel as it's not as good.

That's it really. Oh, and a little note. I mentioned that I have sensitive skin, teeh/gums, tough hair etc. Well, in my trials, I tried the products labelled for those sorts of problems. Sensitive toothpaste, sensitive skin treatment, etc. Word of advice, don't bother with them. I've had sensitive shaving gel cause more irritation than the standard ones. Sensitive Clearasyl causes more acne rashes. Sensitive toothpaste and mouthwash is just flavoured water. They tend to cost more than the standard equivalents, so just avoid them.

Well, that's finally it. So for it being so long. But it's probably been worth it.

Alison_B

My eldest has terrible acne, so will give your suggestion a try.

Middy

With regarding Dove, many supermarkets have Dove on offer at some point in the year. My friend who always uses Dove bought loads of bottles in Wilkinsons when it was down to about 75p a bottle.

If you see any cheap, stock up.

aurongrande_2

Alison_B wrote: »

My eldest has terrible acne, so will give your suggestion a try.

there's probably too many chemicals in those clearasyl etc. Something simple may be just the job.

aurongrande_2

Middy wrote: »

With regarding Dove, many supermarkets have Dove on offer at some point in the year. My friend who always uses Dove bought loads of bottles in Wilkinsons when it was down to about 75p a bottle.

If you see any cheap, stock up.

I have every intention. However, my local Wilkos is not very big. Their own built small-to-mid sized store, but they don't sell much. However, I will keep an eye out as I've seen them have huge deals on products that I don't need.

shopndrop

aurongrande wrote: »

Sensitive toothpaste, sensitive skin treatment, etc. Word of advice, don't bother with them. I've had sensitive shaving gel cause more irritation than the standard ones. Sensitive Clearasyl causes more acne rashes. Sensitive toothpaste and mouthwash is just flavoured water. They tend to cost more than the standard equivalents, so just avoid them.

Totally agree that lots of the of the products labelled suitable for sensitive skin cause irritation. I now know that I have an allergy to certain preservatives used in many of the so called "suitable for sensitive skin" products. They often cost a lot more money so I always ask for a sample before buying, either from shop or contact manufacturer. They are too expensive for continual trial and error.

aurongrande_2

oh yes, I forgot to mention about the oral hygiene products.

As people are bound to know, never try asking a dentist to recommend a brand of toothpaste and/or mouthwash. they'll simply mention a brand they're paid to recommend.

My dentist is a small one, and they are not paid to recommend products. Come on, they only have 2 dentist chairs. My dentist told me that most dentists are paid to recommend certain brands. As they were not one of them, they can recommend brands that actually work. They agree with the brands that I use.