• SumoMe

Kiehl's Ultimate Man Body Scrub SoapThis is a guest post by Andrew of Complete Southern Gentleman. Andrew is a born, bred, and confirmed Southerner trying day by day to live up to the gentlemanly ideal. He blogs about dressing, eating, drinking, and living well the Southern way at Complete Southern Gentleman.

The Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap is a $15 bar of soap–and it’s worth it.

Kiehl’s is one of the oldest American grooming products companies, having been founded before the Civil War. Their flagship store in New York’s East Village (which is in the same building since 1851) is practically a working museum of male-friendly personal care products and mid-century motorcycles (worth a visit if you’re in town). Though women make up a slight majority of their clientele, men are well represented in each of their retail outlets and in their displays at department stores. As a company, Kiehl’s values men and has values that men can appreciate: simple scents, long-proven formulas, functionality, and natural ingredients. Some of their products have been in continuous production for a hundred years. Your great-great-grandfather might have used their crème de corps. To my mind, that’s a sign that something’s made right.

I’m not a huge grooming product consumer. Most of my dopp kit space is basic grocery store stuff. But I make a constant exception for a half-pound, mail-ordered block of this Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap. Here’s why: I’ve got somewhat breakout-prone skin and I live in the South. I’m too old for blemishes, and it’s too hot and too humid for me not to use the best thing I can afford. I need something that cleans without leaving anything behind, and I prefer to not smell like a bouquet of pansies when I step out of the shower. This stuff delivers.

The Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap smells like evergreen, mint, and plain old-fashioned shaving soap. It’s embedded with oat bran, oat kernel, and pumice, so it scrubs. Really, the stuff doesn’t play about scrubbing. It rinses completely clean. Some will need to supplement with a moisturizer after using it, but if you were going to do that anyway, this soap at least provides a very clean, exfoliated base. For those of us who don’t need moisturizer, it’s a revelation.

A bar lasts about a month. For me, that’s easy math; $15 a month to look my best and feel very, very clean? Done.

Have you ever used the Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.