When I first met my boyfriend, he was just like most men in their late-20s and using the bare minimum when it came to grooming products. The first time I went to his apartment, I peeked in his shower and saw a three-in-one shampoo—cue horror music. Luckily, all of his other qualities were good enough to look past his minimal self-care routine.
Now that we’ve been dating for over three years, I credit myself with single-handedly transforming his routine. My apartment is essentially like my own personal Sephora since I constantly have so many products to test, so I’m able to give him products I think he’ll like. I asked him to give his uncensored opinion on the products I’ve given him that he actually uses. Let’s just say we’ve come a long way since his three-in-one shampoo days. Keep reading for the products he loves and snippets from our conversation on why he loves them.
“It smells fantastic. Like it truly smells like the best-smelling thing I’ve ever smelled. It’s almost like you’re in a bakery for hair. It smells so good. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s like the best-smelling tanning oil you’ve ever smelled in your life.”
Does it give you benefits?
“Yeah, it gives my hair a slight shine, but it doesn’t make it feel oily. It also kind of gives it some volume. And it makes it really soft.”
“I really love the La Roche-Posay—is it a face cream? Is it a hand cream? I think it’s a face cream. It must must be a face cream?”
Did you just wonder if it’s a hand cream? You put it on your face.
“Yeah. It’s lightweight. Not oily at all. Just spreads on well, you don’t need much of it. And it doesn’t have a smell, but it has like a nice non-smell if that makes sense.”
“I don’t know if it’s marketed for women, but the Dove deodorants are the only ones that really don’t irritate my armpits, which is rare because I’ve used everything from Right Guard to like Schmidt’s. I feel like Dove is the only one that goes on really nicely and I literally don’t notice it throughout the day. It doesn’t irritate at all.”
“Honestly, the Le Labo hand cream in the bathroom is fantastic.”
Why do you like it?
“It just goes on really well, and it does what it’s supposed to do, but it doesn’t leave like a lasting residue. You’ll have excess and usually I just use it for like my forearms and my wrists and stuff and it just sets in really nicely. And it smells nice. It has a really good fragrance without like irritation. I feel like sometimes when things have fragrance it irritates but I think Le Labo is legit enough that they’ve perfected the balance.”
“It’s great for travel. I think it’s a great product. I actually do. It’s really unique. It’s like a huge chapstick for your body.”
Don’t you like that eye balm?
“…I think so.”
The Equilibrium eye balm that you just used.
“Oh. Yeah, I really like that. It goes on a little heavy, but maybe when you get home or before bed, putting on a light coating of it around your eyes. You wake up and around your eyes is completely renewed. So certainly, I think it’s good for that.”
Certainly.
“Certainly.”
“The JVN shampoo and conditioner are absolutely fantastic. Great products. He knows what he’s doing. Just great. It provided bounce to the hair, provided a really nice like lay to like the way it just fell. It smelled great. I feel like I have oily hair. So anything that kind of takes enough of that away but doesn’t dry it out does the job.”
“I like the Native body washes a lot. They smell really good.”
“I like the Vintner’s Daughter face wash.”
Oh you do?
“Yeah, it’s really good. It’s also really lightweight. Honestly, it’s a little too lightweight. Sometimes I’m using too much, which I shouldn’t. But I really don’t think you need much. It’s so lightweight that you think you do, and yeah, it just has a good texture to it. I feel like it works. I feel like your skin has a nicer feel after.”
“I use the cedar scent. What’s it called? Cedar Bomb?”
Super Cedar.
“Close enough. It’s really good smell. I love how cedar smells. I just love the smell of cedar. We had a cedar room in my house growing up. It was a house from the ’50s—like what other house has a cedar room? The ceiling, the floor, and the walls were all cedar. So that kind of like has a very nostalgic feel for me.”
“Maison Francis Kurkdjian… I don’t know, what’s it called, Universal or something?”
Aqua Universalis.
“That’s probably like my favorite really nice one. If I’m gonna go to like somewhere where I want to like make an impression through my scent, I’d wear that.”
“If you were going to a museum on a Saturday, you’d wear that.”
I like the specificity.
“Starface.”
Oh, you do love Starface!
“Doesn’t everyone love Starface?”
“This is a great product. You can see all the ingredients; you know what they are. It smells really good. I hate gels. All this stuff is medium hold, heavy matte, medium light hold. I’m like, dude, don’t freaking make my hair feel like it has glue in it. I don’t want my hair to hold; I want it to just be together. I don’t need it to stay still.”
“It’s very light. It works. I’m noticeably noticeably less dry after using it. It says hypoallergenic. I mean, there’s no irritation, and you can use it on your face as well as your hands and your arms.”
“I had a little, you know, bump emerging, and I used it, and then the next morning it was pretty much not there. So I would attribute that to this treatment.”