Does Axe Shampoo Scrub Away Styling Residue?

Steph says…Hey Beauty Brains; my boyfriend regularly uses Axe Intense Hair Scrub Shampoo. When you put some on your hands you can feel little grainy bits that I guess are supposed to help remove styling residue? What are those grainy bits and does it really make hair cleaner?

The Left Brain investigates:
Ah the Axe brand.  The men’s brand that made their mark pandering to the most basic of all truths about males…guys groom themselves to get chicks. With some of the racy advertising they use, I half expect them to try and sign Tiger Woods to a sponsorship deal.

Axe products are made by Unilever who also is responsible for such brands as Suave, Sunsilk, and Dove. Considering the way the company advertises Dove, it’s ironic that they also make Axe. But I digress.

Unilever has a big budget R&D staff so you would expect them to create novel and innovative formulas. This Axe shampoo certainly qualifies as there is no other shampoo like it on the market.

Exfoliating shampoo

The thing that makes Axe Hair Scrub shampoo different is the inclusion of Polyethylene and Acrylates Copolymer. These are the ingredients you referred to as the “grainy bits” and they’re specifically added to make the shampoo feel like an exfoliating facial scrub (e.g. St. Ives Facial Scrub). No doubt some marketing guru thought guys wouldn’t mind the feeling of sand in their hair.

I tried the product (I’ll try anything) that was kindly sent to us from the Axe PR firm and was most interested in the fact that the “scrubbers” seemed to disappear after a little while. They must be soluble in water. This is different than the insoluble scrubbers found in other scrub products.

Does it clean better?

There are two things going against the claim that this shampoo will clean better. First, the scrubbers disappear after a short while so there really isn’t enough exposure time for them to do any extra cleaning. Second, it’s a gimmick. Regular shampoos do such a good job of cleaning hair that extra scrubbers won’t help at all. The Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Cocamidopropyl Betaine in the formula is all you need to get hair clean.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Axe Intense Shampoo + Hair Scrub is a good shampoo however the scrubbers are a gimmick that do not actually make hair cleaner. It might be fun to use on occasion to spice up your shampoo experience but don’t expect any extraordinary results.

Have you tried this Axe Shampoo or other Axe products? What do you think of their advertising campaign? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know.