As a dude, do you know how bad petroleum jelly is for your skin? Of course not, why would you? You’re a dude. I had absolutely no idea, either.

The most egregious of all is that before it’s refined, petroleum jelly includes carcinogenic compounds. What’s a carcinogen? A substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue. Of course, carcinogens don’t cause cancer in every case, but why are we so cavalier about using petroleum jelly if we know the potential exists?

Petroleum jelly was originally created for the purpose of coating the bottom of oil rigs in 1859. You heard right; it was literally made to help streamline vessels traveling in the ocean, not the vessel of your body.

Rather than actually healing your skin, it creates the illusion of moisturized, hydrated skin by creating a barrier and sealing the skin so that moisture cannot leave. So really, it functions as a water-repellent while suffocating your pores.

Waxelene is the anti-petroleum jelly.

Read the rest of this entry »

Stress, exhaustion, pollution and junk food can all take a serious toll on your skin if you don’t pay attention. So hide your skincare sins away now with the following tips and be on your merry way to male grooming perfection. It doesn’t need to take much effort, and all you need is to stock up on a few products. A daily skincare routine will hardly take you more than five minutes, and you’ll soon reap the benefits by waving goodbye to dry and tired skin. Efficient and simple!

Read the rest of this entry »

My first thought when I received the new Dove Men+Care Expert Shave Range was, “What, now Dove wants me to believe that it has a legitimate premium shave product offering?”

But after using it extensively, the Dove brand has done a fantastic job and delivered a high-end shaving experience that I truly did not expect.

The Expert Shave Range consists of three steps — Pre-Shave, Shave and Post-Shave — and consists of five products. You can use them individually, but to get the most out of your shave, you’ll want to use each piece available in concert, just like Voltron.

Pre-Shave

Exfoliating Pre-Shave Scrub ($21.99) – What I liked the most was that even though my skin was being exfoliated and my skin was being prepped for a shave, it never felt dried out or flaky. The scrub hydrates as it cleanses. I used it in non-shaveable areas like my forehead and behind my ears and it was equally effective.

Softening Pre-Shave Oil ($21.99) – Now that your skin has effectively had it’s top ripped off, the last thing you want to do is drag a stiff, cold razor across it, which is an absolute recipe for irritation. The pre-shave oil felt great and worked quickly; you can see the results in the mirror immediately. You don’t need a ton of it and it has a non-invasive, classic scent that smells great.

Shave

Dove gives you two choices for shaving cream.

Smoothing Shave Cream ($21.99) – This cream was the lighter of the two and had a silky smooth, ribbon-like texture. Ideal for a quick shave, or post-workout at the gym.

Total Comfort Shave Cream ($25.99) – Total Comfort was thick and rich with a whipped cream consistency. When you pay for premium shaving products, this is what you expect. It is a literal cream in every sense of the word.

Post Shave

Post-Shave Repair Balm ($25.99) – One thing I absolutely hate is a post-shave product touted as a moisturizer that actually dries your skin out because it has either too much alcohol, menthol or water. You put some on and 20 minutes later your skin has dry patches and you feel about as lubricated as the Tin Man.

My skin felt fantastic every time I shaved with these products. The Dove Expert Shave Range has been carefully formulated to address all aspects a man encounters before, during and after a shave, and you can really feel it.

If you’ve never used a high-end multi-faceted shaving system, the Dove Men+Care Expert Shave Range is the perfect entry level product for a man most familiar with lower cost gels found at the drugstore.

Shaving is a ritual that should be enjoyed, not sped through on the way to the next life event. And now, Dove has given you the tools to enjoy it.

For more information, check out Dove Men+Care on Twitter and on Facebook. Feel free to use the hashtag #ExpertShave liberally, as you would with any of the Dove products.

According to Mayan prophecy, the world is set to expire on December 21, 2012. With only 4 1/2 weeks (and counting) to the end of the world, Old Spice has recruited arguably the best defender of all-time – NBA legend and global ambassador Dikembe Mutombo – to save the planet from its impending peril!

In a new digital campaign launched last week promoting its Champion scent, “Dikembe Mutombo’s 4 1/2 Weeks to Save the World” is a real-time, embeddable digital video game where Mutombo will embark on weekly globe-saving missions based on current news happening and events (featured in the narrative and gameplay) that could be considered signs that the Apocalypse is coming.

Bullz-Eye: Tell us about the game. According to the site you have 4 1/2 weeks to save the world before the end of the Mayan calendar, correct?

Dikembe Mutombo: I team up with Old Spice to promote the computer game and we have to save the world in 4 1/2 weeks. Also to promote Champion scent from Old Spice. It’s a wonderful game for everybody to play.

Bullz-Eye: The concept is you’re going to defeat your rivals and save the world. Is there any way you could save everyone on Earth except for my ex-wife?

DM: (Laughing) We have to save the entire world. We’re going to save the world because the Mayan calendar says it will end in four and a half weeks. And we’re going to do our best to stay alive.

BE: If you could just reject her head to like the 10^th row, I’d really appreciate it. Just like you’re blocking Shaq.

DM: (Laughing) You’re funny man. It’s like blocking a shot and if I could, I’d send it all the way to the 10th row, no problem.

BE: Let’s talk about Georgetown. You played there with Alonzo Mourning and a lot of other great players. Why couldn’t you and Zo win a national title?

DM: Man, that is a major question that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. We had a chance and ultimately went to the NBA to become dominant centers and we had opportunities to win in college. The opportunity was there, and we just didn’t do it.

BE: This may not be a basketball question, but it’s become an internet meme, and we’ve got to ask you about “Who wants to sex Mutombo?” story.

DM: That story is not true. I don’t know who came up with that story. Nobody ever said who was there at the party with me, who was out with me. First of all, when I came to Georgetown, I didn’t know English. So why would my mind come across like that? Plus, playing for Coach Thompson, one of the most disciplined coaches in college, he was very strict and knew where we were every night. Somebody asked me about it once and I said it was a made-up story. When you’re awesome, beautiful, tall, whatever, people will try to make up stories about you.

BE: How did the finger wave come to be your signature move?

DM: It happened after my 3rd year, just before we beat the Seattle Supersonics in the 1994 NBA playoffs. I was having such a great year and blocking shots and I was moving up in the league. I used to block the shot and then I would shake my hand and no one said nothing. One day, I decided shaking the hand doesn’t really mean nothing, maybe the best way not to come into the House of Mutombo is to wave my finger, so it worked out very cool. But it ended up getting me a lot of technicals.

BE: How did the NBA come to ban that? Did Does David Stern call you personally?

DM: It came from the players. You would hear from someone like Phil Jackson or something, that maybe you better stop what you’re doing it’s costing a lot of money. It was good for me to do in the players face, but if I could face the fans and wave my finger away from the players face, it would be great. That’s why you see in the last 5 years you can see I started doing it away from the players face. So I don’t have to lose a couple of thousand dollars.

BE: Was there anybody you loved to do it to where it was worth losing a couple thousand bucks?

DM: There were a lot of players who did it to me. Yes, a few players who had a chance to dunk on me. Like Michael Jordan in the playoffs, he had a big dunk and waved his finger at me. But he got a technical foul.

BE: Who was your favorite NBA player to block?

DM: That’s a good question. To me, not just one particular player. But I think playing against Shawn Kemp… he was such a high jumping, athletic player.

BE: Skinny 200 pound Shawn Kemp? Or fat 300 pound Shawn Kemp?

DM: (Laughing) Come on man! I don’t know what new Shawn Kemp looks like now, because I haven’t seen him in a while, but old Shawn Kemp!

BE: How gratifying was it to be the first eight-seed to beat a one-seed when your Nuggets beat Kemp’s Sonics in 1994?

DM: One of my proudest successes of my career. But I’m happy to promote the Old Spice game now. I want everyone to go to the website and play the game to save the world. We only have four and a half weeks, so we better do it.

Play the game “Dikembe Mutombo’s 4 1/2 Weeks to Save the World” and buy Old Spice Champion Scent here.

Old Spice’s fans and casual video gamers will also play a major role in helping save the universe. All points earned and submitted over the duration of the 4 1/2-week game will power a wood carver engineered to draw additional rings on the Mayan Calendar.

When I was a kid, it was easy to locate a barbershop thanks to the telltale barber’s pole located on the outside of each establishment. And I always wanted to crack that barber pole open and see what it felt like, it’s texture, assuming that its taste was not that far off from a peppermint.

Most barber poles are gone now, but the sentiment, style and quality of a bygone era is thankfully still maintained by the gents at Proraso.

Proraso is an Italian company that has been specializing in men’s shaving for over 80 years. In many ways, it is a remnant of how seriously men used to take the duty of shaving; it was an experience to be enjoyed, not a task to be hurried through.

The first thing I noticed about the pre-shave cream was the texture. It isn’t a cream in the gloppy, lotion sense. When you stick your finger in, it doesn’t necessarily cover your finger, but rather encompasses it – it has a feeling akin to something lighter than air, really. Loaded with eucalyptus and menthol, you can feel the refreshing sensation that is in store for your skin the minute you remove the lid and catch a whiff, before you even apply it.

Once you do apply it, your skin begins to tingle within a few seconds. Honestly, it felt great to just leave the pre-shave cream on and hang out for a few minutes, letting it settle before I added the shaving cream.

Shaving cream gets a bad rap these days, thanks to the cheap stuff in a can that you can get at almost any store. That stuff is so light and airy, in many cases, it feels as though you’ve barely applied any of it to your face prior to dragging a razor across it, which makes for a substandard shave. But the Proraso shave foam had a different volume, felt heavier yet still light, and had its own texture as well. It is a foam, not a cream.

It’s the kind of shave foam that a barber would lather the back of your neck up with after a haircut and annihilate the hair with a straight razor, before that was outlawed.

I could feel the same refreshing, clean, open skin feeling for a full 20 minutes after the shave. It evoked the kind of feeling that makes you want to rub your hand across your freshly shaved skin because it feels so crisp and alive. And it left a clean surface with no stubble or whisker untamed. Also, my skin didn’t feel dried out or scaly after that feeling abated; instead my skin felt protected and solid.

I really like the old school appearance and feel of Proraso. Don’t let the canister fool you – it isn’t the bland, “Brand X” canister you can get at any store for $5 dollars. This is like your grandfathers shaving cream: bold, full-bodied, and undaunted by the fact that it’s a legit, old school shaving cream in a time of gels and other gimmicks.

Buy the Preshave Cream for $13 and a canister of Shave Foam for $12 by clicking here.