Maz's Musings: American Crew Tea Tree Body Wash

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been washing myself with all varieties of mass-market body washes you would find in a large grocery store. Usually these body washes would come in 1-litre pump packs. They either smelt like rotting fruit or washing powder even if their exotic labels promised a delicate concoction of white pearl and ylang-ylang.

The worst offenders, though, are men’s body washes. If one is shopping in a supermarket they are left with buying the rubbish ‘Lynx’ type of soaps that are squarely aimed at teenage boys. Once you’re 21, you supposedly “upgrade” to a sensible and gentlemanly wash like ‘Norsca’ or ‘Palmolive for Men’ – what you get is a generic blue gel that smells like pine detergent and cheap white wine.

This ultimately led me to searching beyond supermarket variety body wash and searching out options from abroad. Having found ‘strawberrynet’, I saw I could get a 250mL bottle of ‘American Crew – Tea Tree Body Wash’ delivered to my home for about $14.

This is by far one of the most refreshing body washes you’re going to find. The smell unlathered is pretty strong on Tea Tree although you get the faintest hints of a musky, sweet scent. After dropping a 10-cent dollop and lathering you get a very fresh, masculine and pleasant body wash. Like almost all soaps it does a great cleaning but it stands out in keeping your skin hydrated and smelling nice.

The most surprising of all is the economic aspect – I’ve found the 250mL bottle goes a very long way. I think I ordered my bottle around March/April and it’s just about finished – that’s with my girlfriend using it from a few weeks ago because she loved the smell and feel of it.

Must-buy for anyone wanting a holiday from bad smelling soap. NOTE: American Crew also do an Original fragrance which is much more subtle and replaces musk with Tea Tree as the key fragrance.

- Maz