I admit it. Even though I have a full head of hair without a scrap of male pattern baldness (knock on wood), nostalgia takes over every summer and I shave my head. Okay, not completely shaved – more like buzzed. Really short. The smell of fresh cut grass, the sound of baseball games at Coors Field, and sunsets over the mountains just gets me in that summer frame of mind. Why does that make me shave my head, you ask? Because every summer when it got hot, Dad hauled all three of us boys inside, got the clippers out, and gave us a nice crew cut. We stayed cool, and he saved money on haircuts. It was a win win. Yes, I know I have the choice now, but I just can’t resist it. I like it buzzed, my wife likes it buzzed, and my friends… well, they’re more or less used to me just popping up bald. There’s just one problem, however – that stupid, itchy, red, painful, peeling sunburn that develops right on the top of my noggin, every summer – just like clockwork. Or Incan sun dials.
Thankfully, I’m not the only one – the people at Axe have come up with a solution. And believe me, it’s not just a half-a$$ solution, like the summer I walked around smelling like banana boat in order to avoid the pain. It’s not only sunscreen, but hair product as well; this is nice, ’cause I not only smelled like banana boat all summer, I looked like I styled with Crest brand toothpaste. Axe’s people may have stopped here, because this alone would have been awesome. But true to their sweet commercial phrase, they also made it smell so good I have to pry the women off with a stick. Seriously.
Okay, okay. I don’t even have to pry my wife off with a stick, and she’s supposed to think I’m hot. Or at least put up with me. But she did acknowledge I smelled really good. So we passed test number one – the wife smell test. Axe thought of everything. As for test number two (in which I put it on first thing in the morning, and wore it all day) it seemed to pass this as well. The typical pinkish hue I’d develop from a normal day of walking around in and out of doors was non-existent. So it actually works as sunscreen. I then decided to put it through some rigorous AGR tests – you know, trail running and the like. After I worked up a good sweat by outrunning a few cougars (pun COMPLETELY intended), I cautiously wiped the sweat off of my brow, expecting a sticky mess. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find only sweat. So all tests passed with flying colors.
So there are a few slight drawbacks. One, it’s only SPF 15. I did manage to get burned one day in just over an hour (hey, it’s Colorado – what do you expect). Two, while it’s nice for a buzz cut, keep the hair short. Any length of hair over a buzz and it tends to stick in the hair and not hit the scalp. Three – don’t expect to be a chick magnet. You’re still going to be hopeless with women. Other than that, thumbs up Axe. At it’s price point, it’s well worth it. Skip checking it out online, just go buy it – and never get a head sunburn again. For more info on the Crew Cut and other Axe products, visit www.amazon.com.
