A friend recently complained that her co-ed gym smelled like cheap perfume and strongly scented deodorants, and she blamed it all on: men and AXE. I bristled. I’ve smelled my fair share of badly (and powerfully) scented women’s body products, and AXE is not simply a “man thing”…women like it too.

A recent radio report dealing with AXE’s environmental problems in California (AXE was forced to reduce the quantity of propellants in its sprays to comply with clean-air standards) also featured interviews with AXE-loving high school girls. Yeah, “the boys’ locker room reeks of AXE” but the girls “love it.” One girl said: “…you smell it (AXE) and you’re, like, drawn to it; it smells so good.”

I’ve certainly made fun of AXE, and men’s grooming habits, in the past. I chuckled as I read Twist’s “instructions”: spray on underarms, chest and neck (apparently some overzealous boys apply AXE in places no deodorant body spray should ever touch); but I realize there are more important things to get riled up over than deodorant body sprays. So, let me mention a few positive AXE qualities…

Read the rest of this article »