Brut Original Deodorant And Shower Gel Review

SINCE 1964 Brut has tried to establish itself as the classic man's brand, interwoven in the fabric of America. The kind of stuff Sean Connery would wear.

For a while it worked, too. Teenagers everywhere were marking the transition into manhood with a drop of Brut slap-on, and continued to reinforce their manliness, invoking what the brand calls an ‘inalienable right to smell like a man.’

Brut knows a lot about men. Proper men, I mean, not the type of men who use mirco-moisture technology to wash their face. (Brut don’t do a face scrub.) In fact, Brut knows its customers so well, that they’re quite happy to tell you all about them on their website.

“God knows what Connery smelled like after fighting off fifteen terrorists in a tuxedo”

A Brut man, as they say, ‘believes in equality’, and ‘has been the hundredth caller’. He ‘hates false promises’ and is ‘charitable, always looking to give a hand to the downtrodden.’ He ‘likes things shaken, not stirred’ (in relation exclusively to martinis, I assume) and non-men everywhere should be warned not to ‘mistake his passion for anger, as there are very few things that truly upset him.’

But the problem for Brut is that all of these equal, charitable, shaken not stirred men have grown up in the last 40 years, and the classic smell of masculinity they once exhibited has matured into a connotational holocaust.

Sean Connery is 81 now. Brut need a new front man.

But are the next generation ready to ‘man-up’ in the same way? With the same products? We thought we’d test Brut’s Original Deodorant and Classic Gel Douche shower gel to find out.

Brut Classic Gel Douche Shower Gel

Firstly, the shower gel. It’s not half bad, actually. It’s got that same brutish essence that reminds you of your grandad's bathroom. It’s not particularly moisturising or creamy but then you wouldn’t expect it to be. It leaves your skin feeling dry and clean, and slightly tight in the same way that a bar of soap does.

In fact, isn’t shower gel all a bit metrosexual for a classic man anyway? This then, must be Brut’s break-the-younger-market product. It’s a conservative attempt, but it certainly doesn’t fail to do its job.

The deodorant, however, is a completely different story. There is so much more pressure on making a deodorant call, there’s much more at stake. Nobody’s turning around in the afternoon ruing a poor shower gel choice that morning, but a blunder in the deodorant department can have catastrophic consequences.

It was the third morning of the Brut experiment, when I resigned to admitting just that. I’d coasted through the first two days with a healthy spray under each armpit in the morning. The initial smell is distinct, but it’s not awful. After a while it becomes unnoticeable, and the performance had been solid.

But unintentionally, I’d eased the new boy in. Those two days were a deodorant’s bread and butter. Going to work, sitting at a desk, sitting in a restaurant, sitting in a chair at home. My pits were dry, still smelt like talc powder, but I’d barely stretched my legs, and the Brut deodorant was enjoying an easy ride.

If you’re walking through Piccadilly Gardens and you see your tram leaving the Mosley Street stop, it is possible to run to St Peter’s Square, overtaking the slow moving metrolink service, and thus saving yourself the tedious 12 minutes of time waiting for the next one. This was one of those days, and it was Brut deodorant’s big chance to shine.

Brut Original Deodorant

But within minutes of re-gaining my breath, the deodorant lay down its arms, and surrendered to the weeping sweat from my armpits. My t-shirts innings were over, I’d hoped to get two days out of this little number, but the only place that dream was heading was the wash basket.

Brut Original deodorant had crumbled under the pressure of even the smallest of physical exertions. God knows what Connery smelled like after fighting off fifteen terrorists in a tuxedo.

It’s going to take a whole lot of clever marketing if Brut is going to capture the imagination of today’s young males the same way it did back in the 60s. There’s nothing wrong with the Gel Douche shower gel but it’s only as good as a bar of soap, and that’s not going to be good enough in a competitive market, is it?

As for the Brut Original Deodorant, even with the outdated image aside, the product just isn’t good enough compared to its competitors.

Confine this one to the history books and stick with what works for you. Lynx may make you irresistible to women, and Brut may make you smell like a man (or BO) but I’m going back to my reputable women’s brand’s ‘for men’ range, for peace of mind pits, no matter how closely I run my commute.

The Brut Christmas shower gel and deodrant gift set costs £4.99. Available at Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Boots and Superdrug.

Follow David on Twitter @DavidPMccourt

Shaken, not stirred, I'm a Brut Man.