Dove Men+Care Clean Comfort Anti-Perspirant Stick 40g

Most men's anti-perspirants treat the underarm as a problem to be shut down. Dove Men+Care is built on the opposite idea: that the skin there takes a beating from daily shaving, friction and product, and that looking after it is part of the job.

The active is aluminium zirconium, which is what gives it 48 hours against sweat and odour by Dove's claim. What separates it from a supermarket stick is the quarter moisturising cream, with vitamin E and sunflower seed oil, aimed at stopping the irritation and soreness that a strong anti-perspirant on shaved skin usually causes.

It is alcohol-free, which is the practical detail if you shave your underarms. Alcohol on freshly shaved skin is what produces the sting, and its absence is the reason this one can go on straight after.

Clean Comfort or Extra Fresh? Clean Comfort is the soft, clean linen scent, the more neutral of the two. Extra Fresh is citrus-led and sharper. If you already wear a fragrance, Clean Comfort is less likely to argue with it.

Worth knowing: a solid stick rather than a spray, so nothing to inhale and nothing to set off in a shared room. If you actively avoid aluminium salts, this is not the product for you.