Grooming expert Adam Hurly breaks down why Jaxon Lane’s Shake and Wake powder cleanser has earned a coveted spot on his bathroom counter.
Powder cleansers are having a moment right now, thanks to their easy-traveling, just-add-water formula — and their ability to exfoliate without physical beads that tug at your skin.
Haven’t tried one yet? Grooming expert and Blue Print founder Adam Hurly was sleeping on them, too — until he tried Jaxon Lane’s Shake and Wake chemical exfoliator powder. Here’s why it’s now an essential part of his daily routine.
“I often think of how often guys really are washing their face,” says longtime grooming expert and Blue Print founder Adam Hurly. “Not in the sense of like, some guys probably just never do it, but for the people that actually prioritize their hygiene and want to have a proactive skincare routine. Like, ‘Look, I'm waking up! I've slept in my sweat and drool and my retinol and my skincare all night.’”
Not that Hurly wasn’t an avid face-washer before — more on that later — but when it comes to the ease of powder cleansers, “this is the one that finally converted me.”
Why use an enzyme exfoliating cleanser?
Some of us might have grown up with face scrubs that had physical beads in them, but times have changed, and enzymes are where it’s at now. Hurly would know: He’s tried hundreds of exfoliating cleansers, scrubs, and more during 15 years as a grooming writer and editor for GQ, Men’s Journal, and now his own platform, Blue Print.
“Some of them that I've tried are mealy, and you're like, ‘Is this meant to be exfoliating? Is it meant to be gritty?’” he says. ”I know the enzymes are supposed to be exfoliating, but I want those to be the exfoliant; I don't want grit or physical exfoliators.”
The benefit of an enzyme exfoliating cleanser is it relies on enzymes, not grit, to do the dirty work of getting all the oil and dirt off your face that builds up over the course of a day. Physical scrub can tug your skin barrier, ultimately leading to visible damage over time.
The search for the perfect cleanser
For Hurly, having an exfoliating cleanser that’s gentle enough to use multiple times a day but powerful enough to wash off all the day brings with it is really important.
“First thing I want to do is wash my face, but then I'm also going to work out in the morning,” he says. “So, I'm also going to wash my face again, whether that's at the gym or at home. And then on a particularly sweaty day, which is half of the year, I'm going to probably wash my face again in the evening. And then I'm going to wash it again before bed.
“So sometimes I'm washing my face probably four times a day, and I don't even think that's egregious, but I want a product that feels really gentle and also travels easily or is easy to just sit on the vanity,” says Hurly.
Finding Jaxon Lane’s enzyme powder cleanser changed the game for Hurly: It “melts really quickly into water. It's gentle. It's just like my best friend in the morning. I look forward to using it.”
Not only is it gentle enough to use for cleansing multiple times a day, but as a frequent traveler, he loves that the powder formula is flight-friendly, too. Plus, since you only need a dime-sized amount for your face, “a little goes a long way,” says Hurly.
If this isn’t the right fit for your skin type or budget, but you’re intrigued by the concept, don’t give up.
“I'm sure there's so many products that are as good as this one that I've been sleeping on,” says Hurly. “I realize the whole point of rice powder cleansers is the enzymes and whatnot,” says Hurly. “But for me, I just look at it as a really efficient and smart way of cleansing that guys should respond to.”
How to use an enzyme powder cleanser
It can feel a little odd to shake some powder into your hand, not knowing what the consistency is supposed to be like once you’ve added water. Luckily for a pre-coffee task, it only takes 10 seconds to use a powder cleanser.
“I always use clean water in the morning and I use about a dime size of this in my hand, not in a big mound — just like flat, like a dime,” Hurly says. And I'm wetting my five fingers and using those five fingers to like start my lather and then instantly I have what I need, and I'm done in 10 seconds.|”
