If you've got one, you know it ain't pretty. You can smell them and their stinky socks/underarms/breath coming down the hall. All the Lysol in existence can't make their bedrooms inhabitable by other life forms.

That's why we were kinda shocked to see a news report the other day about tween boys ages 8 and up dousing themselves with grooming products like hair gel and cologne and face washes to the tune of $1.9 billion! Being a mom of 8- and 12-year-old sons with a soap phobia, my first thought—besides "where can I get a case of this stuff?"—was "are they using them instead of a shower?" Or are other people's sons actually clean, too? Because the mini Old Spice deodorant stick my oldest got at his fifth-grade hygiene class two years ago still has plenty of mileage left in it. (I did catch his little brother swiping it under his hairless armpits the other day though, so maybe there's hope!)

How about you: Are your tween boys into grooming yet? And can you give me any decon advice for my brood?