Just Received Sweet Georgia Brown Red & Blue, and Blk & White Lite

Gents, I just received a nice package via Royal Mail today. I had been searching for a place to buy Pashana Blue Orchid products since they are no longer distributed in the U.S. Problem solved with two bottles of the friction lotion and a matching shampoo.

What was really neat was the pomades that are a bit hard to find in the U.S. Sweet Georgia Brown in both versions and Black & White Lite. It was fun to open them up side by side and feel the differences in the texture between them. And indeed, it is most apparent going from one product to the next. I knew what to expect from SGB's scent but was curious about the B&W. Very nice. Sort of a candy/coconut/I don't know what sort of scent. I am usually very sceptical of coconut or any other tropical sort of scent. This was nice. Now wearing the product was a different matter. It is very greasy and feels like it is mostly petrolatum. VERY shiny on my blonde hair. I will have to wear this one only on the coolest of fall and winter days. I only tried it today since we have cooled off to the mid 50/60F range in temperatures this week Any sweating or heat would have this one running out of my hair in hurry. It was only $4.50 U.S. so well worth a try. If my wife doesn't like it there may be a PIF on the forum. I am also looking forward to trying the SGB Red to see what it is like compared to Blue.

I have blond hair too, that is more of a light brown when it gets longer. I have avoided pomades like the plague because I didn't want to look like I doused my hair in oil after 4 hours. I've tried the Axe pomade and while it wasn't bad, it was a little hard to work in my hair. I also tried the Yardley. That didn't work so well.

But one of these days I'm going to sit down and read through the massive pomade thread we have so I can learn about the water-based ones. I won't touch the traditional ones.

I might just sticky that thread, come to think of it. There's a lot of info in there that guys might get something out of.

Kev, right you are. When I was little, up to about 7 years of age, my hair was snow white. I tanned like a ripe banana so in the summer time I looked like a brown bean with a white mop on my head. As I have aged my hair has darkened a good bit but is still 'blonde' for the most part. Kind of an ash blonde as a barber told me. It is too light to use a heavy oil based product on since after awhile it will make my hair look stringy and dirty.

What I soon discovered from Marco's great thread was that traditional pomades with a lot of what I call 'free oil' in them were the culprits. Each one I tried that gave me the stringy look contained mineral oil as either the second or third ingredient. Sure enough, the Black & White Lite lists; Petrolatum first, and mineral oil second. I knew when I rubbed it into my hair it was going to be dodgy. It was. After a few minutes it looked like you had misted oil on my hair. VERY shiny and not in the best way. What you will likely find if you try the traditional products is that products with a good wax content are the best. SGB Red lists two main ingredients; Petrolatum and microcrystalline wax. The Blue version however lists; Petrolatum, Microcrystalline wax, lanolin wax, and lanolin. Of course they both list fragrance but I am speaking to the base composition. I have used the Blue but not the Red. Both work much better than the B&W and if you use just a pea sized amount they do NOT look oily. I have also used Bees Knees High Sheen(it is not really that shiny compared to the petro/mineral oil products) and it is super sticky with bees wax and lanolin. The overall rule of thumb I have found with blonde hair is that A; anything listed as high shine is VERY shiny/oily looking on blonde hair, and B; if you have fine stranded hair it can also add to the issues. Best of luck. As an aside, Railcar Fine Goods water based is superb.

Todd, thanks for the quick review. Keep us posted on the SGB Red. I am curious to know how it works out. I have never used either and have heard great reviews for both. Have you ever used Murray's Superior? If so,can you maybe give me an idea how both the SGB Red and Blue compare to it. Like you and Kevan, I have been blessed with blond hair.

I have SGB Blue. I love it. The scent, hold, and shine are all perfect for me. I haven't used it for awhile since the weather has been in the lower 90's here. I'm afraid it's going to turn my head into a mess if I use it on a really hot day. I also have Black and White, but not the Lite brand. I enjoy that one too, but the hold isn't that great at first. The scent is addicting though. Maybe I'll get some SGB Red, just so I can even out my SGB line up.

Matt and Mega, I wore the SGB Red today and it was superb in my somewhat fine textured hair. Now it will not hold like the Blue. It simply does not have that product's strength of hold. But it did leave my hair feeling full and healthy this afternoon with nary a trace of greasiness or stringiness. I am convinced more than ever that any pomade or other hair product for that matter, which has mineral oil in it is NOT for my locks. SGB is one of the very best of the old traditional products. I cannot recommend it enough. I used about a half teaspoon today. More than normal for me and it was still okay. I would add that again today it was in the low 60sF so this makes a difference. The hot weather and our ridiculous humidity would almost certainly make these products melt a bit in your hair. Good stuff but I think I like the Blue the best. We shall see what comes of it.

Phog Allen said:

Matt and Mega, I wore the SGB Red today and it was superb in my somewhat fine textured hair. Now it will not hold like the Blue. It simply does not have that product's strength of hold. But it did leave my hair feeling full and healthy this afternoon with nary a trace of greasiness or stringiness. I am convinced more than ever that any pomade or other hair product for that matter, which has mineral oil in it is NOT for my locks. SGB is one of the very best of the old traditional products. I cannot recommend it enough. I used about a half teaspoon today. More than normal for me and it was still okay. I would add that again today it was in the low 60sF so this makes a difference. The hot weather and our ridiculous humidity would almost certainly make these products melt a bit in your hair. Good stuff but I think I like the Blue the best. We shall see what comes of it.

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Exactly my own thoughts on Sweet Geogia Brown and on a head-to-head comparison between Blue and Red. As always, very precise insights, bravo Todd!

Thank you Marco. I am hoping to help the lads with the golden locks a bit here. I never thought a traditional pomade would work for me. And I happy to be proven wrong. Sweet Georgia Brown is the pomade among traditional types.

One of the lads asked about Murray's Superior. I do not like it very much. Mostly because of the added mineral oil. It is VERY tough to get out of the tin but does spread decently once you work it good in your hands. I still feel as if SGB Blue is more consistent in its hold than Superior. This is edgy opinion though. If you have coarse or super thick stranded hair the Murray product may be perfect. It hasn't been around for 70 odd years for no reason. It just doesn't work on my hair.

Phog Allen said:

Thank you Marco. I am hoping to help the lads with the golden locks a bit here. I never thought a traditional pomade would work for me. And I happy to be proven wrong. Sweet Georgia Brown is the pomade among traditional types.

One of the lads asked about Murray's Superior. I do not like it very much. Mostly because of the added mineral oil. It is VERY tough to get out of the tin but does spread decently once you work it good in your hands. I still feel as if SGB Blue is more consistent in its hold than Superior. This is edgy opinion though. If you have coarse or super thick stranded hair the Murray product may be perfect. It hasn't been around for 70 odd years for no reason. It just doesn't work on my hair.

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Maybe it would help blonde guys if you made a post detailing all of your results in one thread. Then maybe a moderator can sticky it. This issue is something that is commonly overlooked from what I've gathered.

^ The mods want to keep down the amount of stickies we have in the various fora, but I think that here, since we don't have many stickies as it is, it's a good idea to have a permanent pomades/"trad hair products" thread affixed to the top.

The only issue is, we have that massive one with 53 pages that has a ton of good info and I was going to sticky that myself. But if we make a separate one for what works with guys with blond hair, maybe we could have a "Pomades: Info & First Stop" thread stickied with links to both threads, similar to the "Hall of Fame" thing at the top of the forum right now.

If this is an idea that people like, I'll run it up the flagpole. What say you guys?

Todd, thanks for insights and reviews. Especially on the comparison with the SGB and the Murray's.

Kevan, I think it would be very helpful to have an info thread for us blonde guys, especially for the newbies getting into the game. Let us know what some of us more experienced blonde hair users can do to help. Keep up the good work.

Phog Allen said:

Matt and Mega, I wore the SGB Red today and it was superb in my somewhat fine textured hair. Now it will not hold like the Blue. It simply does not have that product's strength of hold. But it did leave my hair feeling full and healthy this afternoon with nary a trace of greasiness or stringiness. I am convinced more than ever that any pomade or other hair product for that matter, which has mineral oil in it is NOT for my locks. SGB is one of the very best of the old traditional products. I cannot recommend it enough. I used about a half teaspoon today. More than normal for me and it was still okay. I would add that again today it was in the low 60sF so this makes a difference. The hot weather and our ridiculous humidity would almost certainly make these products melt a bit in your hair. Good stuff but I think I like the Blue the best. We shall see what comes of it.

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Todd, I was reading through this and was wondering how you couldn't find Red to be highly shiny...I then hit the part where you said you used half a teaspoon and it made sense. I usually use more than a tablespoon when my hair is long and Red will be extremely shiny with no hold (for my hair).

Kevan said:

^ The mods want to keep down the amount of stickies we have in the various fora, but I think that here, since we don't have many stickies as it is, it's a good idea to have a permanent pomades/"trad hair products" thread affixed to the top.

The only issue is, we have that massive one with 53 pages that has a ton of good info and I was going to sticky that myself. But if we make a separate one for what works with guys with blond hair, maybe we could have a "Pomades: Info & First Stop" thread stickied with links to both threads, similar to the "Hall of Fame" thing at the top of the forum right now.

If this is an idea that people like, I'll run it up the flagpole. What say you guys?

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This sounds like the way to do it. You could even have separate posts in the sticky linking to informative posts about specific items.

paintflinger said:

This sounds like the way to do it. You could even have separate posts in the sticky linking to informative posts about specific items.

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This is exactly what I meant. Just like the "Hall of Fame" post at the top right now.

paintflinger said:

Todd, I was reading through this and was wondering how you couldn't find Red to be highly shiny...I then hit the part where you said you used half a teaspoon and it made sense. I usually use more than a tablespoon when my hair is long and Red will be extremely shiny with no hold (for my hair).

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Derek, indeed it would be a bad thing for me to use a full tablespoon of that product. Even the Blue, as much more hold as it has, would be a grease bomb on my hair if I used that much. This bit of experimenting with pomades has been a lot of fun for me.

Phog Allen said:

This bit of experimenting with pomades has been a lot of fun for me.

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Same here, learning new tricks everyday.