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The end all be all of Pomades guide!

So there is always TONS of people who keep asking what pomades are best, which to use for best hair types, etc etc. Everyone always gives their opinion, but we don't know what kind of hair they have!
"Murrays helps with my wavy hair", what degree of wave do you have? Is it coarse? fine? what!!

I've used close to 130 different pomades, I stick to tried and true ones that work best for ME in certain circumstances.

So I've compiled a list of maybe the best pomades you can get, I've also used advice due in part that my hair is very wavy, on the verge of large curls. But I'll also state what hair types everything is best for.
Let's dive in!


Light Pomades:
What is a light pomade? A light pomade would be a pomade that has very little hold, but very very high shine, think of running your hair through water after coming back from a camping trip, notice the hold from your naturally oily scalp? Okay, great, THAT is a light hold pomade(maybe a little stronger of a hold, but close enough), notice how shiny your hair looks? THAT's the SHEEN of the pomade. Light pomades are typically TOP COAT; What is a top coat? It's the FINAL product you put in your hair to give it whatever varying amount of sheen that you want, some lights are SUPER shiny, like royal crown HAIR DRESSING, then you have some light pomades like Murrays "Super lite" that deliver a decent amount of shine, but not the "just out of the shower look".

BEST LIGHT POMADES/TOP COAT:
1.Royal crown hair dressing: For single use(I.e no heavy pomade underneath) The best hair types for this pomade would be pin straight hair to a slight wave, anything more than that, your hair will turn into an ugly mess.
Fine to medium hair coarseness.

2. Rumble 59 schmiere soft: Very good sheen on this pomade. For single use, again, you'll be limited to straight to slight wave, fine to medium hair coarseness.

3. Murrays super lite. Same as above applies.

4. Dax short an neat. Nearly Identical to Murrays, but a touch more sheen.

5.Murrays hair glo. Not as great as super lite, but it's still a winner.

Medium Pomade: What is a medium pomade?
A medium pomade is a pomade that has a stronger hold, less sheen. It's essentially a 50-50 of heavy and light hold pomade. It's the sweet spot, normally used as a second to the base coat topped with a third coat.
"What's the deal with three coats?! I thought two or one was enough?!" A medium coat is an excellent buffer to the base coat. The light coat on top of the base coat will usually break down the base coat and make it weaker..Think of it as fortifying the defenses. It helps also in the summer as a second layer as so the sun as to essentially melt three layers of pomade instead of two, thus it keeps your hair up longer.

Unlike lights, Mediums can be used as a base coat by MANY people, but it still hampers with the length of said hair. For me, I can't use mediums to do a pompadour, it wont work, at all, no matter what. However, I can use mediums for a classic side part, or a side part with a small quiff. So for me, less than 4 inches and I can style my hair with mediums. More than 4 inches? forget about it.

Best medium hold Pomades:

1. Black and white. It is THE medium hold pomade, I firmly believe EVERYONE should have a tub, or at least tried it.
Great sheen for a medium, great hold as well. Best for straight to slight wavy hair, if longer than 4-5 inches use this as a secondary coat. Best for fine-coarse hair if straight to semi-wavy, fine to medium for very wavy hair.

2. Sweet Georgia brown, red tin: The second best pomade, period.
Since this is a heavy medium(more of that later), you can do many styles with this pomade on varying types of hair.
Again, this is best for people with straight to semi-wavy hair, it WILL weigh your hair down. `This stuff will work with fine-semi wavy hair. Again very wavy if you have fine or medium hair.

3. Doctor Rubins pomade: just a great all around pomade, a little low on sheen, maybe on par with black and white. Same deal with hair as black and white.

4.Reuzel green tin: Same as above.

5. Imperial...I really hate water soluble, so you wont get anything good out of me, but a decent pomade none the less.

Heavy hold Pomade
:punk::

This stuff is heavy....It will hold almost, just about everything. Nothing much to say here, everyone has tried a heavy, they all know what it's about. This will work with anything, straight, wavy, curly, fine or coarse. Very low sheen, very high hold....To an extent(will go in more depth later).
I'll just jump into the pomades.

Best heavy hold pomades:

1. Murray's superior: The mac daddy. The Judas to the Priest. The AC to the DC. The Mega to the Death.
This is something seriously everyone who calls them selves a male should try. Notorious for almost never coming out of your hair, but still loved by millions. Cost for the best pomade ever? 1$-3.50....Yep.
Low shine, heavy hold, nothing really comes close to Murray's in monster hold. It's a one buck chuck, try it.

2. Dax wave and groom: The kiss. The aerosmith. The Rush. The softer but still rockin' cousin to Murray's.
This is a little cuter and cuddlier. Washes out easier, harder to find, about the same price.
Has a great sheen for being a heavy, though it tends to be more on the medium heavy side.
Works just as well as Murray's minus some hold.

3. Sweet Georgia Brown, blue tin: Only third because it is trumped by the classic pomade that came before it. This also should be in everyones cabinet. Sweet rose scent. Very strong hold, close to murrays, decent shine, but nothing to write home about.


4. Rumble 59 Schmiere rock hard: The little boy who wishes he could.
The part wax, part grease brother. Laughably soft hold for such a heavy pomade. A little lighter of a hold than dax, hardly any sheen, this can get curls right out of ones locks.

5. Suavecito Firme: Seriously, a water soluble that holds like hell. Cheap, feels cheap, but does WHATEVER you ask for it and KEEPS IT THAT WAY.





Hold the phone!

What is medium light hold, heavy light, heavy medium, light medium, light light?

AH! I'm glad you asked me boy.

Think of pomades as a spectrum. Good, you have the idea in your head? Cool. Now when you buy a medium hold pomade, like black and white for example you're getting a "true" medium. It doesn't teeter any which way, it has average sheen and decent hold. A medium like tres flores for example is a medium "light", medium hold but with high sheen like that of a "light" pomade...It's on the lighter end of the spectrum for mediums.
Heavy and light hold pomades also have the same spectrum.
A light like royal crown hair dressing has less hold than royal crown pomade but a much higher sheen, but are both "light".

"Wait, hair dressing and pomade? Whats the difference!?"
Nothing. Literally, nothing. A light pomade is more likely to be considered a "dressing" as it is usually applied as a top coat, or a very thin layer is applied to hair to just "dress it"..But seriously, nothing different.


Now, I'll talk about water solubles and why I hate them: You see, people like us ethnic folks(middle easterners, blacks, etc etc) who have very wavy hair or curly hair can't use things like imperial or what have you, even the heaviest hold doesn't really hold.
The BEST WS for us kind of folks is ONLY suavecito Firme. Nothing else seems to cut the mustard.
Also, I feel like water soluble makes my hair feel very weird and unnatural. It just doesn't sit right.

Also, there is halfsies as well, water solubles that really aren't water soluble, but are, but have petroleum in them. Confused? Good, so am I, I find no point. But for those of you who want to try greasy pomades but want it to wash out easier after you find you hate them, there is a pomade called "krew comb" it's in a blue and white tub and have pink cream on the inside, yes I said CREAM because it feels kind of like a thick cream.

Speaking of creams, let's talk about that.

Creams are only good if you want light control, light sheen. These also work VERY well as "Light, LIGHT" top coats, like brylcreem.
People who benefit from creams the most are typically thinning men, they can't use anything much heavier as it completely weighs the hair down. Don't attempt in using this stuff if your hair is at all wavy or curly, unless you want to make your awkward looking head of hair shiny. It has no hold at all.

Tonics, just greasy water to add shine. Best used for pin straight folks, or thinning folks. It really serves no purpose as a "styling" product. The only hair is styles is the above hair types, the fine pin straight hair.

Stickiness: You can have a Medium pomade be very sticky but hold better than a heavy pomade. Remember, 4 strands of hair together are stronger than one. Sticky pomades are VERY good, and you should stick with them(no pun intended). The more slick, the less hold, the stickier, the holdier.


Cleaning out the pomade:
Gentlemen, use this advice kindly. Any super light crummy hair gel will break down the pomade :)
Or you can do it faster by buying "groom and clean" Leave it in your hair for 30 minuets, two washes later and it's gone! Trust me, it works well.



In conclusion:

So, now you're well versed on various pomades, you can refer to this guide whenever you need!

I also hope people can put helpful info on here.

P.S don't ask OTHERS what pomade to get, honestly, read the reviews, the best thing to do is TRY IT. YOUR hair is different from MY hair or another forum users hair. What I or another folk like, probably wont do squat to your hair. Ask for advice, and if you GIVE advice, please, for the sake of the holy land, just give a description of the product, the thickness, the weight, scent. Don't talk about hold, because everyone is different.


Cheers Gentlemen :euro::a39:
 
Very nice write up and very interesting as well. Of all those, I think SGB Blue is my favorite. But rose scent? I get a spicy but powdery scent from that. Maybe I'm just not good at figuring out scents. But it smells very classy and manly. Either way, it's still a great pomade.

Black and White- love love love the scent. The hold is ok sometimes, but other times doesn't want to cooperate. Maybe it would be better with several days of build up.

I've seen Royal Crown Hairdressing locally, but haven't picked any up. I found Dax Wave and Groom as well and picked a tin of that up.

I found Tres Flores Brilliantine both solid and liquid in my favorite Hispanic store/ restaurant in West Tampa. I have some of the solid and use it as a topper with Tres Flores Molding Pomade.

Brylcreem does absolutely nothing for me except make me mad. I guess I should try it as a topper.

The best water soluble pomade I have tried is Type 550 Extra Firm. It has a citrusy/aloe vera scent to it and doesn't harden up like Uppercut Deluxe or Dapper Dan Deluxe.
 
Very good, comprehensive guide. This will go in the "Pomades: First Stop" thread I will make...eventually. :laugh: It'll include links to all of these useful threads should they one day fall off the front page. I just have to sit down and compile them all one night.
 
Hahah, I became kind of lazy towards the end as you can tell.
But I think this should just be a sticky thread just because once a week there is always a "what kind of pomade..." question. Or someone new who knows nothing about pomades. ETC ETC. And it could be used as a reference.
Most of my pomades that I suggested are fairly cheap so people can use them and understand the different pomades and what they do. Where as in a "what kind" thread, people suggest everything and people have no clue how to gauge them.
 
I should also get a tag like Kevins "steward" that says "pomade expert" since I know everything about pomades.. I can look at a picture of someones hair and instantly tell them what pomade works best :p. I have no life, I know. I might make a video that I'll also post on here.
 
For great scent I like Linetti pomades and brilliantine.Although not as fabulous as it once was,Yardleys lavender pomade is still very nice.You can still find Old Spice Short Cut pomade online every now and then,and this stuff smells fantastic.
 
I should also get a tag like Kevins "steward" that says "pomade expert" since I know everything about pomades.. I can look at a picture of someones hair and instantly tell them what pomade works best :p. I have no life, I know. I might make a video that I'll also post on here.
Be careful what you wish for here at B&B... :tongue_sm
 
This is fantastic! Thanks for putting this together. I'm getting close to finishing up several tins of pomade and will be looking to replenish my stock soon, so this is very helpful.
 

tankerjohn

A little poofier than I prefer
I should also get a tag like Kevins "steward" that says "pomade expert" since I know everything about pomades.. I can look at a picture of someones hair and instantly tell them what pomade works best :p. I have no life, I know. I might make a video that I'll also post on here.

Okay, smart guy. What pomade is going to work best for me?

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^ The challenge has been laid down. Want this thread stickied? Show me somethin.' :laugh: Help a fellow member out!
 
Okay, smart guy. What pomade is going to work best for me?

View attachment 586647

Honestly a medium would be best, maybe on the stronger side will keep your hair in fine order. Black and white would be great, but since your hair seems to be "pokey" I.E it sticks out, you can use a combination of dax and black and white, dax is sticky and will keep the hair down, and black and white would give it some great support hold. Or you can just use dax all around.
Since the sides of your hair stick out, it might be very beneficial if you grew them out until you could slick them down.

If you want water based pomade, cool grease is a good product, as is suavecito firme or layrite extra hold.

Schmiere might be another great pomade line to look into as they have a fairly decent water based pomade and the ultra hard is beeswax based which works well for people with pokey hair.
 
P.S for the sides, use a military brush to mat them down. Make sure your hair is damp when you apply it that way it weighs it down so the hairs stay down and the pomade will help dry it into that position. But since you have fine hair, a medium or light pomade would be the top notch bet. On the heavy side dax would be plenty useful. Murrays would be overkill.


Do I get my badge now?
 
Badges are special items and aren't easily conferred by the higher-ups. But if you're lucky (or unlucky as the case may be :laugh: )...a custom title could be in your future.
 

tankerjohn

A little poofier than I prefer
Honestly a medium would be best, maybe on the stronger side will keep your hair in fine order. Black and white would be great, but since your hair seems to be "pokey" I.E it sticks out, you can use a combination of dax and black and white, dax is sticky and will keep the hair down, and black and white would give it some great support hold. Or you can just use dax all around.
Since the sides of your hair stick out, it might be very beneficial if you grew them out until you could slick them down.

If you want water based pomade, cool grease is a good product, as is suavecito firme or layrite extra hold.

Schmiere might be another great pomade line to look into as they have a fairly decent water based pomade and the ultra hard is beeswax based which works well for people with pokey hair.

Hey, all right! Thanks. Yeah, my hair looked pretty ratty in that pic. It was about 10 minutes after a shower with a bare minimum of combing (I do use a military brush for styling). I'm due for a haircut too. I was curious what you'd say and how closely your advice would track with what I'm already using. Your recommendation was right on the money. I do get great results with Black and White (which you PIFed me a while back, if you recall - thx!) and Dax. I found Dax Wave and Groom was way too thick and heavy. Short and Neat was better, but left me a little greasier looking than I prefer. But mixing them together hits the spot. I also really like Royal Crown Pomade (not to be confused with the Hairdressing), which feels very similar to Black and White, but doesn't smell as good. Let's see, I've also tried Murray's Superlight (which feels like more of a medium to me) and Nu Nile, both of which were okay but don't look as good in my hair as Dax. I figured that if Wave and Groom was too heavy for me, that Murrays' Superior is a no-go too. Heck, I might try it one of these days anyway just for grins and giggles. The only water-based product I've used is good 'ole Groom and Clean. It works okay, but I can't stand the pumpkin bread scent longer than ten minutes. Truthfully, I've never had any trouble washing out regular pomade (maybe because I only use a little bit), so I haven't felt the need to go water-based. I like the ingredients in the old school pomades better anyway. Interesting you mentioned Schmiere. I like the pictures on the cans, but it seems a bit pricey, at least on this side of the Pond.
 
Hey, all right! Thanks. Yeah, my hair looked pretty ratty in that pic. It was about 10 minutes after a shower with a bare minimum of combing (I do use a military brush for styling). I'm due for a haircut too. I was curious what you'd say and how closely your advice would track with what I'm already using. Your recommendation was right on the money. I do get great results with Black and White (which you PIFed me a while back, if you recall - thx!) and Dax. I found Dax Wave and Groom was way too thick and heavy. Short and Neat was better, but left me a little greasier looking than I prefer. But mixing them together hits the spot. I also really like Royal Crown Pomade (not to be confused with the Hairdressing), which feels very similar to Black and White, but doesn't smell as good. Let's see, I've also tried Murray's Superlight (which feels like more of a medium to me) and Nu Nile, both of which were okay but don't look as good in my hair as Dax. I figured that if Wave and Groom was too heavy for me, that Murrays' Superior is a no-go too. Heck, I might try it one of these days anyway just for grins and giggles. The only water-based product I've used is good 'ole Groom and Clean. It works okay, but I can't stand the pumpkin bread scent longer than ten minutes. Truthfully, I've never had any trouble washing out regular pomade (maybe because I only use a little bit), so I haven't felt the need to go water-based. I like the ingredients in the old school pomades better anyway. Interesting you mentioned Schmiere. I like the pictures on the cans, but it seems a bit pricey, at least on this side of the Pond.

Where are you at? I have some nipplehard(knuppelhardt) I can send some over if you'd like! Let me know!

And see, I hit his hair type spot on..SO HAH, I AM THE POMADE KING!
 
Yeah superlite is kind of on the softer side of medium, at least when I use it anyways (wavy hair woes).

AND I GOT STICKIED!
 
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