Sunday, October 28, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Lanolin?
Seems like a whole lot of different products are infused with lanolin, and they want to tell you right on the label so it must be important right? Maybe you're one step ahead of me, but what it is it? They say it's refined wool wax or wool grease, secreted from the sebaceous glands of wool bearing animals. These are the glands that hang out just below the skin and funnel into hair follicles to coat and protect hairs.. or in a sheep's case, to waterproof their coats. This is just one of the reasons pomade can be a bitch to wash out.. seems like sometimes it just gets harder and more cement like in the shower.
Most of the lanolin we use comes from domestic sheep by kneading raw wool in water or using a chemical process to get it out, then of course it's treated heavily, refined, bleached and deodorized. It's made up of sterols, fatty acids and some other things, which constitutes it as a 'natural moisturizer with powerful protective properties' So we're using fatty acids from sheep's sebaceous glands hahaa, pretty crazy. But don't worry for all the animal lovers, they say sheep outnumber humans big time.. about 45 million sheep for every 4 million people so there shouldn't be any shortages any time soon. I think it's funny they named this Garfield character Lanolin.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Dax Neat Waves Review
Went searching for some High and Tight the other week, and when I finally found a can.. it said best used by 3/11, huh.. watch those expiration dates. That killed my plans, but next to that I saw the Neat Waves, still with plastic wrap around the can so it's got to be fresh right? Said good til 2017 so if it lasts that long, that high and tight had to be old as hell. But I've never seen a can still wrapped which is kind of cool cause that means I'm not getting a can of grease that had 5 finger samples swiped out of it if you know what I mean.
Getting into it here, popped the can and it smells really good.. like how a classic pomade should, clean pretty much smells like the Wave and Groom, but a notch sweeter. Swiped some out and the consistency is great, it's already soft when you put it in your hands but not so soft that it's dripping off. If you've ever messed around with Murray's light, Dax Short and Neat or other hair dressing type products, you know that too soft can be bad.. But it seems Dax may have nailed with this, I read they geared it toward people who mix a little softener into the strong hold pomade. This is good cause it runs through your hair without pulling any out, and styles up quick.
The texture made me wonder if it would hold good, but I rocked it all day through 11 hour shifts and with an extra dab here and there it held pretty well. The only thing I can say about halfway through my bangs kind of dropped a bit, but solved that with a little wax.
Soften and hold, at the same time huh? Moisturize and perfect hold don't really go together so I figured that was a bunch of bull, but this shit really does make your hair soft after it's been in for awhile. Even my girl noticed that it felt different, kind of makes it easy to run your fingers through but keeps the style. When it says maximum shine, it will give you that at first, but it cools off after awhile.. this is after rocking it about 6 hours with a quick re comb.
If you like the high gloss, a little dab works good as a dressing top coat after you've got it in already. Or you could take a light layer of it's big brother the Wave and Groom, wax or something strong and just run over the top after you style to keep everything in place. I know most people start with the strong for the base, but this stuff could work either way.
Overall I think it's great and have been using it daily since I grabbed it. Smells nice, styles quick, keeps your hair soft and easy to comb through the day, washes out pretty good and only cost 3$
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Groom & Clean
Groom&Clean, one of the classic products for everyone right? That's what I thought, saw some at Walmart for 3$ so I figured why not.. Slathered some up, put in it and said damn, this stuff smells like shit. Looks like blue toothpaste, smells really bad, and I was too pissed about my head smelling like crap to even want to work with it..
Now that's just my two cents, but of course there's about a million and one great reviews and faithful users of this product. I might try using it for it's cleaning properties.. supposed to cut grease and I've heard it's good to put in about a half hour before a heavy washout. As for an everyday thing, that's out for me.. might be good for you, but I suggest squirting some in your hand for a quick sniff at the store. They say you either love it or hate it.
To Go
We've all been there before.. halfway through work, school, a date, freak windstorms. Whatever the case superman isn't gonna save you, so you've got to be prepared. Grab some to go containers from the pharmacy or pickup some mini Murrays tins. You can even scoop out the Superior and throw in some wax or whatever the weapon of choice is.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
American Crew Forming Cream
Grabbed some of this the other week along with 2 of their other products.. Says it's medium hold and shine. Honestly had lowest expectations for this one so I figured I'd try it first. What gave me that feeling was it was that it was a cream with medium hold, so I figured my hair would be flopping around in my face. It does say it would be better for short styles but I'm always looking for mid to low shine for the dry look so I'll try anything. Plus cream products are always interesting to me because they're easier to wash out.
Getting into it, the first thing I noticed was how sticky this shit is.. sticky as hell, which I figured might be good for hold. Dipping into a cream I wasn't expecting that at all, but took it as a good omen. Put a little in the palms, smoothed it out and rubbed it in. You have to be quick with this stuff cause it dries up fast, so get it in before it turns to stick on your hands. Had to run a couple glops through but got it working for me.
Overall I'd say it's pretty good.. completely knocked my expectations out of the water. Had to work with the back to keep it down, but I just had a cut so it was a bit shorter back there anyhow. I'm sure it would work great with short hair, but I was happy with the results. It gave me a nice dry look, held better than I thought it would, smells really good, and washed out the next day with ease.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Murray's Nu Nile Review
Murray's NuNile, Hair Slick dressing pomade.. sounds fancy right? This is one of those intriguing cans you might pass by, but don't be discouraged. According to the can, it's great for short, wavy, curly, bobbed, and straight hairstyles.. how can you go wrong?
Time to see what it's all about
Looks pretty much like beeswax, smells close, but different.. not unpleasant, kind of a waxy product smell if there is a thing. Getting into it, it's got the wax consistency but not quite as sticky and it softens up a lot quicker when you get it working in your palms.
They say damp, but I took it dry.. no problems for me but I'd stick with what you usually do. It worked in rather nice, ran my hands over the top and through the mop lightly and it didn't grab any hairs out. Brushed it through completely and it styled up with ease.
Worked pretty damn good for me, held strong all day and gave me a little extra height that was cool. I hear a lot of people say the NuNile makes your hair shiny but I didn't think there was a noticeable difference between this and and the murray's beeswax or pomade. If you take a bristle brush to it lightly it kind of mattes the finish. Works good for me.. holds well, styles great, price is right at around 2.50$ at most stores. Grab some and give it a try.
American Crew
When it comes to grease, usually I stick with traditional products like a 2$ can of Murray's.. I saw this stuff for 15.99 and said what!? But after closer inspection realized it smells awesome, and looked pretty good.. but that still wasn't enough for me. I asked my barber.. Is that crew stuff worth it? and without hesitation he said, yeah it really is. Hmm, I still remained skeptical about shelling out the dough but found it offered at buy 2 get one free and figured what the hell. I couldn't decide which one to get anyhow so that made it easy. Looking forward to testing the waters, will post some reviews when I do.
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