The common products on the market tend to be wax, gel, mousse or hairspray. Many people are not familiar with a product called “pomade”, a hair styling substance that does not dry therefore leaving the hair slick and shiny. It is a product that is highly popular with barbers and with the current trend of vintage hairstyles, pomades are becoming much more demanding in the market.

During the 19th and 20th century, pomade was a prevalent hair styling product. They are certainly becoming more prominent in today’s market, and if you’re rocking a pompadour, ducktail, undercut, side part, or a quiff, then pomade would certainly be one of your grooming essentials.

There are two different types of pomades: oil based and water based. They both produce a slick, wet and shiny look (although matte clay pomade is also available for a non shiny appearance), keeping it fresh rather than dry and hard. Oil based pomade originated earlier than the water based type. It is basically a grease substance, made from petroleum grease, oil based grease or beeswax. Although it is the original type of pomade, and stays in your hair much longer, it is also much harder to wash out.

Water based pomades are simply made up of water. Since it is water based, this type of product is water soluble, meaning that it will wash out like gel very easily. Some water based pomades can dry out like gels but with a little bit of water, it can be restyled. Water based pomades tend to be more expensive than oil based pomades but since it provides the ease for washing out, it can be a preferred option. And for that reason we certainly recommend the water based pomades!

Water based or oil based, the preference is completely up to the user. Since vintage hairstyles are a high trend, with current role models like David Beckham, Jon Hamm and Brad Pitt, using a product like pomade will certainly help with these type of hairstyles. As they say with all pomades, “holds like wax, washes out like gel”.