Clubman-Pinaud Brillantine, a complete surprise!

In my quest for original old school men products, the Clubman – Pinaud brand has come up.  The elegant gentleman logo is unmistakable. This brand dates back to “1810” and has a rater large product offering from shaving to hair care.  This is not a brand you will encounter in regular stores like pharmacies or even hair salons, it is very much a “Barber Shop” thing.  During my visit at “Not your father’s Barber” for example, they used the Clubman shaving cream.  I have also seen it in other old school barber shops in town (Ottawa that is).

Brillantine was presented to the “Paris Expo Universelle of 1900”, by Edouard Pinaud.  That first formulation was essentially an oily coloured liquid to give some shine to hair.  The word “Brillantine” is composed of the word “Brillant” which means “to shine” in French.  Perhaps a note on the spelling, in French: Brillantine.  In English: Brilliantine.   I am not sure when the formulation changed to end up being the water based pomade I was able to purchase, but suffice to say this hair fixative has lived a long time to get to today.

With the Clubman brand starting in 1810 it is unclear as to when Edouard Pinaud joined the party and the brand became Clubman-Pinaud, but we can probably assume, somewhere around 1900 and I am sure there is an awesome story there too.

Some of the Clubman-Pinaud products have essentially faded out of the repertoire of products used by men.  For example: talc, hair tonic or even alcohol based after-shaves.  This does not mean that these products do not have their uses or following, but it’s just not main stream anymore.  Until of course, the whole Barber Shop revival and men rediscovering all of these forgotten products.

During one of my frequent visits at OBSCO, I was thrilled to see that they carried pretty much the full Clubman-Pinaud line.  What caught my eye about these products is the authenticity and spirit.  It looks like the packaging and labeling has remained unchanged since their launch.  Being a sucker for that nostalgia aspect of “how things use to be”, I could simply not avoid this brand.  Another fun fact is that these products are quite inexpensive. In that light they also feed that need for value.

I picked up 2 Clubman-Pinaud products;

• The Brillantine Hair Pomade for $10
• The Lime-Sec after-shave eau de toilette $14

 

Today’s review is about the Brillantine hair pomade.  Since it’s an old school product and sporting such as name, I was expecting something fairly heavy and most certainly greasy.

Surprise-Surprise!  It is water based and is by no means greasy.  In fact, texture wise it fit right up there with some my other favorite pomades like: Layrite, Suavecito, Zeus or Rumble 59’s Schmiere.

The pomade needed a bit of relaxing but was very pleasant to work with.  Easy to spread and apply.  As usual, very little is needed to get the job done.

This water pomade is different in the sense that it has fabulous hold, but does not firm up all that much.  Probably less than any other pomade I have tested.  If you have any rebellious curls to tame, this goo does an awesome job of that.

In the hair, the hold is perfect and not one bit crunchy.  I am writing this review perhaps 8 hours after application and things are still where they should be.  I should mention that the pomade does not lock your hair in place like Suavecito for example.  It literally controls your hair as opposed to gluing it in place.  Something I am enjoying very much.  It offers a slightly more relaxed look, but yet does a great job of styling the hair in the pomp and under cut styles.

Because of the “Brilliant” name component, you might be expecting some good shine.  This part doesn’t come out as loudly as you might think..  The shine aspect is very tamed.  If anything it made my hair look a tad darker as if it was a little wet.

Scent wise, it is practically neutral.  I could barely smell anything at all.  Whatever is there, I can not describe.  It is simply too faint.

This is now my second day sporting this pomade and it’s making itself a spot among my top 10.

Here is the rating on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is a perfect score.

• Hold: 5
• Shine: 3.5
• Texture: 5
• Feel in hair: 5
• Facility to wash out: 5

 

When shopping at OBSCO, mention “STYLE4MEN” for a 10% discount.

If you can’t make out to OBSCO, use this link to shop for this products: