GROOM Hair pomade – A natural formulation for the slicked back look

Today after numerous months of waiting and procrastination, I finally decided to try the Groom Hair pomade.  Groom is a Canadian company from Montreal.  They make a number of “grooming” products for men.  I became aware of this brand sometime in the summer of 2016 as I saw an advertisement for their product line in “Homme magazine”.

The Reason why I had been delaying this test is essentially because this product is oil based.  Natural oil based I might add, not petrolatum or any other petro-derivative products.  Plainly put, I just don’t like oil in my hair all that much.  It’s too greasy and depending on the product it might not be all that nice to the touch. To top it all off, oil based pomades are notoriously hard to wash out.

So “Pomade Guy” why did you spend some of that hard earned money on such a jar, you ask?!  Well, that’s a good question!  There are two reasons:

• Numero ono: It’s a Canadian made product and as such it had to be tested.
• Secondly: Yes, it’s an oil based pomade, but “natural oils”. Not a chemical party.

Scent wise, this product reminded me a bit of a natural health food store; beans, seeds, oils. Maybe a very faint touch of pine. Aside from that it has no fragrance whatsoever, so people with sensitive noses or allergies will like it.

Something interesting to note about the jar; there is what might look to be an expiration date. That is almost unheard of in the pomade world and a topic I ranted plenty about.  Because this pomade is composed of natural ingredients, it is quite understandable that it would have a determined shelf-life and by extension, an expiration date.

Beeswax, jojoba oil and shea butter are some of the “Rock Star”ingredients in this pomade.  Shea butter to mention only this one has an excellent reputation for both hair and skin applications.  A simple google search (shea butter benefits in hair) will mention that shea butter has properties that nourish the scalp and help re-grow hair.   Yes please! Even if you don’t need it, those are some solid credentials!  As part of that, I came across an interesting site and figured I should share: alopeciafree.com

Upon opening the jar you will be presented with a freshness seal. We can assume that the shelf-life counter starts the moment that seal is removed.  In the jar the pomade is very firm and almost feels like wax.  It takes a little palm heat to soften it up, at which point it is feels like a proper pomade.  Application is standard.  The products sticks nicely to the hair while remaining workable.  At this point the product feels fairly light and sticky and I was able to style my hair in a decent pomp.  Because they’re such a high oil content this product offers a lot of shine.  So if you’re after shine, you’ll like this product.

About 40 minutes after application, things started to change.  Our scalp naturally produces a fair bit of heat.  This heat is transferred to the hair to some extent and had a counter-productive effect on the pomade. At room temperature (20’C) this pomade is firm, but after being in contact with my body temperature (37’C) the product pretty much lost its rigidity.  My look went from a straight shiny pomp to a flat wavy and shiny slick back.  If this is the look you aspire too, then this is the pomade for you.

Perhaps we should make a note on price. This jar was sold for some $30 in a local fashion boutique.  You know where I stand on price and this is outside of my range.  The only reason I ended up with this jar is as a result of an exchange.  The price is certainly driven by the natural composition and artisanal feel the product has. Personally I am a sucker for that personalized touched and obviously going natural makes sense.  In short that is why I was interested in the brand.

Here is the rating on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is a perfect score and/or the level of shine.

• Hold: 1.5
• Shine: 5
• Texture: 3.5
• Feel in hair: 4
• Facility to wash out: 4 (I was pleasantly surprise to see how well this stuff came out.  Again, a perk of going natural.)

I bought my jar at a local shop here in Gatineau (Hull):