Prospectors is back with two gold nuggets
This review will mark somewhat of a close call for us at Style4men.ca. Our hosting service was up for renewal – No biggie, but this also uncovered that we were just a few megabytes from having used up all of our allocated space. The price points to get more storage space for our videos, photos and reviews was so high that our full operation would have to be re-imagined and possibly just put on hold. For the next day, countless depressing options were considered until we finally looked at this with a calm head and asked ourselves the basic question: what is using this unreasonable amount of space. Within a few hours our culprit backup approach was identified and resolved. I am thrilled to report that we are good to go! It is with great joy that I publish this review for you our loyal and passionate followers.
So you’re looking for products that will give you that Barbershop feel? Then you are looking at the right post! One word: Prospectors!
In the spirit of full disclosure, you should know that I am partial to the Prospectors product line. An instant crush was locked in when I tried out their IRON ORE pomade a couples years back. The performance and scent of this pomade was nothing short of memorable. It also made my 2017 top 5 pomades list.
I was recently thrilled to learn by our friends at Ultimate Barber Supplies (the Canadian Distributor of Prospectors) that Propectors was expanding its offering with a new pomade and a hair tonic. Coming up with new products is never a small affair considering the challenges of actually getting it out to market. Kudos to Prospectors to getting 2 new products out.
A huge shout out goes to Kolby at Ultimate for allowing us to do what we love to do with some of the best hair and grooming products out there!
For anyone in the pomade game, a hair tonic is almost as useful or as important as a “comb”. The term “Tonic” is wide-open and encompasses many things.
In the strictest sense of the term a hair tonic is a water and alcohol concoction that is used to refresh the scalp and dissolved old-school oil/grease based pomades. Another formulation is to have an oil based tonic which was ideal for dissolving heavy grease pomade as oil is lighter than grease. As you can guess, tonics were a big piece of the hair grooming business between the 1920’s – 60’s. But with grease based pomades fading to the background in the 70’s to the late 90’s, so have the tonics. Fast forward to today with the revival of Barbershops and the explosions of new and reformulated pomades, it was just a question of time before we started seeing tonics come back.
The only modern products I have tried that are also labeled as “tonics” are the two variations from REUZEL which follow the water/alcohol and water/oil compositions.
I like to refer to the period when I was exposed to pomades as the “Revelation“. The next big comparable event was when I tried tonics.
You should know that today’s tonics can be found under different monikers; texturizing spray, volumizing spray and/or salt sprays. Up front the purposes of these newer products are a tad different as they are focused on volume, but their composition is such that they can be categorized as a tonic. For the past 2 + years I have been using such products for the following jobs:
- Relax / revive my existing pomade in order to restyle (As in a way to skip the hair wash on the next morning)
- Create volume and texture as a pre-styler in the blow drying stage before applying pomade
The Prospectors tonic targets these specific tasks and sets itself as that convenient and multi-purpose product. This styling tonic has a humble fresh and sweet aroma. Think discreet and pleasant. In my product exploration I have used it for the 2 specified tasks and in both case it has done an excellent job. As a pre-styler it has created ridiculous volume which wasn’t sticky. For example when you use a salt spray to create volume, the salt will tend to bond the hair in small clumps. It does the job, but things can get a little tangled. The Prospectors tonic kept everything perfectly smooth.
I also used it as a “morning after reviver”. Washing your hair every day might sound like a good idea but the detergents in most shampoos are too aggressive to rub on your head that often. You: But I can’t do a decent styling without washing my hair first! I hear you. And you have probably also tried just wetting your hair a bit in hopes of getting the party started again with poor results.
Here is what you do:
- Give your bottle of Prospector Styling Tonic a good shake
- Squirt 5-6 shots throughout your hair
- Rub it in gently
- Using a hair pick, comb things back together
- Touch thing up with a small amount of fresh pomade
- You look like you’re in control of your life again.
Having tried a few Styling Sprays, the one from Prospectors gets a spot among my favorites.
As stated above, Prospectors launched 2 products. Let’s not have that great tonic overshadow the “all natural hemp oil pomade”. Before getting into the pomade itself, I want to make a point about hemp oil. Hemp oil is a direct gift from the hair Gods. Anyone with hair loss, dry scalp and damaged hair should consider this: benefits of hemp oil for hair.
OK point made! Although there is hemp oil in here, this is still a water based pomade. That said, the pomade has an authentic thick feel that is typical of those original oil-greased pomades. I was even caught a little off guard and double checked the ingredient list to confirm that this was a water based or water soluble product. It goes in the hair very much like those older pomades making it a very easy product to work with. That being the case I was a little concerned that I might not find the much needed “hold” and commitment my hair needs. Usually with warmer weather and the natural heat produced by our body it’s enough to relax oil pomades to the point where things don’t hold up. Surprise-surprise! This is turning out to be a very lovely product with real hold.
Here is the rating on a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 is a perfect score and/or level of shine:
- Hold: 4
- Shine: 4
- Texture: 5
- Feel in hair: 5+
- Facility to wash out: 5
The result is shiny with excellent hair separation. This makes it a perfect product if you are looking for that neat finish. The product does dry within about 15 – 20 minutes and firms up ever so slightly. No crunchiness whatsoever! In so many words it’s a perfect balance of old and new. It feels like a classic pomade but behaves with all of the perks of newer products.
The pomade is discreetly scented with what reminds me of that nice Asian lychee fruit with perhaps a touch of banana.
In my nearly unmanageable hair, this pomade kept it together for about 2/3 of the day while feeling fantastic. My hair felt great to the touch and my scalp was not itchy once.
In closing, this styling tonic is one of the nicest I have tried and is a perfect addition to Prospectors range as it fills in that void. The hemp oil pomade turned out to be a total surprise by offering a styling and feel generally only available in “classic” pomade along with the simplicity and convenience of a water pomade. And what’s not to love about having hemp oil working on your hair?!