Well we are finally at the last installment of the Layrite line. After using both of their lighter holds, we are finishing with their Super Hold. This one is a pretty common product so I’m sure a lot of you guys have used it before. But for those of you who haven’t, here we go.

It comes in their standard 4oz white plastic tub with a screw top lid. Like the other two it has a wrap around label and a lid label. This one is basically a negative of their deluxe. Or rather that one is a negative of this one. Where the yellow was on that one this one of brown and where the brown was is yellow on this one. The only main difference on this one is it has a banner underneath the name with “super hold” in it. Both on the lid label and the wrap label.

Opening this tub up you see a pinkish matte looking gel. This one has lots of bubbles on the surface and is not see through like their deluxe was. It has more of a look like the JS Sloane pomades. The color reminds me of pink lemonade or grapefruit juice. The matte goop doesn’t smell like either of those though. It has a slight vanilla scent to it. I also think it smells like play dough. Like vanilla play dough. No one else I have talked to that has used it thinks that, but I do so I had to write it.

Getting this stuff out of the tub is a lot like scooping out Murray’s Edgewax. It felt almost exactly the same scooping it out. The only difference I noticed between the two is that this one still scoops out like a water based. What I mean is that it has that tacky resistance like most water bases do. The Murray’s is more creamy. Will it hold more than the Murray’s? We shall see.

In my hands it got really really tacky and the scent got nice and pronounced. It also kind of rubbered up slightly in my hands the more I spread the stuff around. This stuff is by far the heaviest water based pomade I’ve had between my palms. Hopefully it will hold the way it feels it will.

Running my hands over my hair I knew exactly what I was in for, tough combing. This stuff went in harder than any water based I’ve used before and even more so than most waxy pomades. Even with my hair wet, it was really hard for me to comb through my hair and distribute the pomade evenly throughout my hair. And it just wanted to stay on top of my hair. I took a couple extra small scoops to coat the sides and back of my hairs, and a bit of extra combing.

Once I finally got my hair coated evenly with pomade I started forming my pomp. For the first day I decided not to go with a super tall pomp just to show what it looks like in hair. So I just combed a medium pomp and went about my day. Now it does say Hy-Sheen on the tub, however my hair had more of a matte look to it. But hey that’s what they have the super shine for, use it as a topper with this one.

After a little while this stuff dried and hardened up. And boy did it harden! Your hair ain’t goin’ nowhere. “Where you goin’? Nowhere!”(Boston accent) The way this stuff dries really gives your hair super hold. But what if for some reason your hair gets messed up? How do you fix it? Get your hair wet, get your comb wet, recomb your hair. It takes a little bit to kind of resoften your hair, but it will recomb once it has moisture back in it. It dries back up like before when you do this.

Washing it out took me a little bit. It does come out with just water, but it took a little longer than most. I also had to kind of “wash” my hair with my hands under the water. After a couple minutes all of it was out of my hair. Once I got out of the shower and towel dried my hair I noticed that my hair was kind of dried out and coarse. This is one thing I really don’t like about water based pomades. Also why I don’t use them that often, save for a few.

After talking with Mike about their grooming spray he gave me a technique he uses that works great for him with that one combined with this stuff. So I let my hair completely dry the second day, then rewet my hair with the grooming spray. After the spray I applied the super hold, per Mike’s instructions. He said it makes the application a little easier and adds a little bit of hold. Once I put the pomade in I noticed that it was actually harder to put in and distribute for me. Combing was almost twice as difficult and took twice as long and I noticed ALOT of hairs got ripped out using this method. I did notice that the pomade distributed quite a bit more evenly and I didn’t have to scoop multiple times. So for me it’s not really that much more of a help, but Mike definitely knows his products so I’d suggest trying it. It might work for you like it does for him, but for me it didn’t really work.

I showed the holding power this stuff has this time. You can get a decently tall pomp going with this stuff. It won’t make your hair stand straight up, but you can get some nice height with it. It was kind of difficult to get a full pomp with it though. You can kind of see the gaps in the middle of my pomp in the picture. It took me quite a while to comb it to where they weren’t so apparent, but I could still tell they were there.

I sprayed a little bit of the grooming spray on top of the pomade after I combed it and I noticed a little bit of shine to my hair with it. So you can also use the grooming spray as a topper with this one for a little shine. I will be revisiting this and the super shine as a combo/revisited review(s) to show how to use them together as base and topper. But back to this pomade. The second time washing it out I noticed my hair was a little more dried out than the first day. So I rewet my hair and put in some conditioner to soften it up. I just don’t like my hair feeling like that. Which is why I try and keep a stock of conditioner on hand for days like this.

My take on this pomade is that it holds great! It also has a cool label and unique smell to it. However, this stuff just isn’t for me. I know ALOT of guys out there use it, and fairly regularly. Rightly so, it holds great and works fantastic for lots of folks. If it didn’t, Layrite wouldn’t be the company it is today. But for me, it just doesn’t work. Why that is I don’t really know. Their deluxe works good for me and my hair, but not this one for some reason. A few things I just don’t like about it are the way it rips out my hairs, the way I can’t really get a good “Doo” going with it, and the way my hair feels after it is washed out. I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t like my hair and vice versa. I can recommend trying this pomade out though! It’s a great pomade and works for lots and lots of people. Plus it’s made by a great company with some great people running/working at that company. So check it and their other products out! They have some awesome gear on their site as well as hair care products so grab a shirt or comb or rag while you’re there too!

Well it was a fun journey at each stop of this companies line of pomades, but this is the last stop. Big thanks to Mike and the team over at Layrite for the support and the gifts!!! You guys are awesome! I will be reviewing their grooming spray pretty soon, as I kind of much started the review while using this pomade, so stay tuned for that one. That one will be the final installment of their entire hair care line. I still have a couple other products from them to review though.

Til the next one,

-JC