Hey guys finally back with another hair product review. I know it’s been a while. After the summer of only using heavies and super heavies my hair needed a break. So I’ve only been using tried and true stuff and my own pomades. Plus I’ve just been so damn busy running two companies and haven’t really felt like writing lately. This stuff is a brand new water based product made by Benjamin over at Anchors Hair Co. I’m starting with their Sirens & Sailors moldable matte wax first. Benjamin contacted me about reviewing his new products and sent me out some samples the following week. I tried it out as soon as I got it and now am going back to it to finalize the review. So let’s get to it!
The sample I got comes in a blue plastic tub with a black screw on lid. It has a lid label and side label as well. The lid label is just their logo, an anchor with A and Co on either side of it. The side label wraps around a little over half of the tub. The left side of it has the directions, the center indicates which product it is, and the right side has the ingredient list. Fairly simple labeling and kind of straight to the point. Kind of nice to see that every once in a while I think. Don’t get me wrong, I love the flashy labels a lot, but I love variety and simplistic labels as well.
Opening the little blue tub up you see a cream colored creamy paste. It has some waxy shine to it on the top and a very “extruded” look to it. Now the ingredient list says that this one is a water based product. However, the following ingredients are 3 different kinds of wax, real wax mind you, not the fake waxes other companies use. Then there is lanolin and real oils like grape seed and olive. So this one appears to be a true water based pomade like Layrite’s Super Shine. The scent is really really good!! It smells of cherry candy and almonds with a slight floral undertone on the back end. I really like this scent a lot! It doesn’t smell too chemically like some water bases or pastes or creams do.
Upon digging my finger into the paste I wasn’t that surprised with what I pulled out. It has a creamy waxy texture to it but is tacky at the same time. It’s not like any other product I have used before texture wise. So I don’t really have anything to compare it to or reference for you guys. But it feels more like a pomade than a water based or paste. Could this be an actual water based pomade like Layrite’s super shine? We shall see…
It gets really creamy in your hands while still maintaining its tackiness. It starts out soft then as you rub your palms together it starts to feel more like a pomade. All the while maintaining its tacky, paste feel to it. It turns more of a white color as you work it in your hands, like most products do. The scent pretty much stays the same, I didn’t notice any significant difference when it was in my hands.
When you run your hands over your hair it feels kind of like applying a light-medium pomade. It allows you to work it in pretty evenly with just your hands and fingers. It does have some resistance to it so you know it’s going to have some hold, but it’s not hard to work in at all. Combing it around was a breeze. I really enjoyed how this stuff felt in my hair while I was combing it in. It’s nice to be able to comb freely and fast without tugging out any hairs again. I spent a couple extra seconds just combing it around, because I liked how easy it was to comb. Nice resistance, while allowing you to comb freely and quickly.
I wasn’t really able to get that much height or fullness with this stuff. It didn’t have as much hold as I thought it was going to and it allowed my hair to split a little. It does have some pretty good shine to it on the other hand. And the scent stays nice and present once you get it in your hair. Despite its tackiness, it didn’t seem to want to tame the short hairs on the side. So I was left with a few sticking out, as you can see in the picture. After about 10-15 minutes I noticed that this stuff had hardened up like other water bases do. Once it hardened up, my hair didn’t move at all for the rest of the day. Which can be a good thing if you’re on the go and don’t have time to be fixing your hair throughout the day.
If you get your hair and comb slightly wet you can recomb your hair if you need to. But it isn’t regularly recombable without getting your hair wet. If you do recomb it, you won’t really lose any hold of you don’t put too much water in. Then it hardens back up after a few minutes and you’re good to go. The look it has in your hair when it’s dry is kind of a shiny gel look. It has a rigged look, but has a nice high shine to it.
Like most other water based products this one washes out with just water. It takes a little longer than your typical water based, I guessing that’s due to it having real wax and oils in it. However, all of it does come out with water alone. So for you guys that like stuff that washes out this stuff is up your alley. Another good thing about this stuff is that it doesn’t leave your hair and scalp dry like a lot of other water bases do. I’m all for this! I hate when my hair gets all dried out from using something in it.
After using this stuff for a few days I’m still not quite sure about it. Like almost all pomades and water bases out there, this one has pros and cons. For me, I like the scent and texture, but don’t like how it hardened. I’m just not a fan of hard hair, if I wanted that I’d use Clubman or softee gel. I like the shine, but it didn’t have enough hold for me. It works better for slicked do’s in my hair. I liked that it didn’t leave my hair and scalp dry. So it’s about 50/50 for me. But I will say, I can definitely recommend trying this one out. The things I liked, I liked a lot. Plus the guy who makes it is a pretty cool guy.
I’ll be checking out his other product really soon as well. Thanks again Benjamin!! See you guys again real soon. I’ll be back in regular stride with reviews now that the summer is over and my work schedule isn’t quite so hectic. Thanks for your patience and for reading.
Stay slick!