After trying multiple waxy pomades and them not holding up I decided I’m going to try a couple water bases. The Grant’s Golden Brand worked good, so now I’m going to give one that some people rave about a try. Let’s see how Australia’s Uppercut Deluxe works out.
This one comes in a 4oz painted tin with a screw top lid. It’s a pretty unique tin, I’ve never seen other tins like this one before. The lid has a red border with a chrome starburst in the center. In the center of the starburst are two well groomed boxers above their logo. Simple yet not at the same time, it’s a really cool design. On the side of the tin is “Deluxe,” “formulated by barbers,” their logo again, and “super strong – water soluble ‘for that knock out look’.”
On the back/bottom of the tin is a whole bunch of stuff. Up at the top is the directions just below five stars. Then lose the weight information, a silhouette of Australia, their logo, and some packaging symbols. Below that is a quote, the barcode, and the ingredient list. At the very bottom is some information on the product itself. This tin has a whole bunch of stuff all over it, but the lid is pretty simple.
As you unscrew the lid you’re met with the familiar sight of a water based pomade. I was pretty bummed when I opened this tin for the review. When I first got it a few months ago the goop was a ruby red. Now it’s more of a brownish brick red amber color. And it looks slightly dried out. Well that’s already a big letdown. None of my other water bases dry out like this stuff does. On the plus side this stuff smells really good. I can’t place the exact item but it has a very sweet scent. It reminds me of some sort of sweet cake or cookie or pastry. But like I said I can’t put my finger on which item exactly. It’s still a really good smell either way.
The feel of the stuff is quite unique as well. It’s good so kind of like very thick jam. I know, weird analogy, but it was very tacky and gummy. I haven’t really come across any other water bases that scoop out like this one does. Another thing that I was really bummed out about it is that when scooping out, just one scoop and you’re already at the bottom of the tin. With this stuff being around $22-$25 per tin, that is a really big bummer. You can see in the bottom left part of the picture the tin and my scoop out of it showing the bottom of the tin. Way too expensive for such a little amount.
And just like the texture in the tin, it’s very tacky in my hands as well. Kind of hard to spread around evenly, I kept getting patches that didn’t want to spread out. I have a feeling it’s not going to go into my hair very easily. Once it’s in your hands the scent kind of changes a little bit and turns into more of a sugary scent. The scent so far is the only thing I’m liking about this stuff. Hopefully it gets better.
Applying it and combing it was pretty difficult for me, because of the super tacky texture and my hair being pretty long. It even kind of felt like combing a really thick, tacky jam through my hair. I spent a good five minutes trying to get it combed through my hair and dispersed evenly. However, even after I got it worked in good, it was still kind of difficult to comb. I’m guessing it’s because of this stuff being slightly dried out.
I couldn’t really get my hair to do what I wanted to with this stuff in it. As you can see my “pomp” is very uneven and slightly crooked. I was pretty disappointed with that. One good thing, I guess, is that this stuff makes your hair pretty shiny. I mean I like my hair to be shiny, but if my hair’s going to look like crap there’s not really any point.
The first day I wore it I had a pretty long route, so I would be out in the sun for quite a while. At about 10 o’clock my hair was flat against my head. I guess another one bites the dust when it comes to the Arizona heat. Being so soft from the heat I was able to recomb it, but it would not stay up. So I just combed it to the side and back. This one was pretty similar to Grant’s putty in the fact that it was kind of hard to wash out for being a water-soluble product. I think that is yet another result from it being slightly dried out.
The second day I wore it I had a short route and then a lot of errands to run so I didn’t even bother trying to comb a pomp. I just combed a straight slick back with a DA instead. After a few hours of being on my route my hair softened up and started splitting where my cow licks are. Bummer! I was pretty bummed about that so I just threw my hat on and went the rest of the day with a hat. It was just as it was the first day when I went to wash it out. Now it wasn’t hard to wash out, it just didn’t wash out with only water like most other water bases do.
So overall, I’m not very happy with Uppercut Deluxe Pomade. For one, it cost me $25. Two, it starts to dry out after just a couple months. Three, once it starts to dry out it’s hard to apply and comb. Four, it doesn’t even hold that well. So I don’t know if I’m going to use it again or not, but I know I’m not going to be buying another tin of it. I think the only two things that I liked about it was the smell and the shine it gave my hair.
Take it easy,