The mail room barber, Nolde forest – medium oil based pomade

THE COMPANY

The mail room barber co out of South Carolina is a grooming company owned by brewer and master barber Robert Watkins. Robert offers handmade, ethically sourced products of high quality.

The standard vegan line consists of ‘the natural pomades’: X (light), XX (medium), XXX (heavy).

I did a review on the heavy/XXX: https://piw74.com/2016/08/20/the-mail-room-barber-co-xxx-heavy-natural-oil-based-pomade/. Characteristic of these pomades: very clean and light weight.

Last but not least, a classic pomade with white petrolatum & lanolin aboard.

Updates:

• He swapped the petrolatum for castor jelly.
• I can’t find it anymore, I suppose it’s no longer available.

An advantage of the mail room barber co pomades is that they wash out easier than most other oil based pomades. 1 or 2 shampoos will rinse all out.

Robert manages his own website that looks great by the way!

Bonus:

• Nolde forest pomade, by the brewer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_oJpzzOWvc
• The mail room barber, the story – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZoSNEVStiY
• A walk through the real Nolde forest – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2lhy4BkbJQ

More info: https://www.themailroombarberco.com/

POMADE IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The mailroom barber is best known for their medium oil based ‘Nolde forest’ pomade, named after a Pennsylvanian forest. It was made in collaboration with photographer Cody Calhoun. Nolde forest is infamous for its unique forest scent. At first meant to be a limited batch but its big success made it a permanent run. This is a vegan pomade.

Comes in a 3.5 oz (100 g) amber glass jar with transparent sticker. Design is clean and minimalistic, done by Robert himself. Pomade’s color is light yellow.

INGREDIENTS

Hydrogenated castor oil, candelilla wax, soy wax, emulsifying wax, mango butter, castor oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil, essential oils.

These components are very nourishing for scalp and hair. Robert used a great list of ingredients providing the pomade its great reputation.

Update: Robert removed the Emulsifying wax. Hold wise it’s a tad stronger.

SCENT

Next the description of the scent by Robert Watkins: ‘The scent is fresh and crisp like the smell of a forest right after it rains, with all of the musky, deep notes of damp pine straw’. Some love the greatness of the Nolde pomade but couldn’t be friends with its smell. Others enjoy the earthy tones of it. I belong to the second category. The scent is not that strong in the jar. Some will find it just that overpowering. When you put it in your hair, you remark a few strong whiffs. Once it’s in there, subtle whiffs once in a while. Not a whole day lingering aroma. I enjoy it, one of my all time favorite scents for sure!

STYLING PROCESS

My hair: I’ve medium thick, wavy hair. I wear a side part with a contour.

My styling equipment: at the moment, I’m using a brush with wild boar hair, a Denman brush plus a wide tooth comb (detangler). During styling, I use brushes most.

Application: in damp hair works the best for my wavy hair type. Pomade provides a solid grip right away and I just needed 3 licks (4 on fresh hair).

Scooping: the top layer is a bit hard but scooping out isn’t a hassle. Under the top layer it all becomes creamier. Its scooping is great for an all natural product.

Breakdown: smears out right away after several solid rubs. Feeling you get: creamy, waxy, oily, a tiny stickiness. Had to deal with a few clumps, but these were gone after breaking down a bit longer.

Working in: tiny tug.

Slicking back went easy, no real resistance. Dispersing evenly went easy. Gave me a great part.

Control: slicked back my sides very nice. My cowlicks did obey easy. Hair did wave a bit in the front. After recombing a bit later, waves were less present plus clean and neat. Hair did sag a bit after initial styling. No strays and a slick hair shape. Got average height putting it into damp hair and another time some good height because of the damper application plus one scoop more. Overall styling was one of the easiest I experienced! Has the slickness of a petrolatum based and acts quite similar.

SHINE

Categorized as a medium. This pomade provided me with a nice medium shine. Sunshine made it shine nicely with a not too shiny, greasy look. Shine didn’t fade.

HOLD

Medium hold. This is what I got from it, leaning towards a solid medium. I’m more of a heavy hold user so this pomade will work different for my hair.

ENDURANCE

Hair sagged somewhat during the day but stayed clean and neat overall. Cowlicks, sides held down perfectly. No splits or strays, no flyaways. I did some touch ups with my fingers on the front because of the sagging my hair was a bit unequally. Mediums tend to let my waves come through but this one managed the waves relatively well in a decent, clean manner. Temperatures around 70° F (21° C), no real sweating, few walks was what it had to endure. Nolde has a great control. Overall feel in the hair: soft, not tacky nor greasy. I talked about a change in the formula (see ingredients). The emulsifying wax has been removed and in my opinion this increased the pomade’s strength a bit. What I experience, is a solid medium that tames my hair better than the previous option.

RESTYLING

Being an oil based, restyling is no problem. I didn’t notice tug while restyling. Still a good hold after recombing. Restyling of the front didn’t cause stronger waving or straying.

BUILD UP

Not that waxy while containing several waxes. I applied it to damp hair to straighten the waves even more.

WASH OUT

1-2 rounds of shampoo depending on your hair type and the quantity of pomade used. Easier to wash out in comparison to other oil based pomades and ideal for a one-day commitment! Hair feels soft and healthy after the wash. The formula without the emulsifying wax does wash out a bit less easy bit still good for an oil based.

SIMILAR POMADE(S)

• The mail room barber XX.
• The beer can professor.
• King palm classic.
• The iron society medium.
• The iron society firm.
• O’Douds medium.
• O’Douds heavy.

Interested in oil based pomades only? You can join our ‘Oil Based Pomade Enthusiasts’ Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/OilBasedPomadeEnthusiasts/