THE COMPANY
Pompy’s pomade is a European grooming company from German and founded by brewer Henry Scharm. About Pompy’s: ‘We make a new dimension of styling products: pomades, beard oil and combs with a charismatic, powerful and rebellious quality. Pompy’s Pomade, handmade in Germany, is a top-class, nature-based, traditional hair pomade, made in our certified Karlsruhe manufactory. It is created exclusively by us and manufactured, labeled, bottled, packaged and distributed by hand with the finest ingredients. Unlike other modern men grooming products, the use of artificial colors, preservatives, emulsifiers, PEG’s and parabens is completely eliminated! Pompy’s pomade is suitable for the styling of traditional and modern haircuts.’
POMADE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
I’m gonna have a look at: Pompy’s strong hold oil based. Quoting: ‘The predator instinct is awakened, the prey is orbiting … with a precise paw stroke gives the Pompy’s pomade – strong your hair, a strong hold and moist look. It is perfect for styling and shaping the main hair as well as for traditional and modern gentleman cuts. The scent is pleasantly masculine, spicy and reminiscent of a forest walk. Directions for use: make a small pushing movement with the fingernail and it can be simply removed from the tin. You can spread it well in your palms by rubbing them together, putting it into your hair and style. The special feature: after styling your hair, your hands are not sticky, but only covered with a thin, skin-care pomade layer.’
The metal tin comes in a 3.5 oz (100 g) size. Label on the front is a sticker with the brand’s name on. The bottom contains a sticker with info on the company, the tin’s size and ingredients list. Unscrewing the lid, you encounter a light yellowish pomade.
More info: https://pompys-pomade.de/
INGREDIENTS
Petrolatum, cera alba, glycine soja oil, prunus amygdalus dulcis oil, juniperus communis oil, linalool, limonene.
Explanation of a few ingredients:
- Cera alba: beeswax.
- Glycine soja (soybean) oil: soybean oil obtained from the glycine soja plant.
- Prunus amygdalus dulcis oil: sweet almond oil.
- Juniperus communis oil: juniper essential oil, among other things used for the smell.
- Linalool, limonene: fragrance ingredients derived from natural or synthetic origin. I assume Pompy’s uses natural sources, given their profile.
SCENT
Juniper. Smells strong in the jar. When applying, you get herbal whiffs of the juniper. Once it was in the mop, I didn’t experience any smell anymore. For me personally, this is not a problem, don’t dig overly strong smells. I like the fact that Henry uses juniper essential oil as it has therapeutic power for the hair.
STYLING PROCESS
My hair: medium thick, wavy, somewhat unruly hair of medium length. Wear a contour.
My styling equipment: boar hair brush, Denman brush, detangler (Tangle teezer), and Bixby comb. Use brushes most.
Application: on damp hair, my usual habit (to tame my waves and to avoid tugging and pulling). 3 normal licks in the bangs and ready to start.
Scooping: have to push with some force at the top layer before it comes out. Beneath the top, softer to scoop = story we are used from stronger pomades.
Breaking down: rather thick and after a few thorough mixes between the palms, you feel a creamy, petro substance that’s not that heavy in the wax department. It doesn’t feel sticky or greasy either. No dry sensation.
Working in: no pull and tug, goes in facile + comfortable, spreads well evenly = as a medium hold.
Combing back: little to no resistance using my Denman brush. Switching the hair’s position and styling a clean part was easy to do too.
Control: Pompy’s provides you with a good, balanced control. It laid down the hairs at the sides and rest nicely and kept them in place, not that feeling your hair is being pushed in any direction. My cowlick stayed down and my waves weren’t present, even after a few re-combs. There’s no stickiness but Pompy’s held everything well together. No stray hairs to discern.
SHINE
Medium, they say. Nice in the middle kind of sheen yes. No fading out of the shine.
HOLD
Described as a strong hold or a firm hold as some call it. To me firm is the midway between a medium and heavy hold. In my hair, Pompy’s strong hold is more of a solid medium hold. While using it, I had the impression it being a medium all the way. On top of that, it gives a strong and balanced control that allows nice results.
ENDURANCE
Tested it in: temperatures around 70° F (21° C) sun, some wind, a walk, no heavy-duty. But, for my hair, I need a pomade with more hold. Pompy’s ‘the beast’ and ‘the beast II’ are the possible answer (these are super heavies). But, if you are in need of a balanced (solid) medium strength, Pompy’s strong hold is a good option for sure!
RESTYLING
Easy thing: no resistance. A little drop of hold. My mop still looked clean and neat enough and it staid that way.
BUILD UP
Easy one to work with. Build up for me is: adding some water and hair tonic, 2 scoops and style. I got more hold with fewer waves, much better look.
WASH OUT
2 or 3 washes with shampoo, washes out easier than most petro based pomades. That’s a nice thing! Type of hair + shampoo, amount of it and present build up also determines the ease of wash-ability. After I rinsed, my hair felt soft and healthy.
SIMILAR POMADE(S)
Rogue sideshow, H/H (heavy).
Interested in oil based pomades only? You can join our ‘Oil Based Pomade Enthusiasts’ Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/OilBasedPomadeEnthusiasts/
POMADE IN WORDS 