Created by THE POMPS James Bui, check out their review below.
Superior Pomade is the love child between two ideas: create a product that visually pays homage to Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce — arguably one of the most intricately designed products in an Asian Supermarket — and formulate a pomade that can be use to style anything from a pompadour to a executive contour and even to just texture up a short crew cut. We believe we did that.
Design
The jar, it’s much larger than the standard four ounce or 100mL pomade jar. It’s actually a 200mL clear glass jar — slightly more than six ounces — and capped off with a red plastisol-lined lug cap. In the same mindset that allows some hoisin sauce to be safely contained over many months, this jar was both convenient in aesthetic and optimal in design. Well — actually not for shipping though, the jar is just big enough to past a pricing limit for USPS. So be it.
Scent
Eagle Brand Medicated Oil is unanimously recognizable by the entire Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American community. That wintergreen aroma is unforgettable, and so, how could we not make play with it. This aroma has a minty base but with dancing notes of rosemary, oudwood, and a few other items.
Consistency
We opted for a thick and creamy consistency. In truth, it was easy to accomplish given this wouldn’t be a heavy/strong hold product. It’s not too soft or wet such that you feel a change in consistency as you apply it into your hair.
Application
It goes in easy and stay easy to work without throughout the entire time you have it in your hair. While all other aspect of this product change with time and we embrace that, one thing I don’t like is how a product changes from creamy to grippy as it is applied. So, with Superior Pomade, I wanted something whose consistency matched its application.
Shine
It’s primarily a neutral finish, but there’s a slight matte aspect just to make sure it doesn’t go beyond neutral — also to help absorb just a bit of moisture.
Slickness
In order to make this a versatile pomade, it needs to be able to keep hairs together but not with a stickiness or oily slick. It should rely on a gritty paste effect because this can also easily be use to balance separation in a texturizing effect. And as you can see in the photos, the pastiness is more than enough to effectively keep a clean pompadour together.
Texture
Being balanced out by a dry paste effect, the texture comes out to be beautifully coarse. Comb it into a nice and clean pomp. Then, you can use your fingers to texture it up into a loose pompadour. You’ll get long and deep lines of separation that go all the way from the front to back.
Strength
We took inspiration from some of the finer medium-hold, lightweight pomade. Though it is a medium hold pomade, the airy lightness of the weight allows you to optimize every ounce of hold this pomade has to offer, and as you can see from the height in the photos, there is plenty of volume to be had.
Control
In the same light that made me formulate this as a versatile pomade, ease of use was another important aspect to achieve. So, not only is it befitting of almost any hairstyle to use with, it is also befitting a user of any experience level to style with.
Endurance
If it’s not a heavyweight, then a product is bound to change with time. Instead of trying to avoid that, we thought, “Hey. What if we embrace it?” So, this product will change with each passing hour and encourage you to embrace a more textured look. Will this pomade evaporate or disappear in any way? Actually, no. It will remain present and able to control. The aesthetics will become more supportive of a textured style.
Restyling
A bit of the volume will naturally pass, but the product remains completely present. The grittiness and pastiness stay completely effective.
Hardness
Never.
Greasiness
Should feel like you have nothing in your hair.
Rinsing
Washes out easily with just water and even faster if you’re shampooing.