Pomade Review: Bukowski Original Pomade Heavy Hold

• By ivantoar
• 13 April 2014
• 3 Comments

Introduction

I’ve been expecting to receive this pomade since November of last year but my shipment was lost. Luckily, David Bukowski, the brewer of this pomade, was very kind to me. He arranged another shipment for me and I was finally be able to receive this pomade last Saturday. This is the longest I’ve waited for a pomade which is nearly 6 months.

Bukowski Pomade Co. Is a relatively new pomade company that was established in 2013 by David Bukowski of Arizona. Bukowski Pomade Co. Offers 3 variants of pomades (light hold, medium hold, and heavy hold) and a shaving soap. All of the pomades are very appealing to me, but I decided to pick on the heavy for this time.

Design

This pomade came in a 4 oz flat round gold tin can. The can is a typical flat round tin can that American homebrewers usually use (e.g. Pompous Bastard, Lockhart’s, and many others). The label is slapped on the lid of the can.

As you can see on the photo, the label uses red as its background color. There’s a text that reads “Bukowski Original” in the middle of the label which is surrounded by a cursive graphic (what is it called again?) on its top and bottom. Then there’s texts that read “Heavy Hold” and “Pomade Company” that is circular on the upper and bottom edge of the label.

It is a very cool label and has somewhat theatrical feel to it (ask my brain). I like it very much! Printing and sticker quality could be improved. The color on the label appears to be washed out. I personally prefer it to be more vibrant. Moreover, the sticker material doesn’t look like a water proof one. I don’t want such cool label is ruined by water drops which is very likely to happen in the bathroom.

Upon opening the lid, I see waxy pomade that’s has pale yellow in color (my phone camera can’t capture the pomade color). It’s great to see that this pomde is nearly filled to the top!

Scent

I proceed to smell the scent of this pomade. It has a warm and woody scent that is mildly sweet. The scent is very masculine and inviting. I really love the scent! In my opinion, the scent is also suitable for room fragrance and perhaps a men’s perfume or a soap. David himself refers the scent as spiced mahogany. I have never smelled real mahogany in my life so I’m not sure it smells exacly like one. All I know is it smells darn great!

Application

A day before I first tried this pomade, I talked to David about contributing for the Introduction part of this review. He informed me that this pomade is pretty firm to scoop. Rock hard pomades aren’t my thing, now that he informed me about this, I was worried that I got a rock hard type of pomade. Usually I don’t get information regarding to this, unless the pomade is very hard to scoop.

To further add to my worry, I was running late at the day that I get to use this pomade for the first time. I usually go for medium or light pomades when I’m running late, but I decided to try this pomade anyway. I thought I was going to be late but things aren’t that way because this pomade is actually easy to scoop! Sure you can’t just nod it with your fingers, you have to put a little effort to it (little). It scoops like a waxy medium-heavy pomades and spreads like one too.

Working it on my hands is a breeze. I could just rub my hands fast because it didn’t broke down into stubborn chunks. It is very creamy and turns buttery when you work it enough. The scent got more pronounced when you’re working it with your hands and I smelled a hint of butter, the kind that I spread on my bread. Then I proceed to apply it evenly to my hair. It’s very easy to apply evenly because it’s very buttery. The butter smell somehow disappears and all I can smell is the same scent that I smell when I sniffed the pomade. Very great scent! I’m very pleased so far.

I added 2 more scoops and applied it evenly to my hair then I started to comb my hair. I didn’t get a heavy resistance. It’s fairly easy to comb through, more like combing a medium or medium-heavy pomades. The shine it gives me is lovely. It reminds me of Murray’s Beeswax/Doc Elliot’s shine which I love. I got a great result using this pomade. I can slick my sides properly, comb my bangs at a decent height while everything is being tight and in place. It reminds me of combing my hair when I’m using Doc Elliot, but this one has more hold.

That day, I didn’t go to work beause it was the election day. So I didn’t ride my motorcycle. I did went outside and do a 10 minutes walk to the public voting area near my house. The weather was quite hot outside (29-32 C). Then afterwards I went out driving car and as soon as I arrived at destination, I checked my hair and found that the pomade has soften by a considerable level. It become more like a medium hold but everything was still in place.

Few hours later, I needed to comb my bangs because they are split. I can’t get the same height due to this pomade already soften. It really felt like a medium hold now, but it still has more than enough power to keep myhair tight. My sides are somehow looking better once this pomade has softened. I’d say everything is still in place and looking great, only with reduced height but not flat looking in any way.

At the end of the day, just before shower, I can still smell the scent of this pomade even though it’s become subtle. I washed my hair with shampoo and conditioner as always. This pomade has a good build-up but it’s not too heavy for a build up. I can still style my hair properly with the build-up, but my sides can’t be properly tamed. It is normal as it is the shortest hair in my head, thus the most stubborn. It needs fresh grease to be properly slicked.

The next day when I woke up in the morning, I can still smell the faint scent of this pomade which is nice. Considering that I still have a decent build-up of this pomade, I only applied 1 1/2 scoop. I did get a better result then yesterday though. Sides and top part of my hair is looking slick and shiny as yesterday, but I got a better height on the front.

I went to work riding my motorcycle so I wore a helmet.Once I arrived at the office, I took off my helmet, proceed to the men’s room and re-do my hair. It’s a shame that the shine decreased considerably and the scent isn’t as pronounced as yesterday. The pomade is also softens considerably and has it’s hold decreased, making it more like a medium, but the good news is it is still very easy to comb and the end result still great. I managed to comb my bangs at a decent height in a good shape, not a blocky or flat looking bangs.

It’s awesome considering that not all pomades that I tried reacts this way. There’s a lot of heavier pomades that doesn’t recomb as good as this pomade. Either they make my hair split (loses it’s stickiness), or give me that blocky or flat looking bangs while lighter pomades doesn’t have enough hold to lift my bangs so it made my hair looking flat. My hair could take various kinds of pomades, but it gets picky after I took my helmet off.

The hold lasts all day given that I move quite a lot and use the stairs to another level in order to give documents or meet another co-worker to discuss work (I don’t use elevator it it’s only 2-4 levels up/below. I can’t smell the scent anymore because it came to the point that it’s too weak to project iself but I can still smell it in my hands if I touch my hair. It’s become a soft and mellow scent, it reminds me of Sandalwood on how it smells later on that day.

Setelah tertimpa helm dua kali dan seharian kerja, masih lumayan hasil sisirnya.

When I got home from work, I recomb my hair before shower and I still got good result. It is still slick and neat overall but shorter hair on my sides can’t be slicked down flat anymore and I lose more height on my bangs. The shine is definitely there though. Then I proceed to shower and wash my hair with shampoo and conditioner. The build-up is enough for me to comb everything in place and get decent height on the bangs but it can’t tame my sides.

The next morning, I used 2 more scoops and got pretty much the same result as yesterday. So I proceed to degrease when I got home from work. Somehow Brylcreem doesn’t do much to remove the build-up of this pomade. The build-up isn’t particularly heavy but it’s very persistent. It reminds me of Dax Neat Waves!

Closing

Without much doubt, I love this pomade. I love it in any aspect. It got good hold, good shine, and awesome scent. Plus, this pomade is made of quality ingredients so my 6 months wait isn’t for nothing. I definitely need to try the medium and light when I have the chance of buying it. Shout out to David for his excellent product and support. Buy one and you won’t be disappointed!