"Unknown Product" -By JC Hillhouse
I have no idea what company is putting these out, but I’m going to test them. When I do find out I will update the review for you. This one will be a side-by-side review since there are two formulas.
They both come in a little 2oz white plastic tub. Kind of like a miniature Layrite tub. They both only have a black label on the front. One says “Formula X” the other says “Formula Y.” Very basic, but very expected for a secret product’s testing phase.
Opening both of them up you see the first difference between the two. Formula X is a bright white color, Formula Y is more of an off white color. The look kind of like Murray’s edgewax meets Slick Devil. Since I can’t see/don’t know the ingredients I can’t tell you if it’s a fiber or ringing gel or what. However Formula Y does ring when I tap the tub, but fiber’s do that too. Formula X doesn’t, which is kind of odd. So we won’t know exactly until we know who makes the product and can see what it is.
The second difference is the scent. Formula X has a very strong lavender scent with a hint of tea tree. I don’t detect any chemically notes in there at all. Formula Y isn’t quite as strong as X, and the tea tree note has disappeared. Both tubs are filled up almost to the brim too which is awesome.
I’m going to start with Formula X since x comes first in the alphabet. When I dug my finger into the substance I pulled out something similar to a softer version of Murray’s edgewax. In my hands it feels a lot like JS Sloane’s lightweight. This one is a little heavier than that one, but it feels very similar. The scent is really nice when you get the product out of the tub and into your hands. I’m a huge fan of tea tree and I love lavender too. Very cool to see, or smell rather, these scents in this product.
Formula X goes into my hair very very easily, it feels like applying a light ringing gel to your hair. Really easy to work through with your hands and it comes off your hands nicely. You can get it dispersed fairly evenly with just your hands, but not as evenly as other products. I applied it to slightly damp hair which made it a breeze to comb. The sides of my hair were almost dry, and combing those parts of my hair as a little more difficult. It kind of tugged my hair on the sides of my head, but on the top was really easy to comb. Almost like combing a light hair dressing.
I was able to get a decent medium sized do going with this stuff. I couldn’t get the left side of my hair rounded, in fact it was new concaved than rounded. However, the right side I had no trouble with whatsoever. It seemed to have good hold right off the bat. I’ll be putting it to the test straight away though. I have a long route today and will be out in the heat all day. And it starts to be quite hot out here pretty early. After about 2 hours I checked my hair. Around 10:30 my hair felt very soft and pliable, but wasn’t out of place at all. It also wasn’t drooping or splitting any. At this point I could’ve easily recombed it, but I need to see if it hardens at all. I won’t be able to do that until day 2 when I don’t have a route. Coming up on the end of my route my hair was a mess. The heat was just too much for this stuff. It had fallen all down in my face. So I quickly recombed it, but I wasn’t able to get it back where it was before. I had to kind of do more of a contour look up top and slicked sides. It was very easy to recomb and didn’t harden the rest of the day. I just wasn’t able to get it go back up again.
On the second day, I noticed it was a little more difficult to comb. It wasn’t hard to comb by any means, there was just more resistance. With the increase in resistance came more hold and control. I was able to get more of a rounded and taller pomp today versus yesterday. I also noticed a little bit more shine to it today. I didn’t have a route today or have to run any errands, but I did have some pomade to make. So today won’t be quite as rough on this stuff since I won’t be in the heat all day. It seemed to dry pretty quickly, but this stuff dries weird. It feels like it dries hard like most other water soluble products, but when I actually touched my hair it felt like I had a really waxy pomade in. There was one group of hairs that kept falling in my face all day long, but other than that it held very well. I was able to recomb it today as well, and like how it feels when I touch it, it combs like I had a really waxy pomade in my hair. Quite a bit of resistance, but it doesn’t feel anything like recombing a normal water soluble. I also didn’t see any flakes in my hair at all. Very pleased with this stuff the second day. It’s not like anything else out on the market right now.
Formula Y scoops out the exact same way as X does. It has the exact same feel to it both scooping and when I break it down in my hands. I did notice a change in the scent, when I had it spread out in my hands the tea tree note came out. However, it wasn’t as strong as it was in Formula X, the lavender got stronger too. It seemed to go in a little more difficulty than X did. There was much more resistance to it and it wasn’t as easy to disperse with my hands. Coming it was also a little more difficult. There was a lot more tugging and I even noticed a few hairs had been pulled out unlike with X. Once I got it in evenly my hair got a much softer feel to it. Almost like how Lone Star does.
I kind of had the same problem with the left side not wanting to round out in the front. I’m not sure why I keep having this problem, but I do. The shine seemed to be not quite as high with this one as it did with the other one. My hair did look better though, it had a cleaner texture to it. I’m definitely liking the look this stuff gives my hair better hold than the look X does. There also weren't as many little hairs popping up from the rest either.
The right side came out pretty much the same as it did with Formula X. This stuff seemed to control my cowlick better, and I was able to make it look a bit cleaner. No stray hairs, no weird spots, nothing. It looked a lot better. Definitely more control with this one compared to the other one. The drying time was a little bit longer this time around. What I found when it dried kind of bummed me out tho. My hair was really crunchy, almost like how hairspray makes your hair. I was really surprised to find it drying so much differently than the other formula did. I definitely didn’t expect it to feel like I had hairspray in my hair at all.
My hair held very well all day long. I had a route in the morning until about 11:30 and my hair was in the exact same place at the end as it was at the start. My hair had softened up a few times, so when I got done I checked it and it felt like Formula X did when it was dry. It went from feeling like hairspray to feeling like I had a heavy wax in. Another big difference I noticed was I couldn’t recomb this formula without using water. I didn’t need to use nearly as much water as I do with the average ringing gel, but I still had to use water. There wasn’t any change in hold or shine after recombing my hair, but I did lose a few hairs. There were some that just wouldn’t regroup and either stuck out or fell down after I recombed my hair.
This formula came out of my hair a bit easier/quicker than X did. Only a few seconds under the running water and it was all out of my hair. However when I got my hair dried I noticed my hair was slightly dried out. Not like using normal water soluble product, more like washing your hair with a cheap shampoo. This made applying it the second day a little more difficult than the first day. It combed quite difficult, almost like applying a really heavy one.
With all that I was able to get a much better hold this time. I had a really big and rounded pomp going with it today. There was a bit more shine to my hair this time too. I was much happier with my hair the second time. It took a little less time to dry this time since I applied it later in the day. My hair dried a bit different today. It still has that hard feel, but it wasn’t crunchy. It felt more like how Monkey Brains feels when it dries. The hold stayed all day like it did last time as well. Trying to recomb it I had the same problem again. However when I recombed it this time I lost about half the hold 30 minutes later. My hair fell down and felt very fluffy and half held together. I pretty much ruined my do by recombing my hair this time. I was pretty bummed it did that, but glad it was 9:00 when I recombed my hair.
All in all, they’re both decent products. Better than a lot of water solubles on the market today. If I had to pick one it would definitely be Formula X. It has better perks than Formula Y does. I would choose the scent of Y over X though, and how Y makes my hair look over X. So for whatever company is formulating this new product, I think the scent of Y, the non-hardening and recombing of X, the hold and control of Y on day 2 along with the look it gives your hair, the washability of X and application of X would be the perfect water soluble product. If all those were combined it would become my all time favorite water soluble! However if that isn’t possible, give Y’s scent to X and that will be good enough for me. Thank you very much for letting me test both of them and give some feedback on them. And thank you to my friend Edgar for sending them to me. I really enjoyed the experience and the chance to test out new stuff. I hope you guys liked the review. I look forward to the product! And knowing who you are haha.
Til we see what this stuff is,