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Beards and Moustaches Acquisitions Thread

cleanshaved

I’m stumped
The most recent item I bought was a Kent 87T folding 'stache comb
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It fits nicely in the watch pocket of my jeans, and does not get wax all over the place.

Looks a good carry size.
 
I picked up a couple of locally made oils from the barbershop in my small town.
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Went looking for macadamia nut oil uses because of your post.

For certain hair types, macadamia oil may very well be a "miracle ingredient" that hydrates hair without making it appear heavy.
Macadamia oil is great for calming the hair of frizz, tangles, and dullness.

Sounds like I might try it.
 
hydrates hair without making it appear heavy.
That makes sense. It's probably the lightest weight thinnest beard oil I've tried. It absorbs into the hair very quickly. Crystal clear too, I believe all the other oils I've tried have at least some color to them.
 
While researching recommendations for mustache wax, I found scant few reviews here, so I
thought I would add some thoughts on my latest mustache wax purchase; specifically for
CanYouHandlebar's Secondary wax.

I'll try to be brief, with the major point to be made here, that this just has to be a serious contender as one of the very strongest waxes around.

I bought it blindly online from the company's own website, but read many Amazon customer reviews. The price is $15 everywhere for .85 oz. net weight, but the manufacturer offers free shipping when you buy via their website, so I would only buy from Amazon if your order qualifies for free freight. Also, when I received my 2 day USPS Priority envelope, I found an enclosed discount offer from the company for 10% off my next order.

It has provided sufficient hold after an application just above my upper lip line, to sweep those cantankerous hairs off and away from my upper lip, as I impatiently wait for my Chevron to drop down another c. 1/4" or so over my top lip. In that case, I scraped the wax to apply it a bit more heavily. Being just a basic Chevron, I applied a lighter amount to the rest. That lighter amount was possible just by vigorously twisting my index finger over the hard wax. This wax is hard, stiff and strong, but remained in a cohesive, scraped ribbon without any breaking apart or flaking even at room temperatures.

Some suggest a honey like scent, but I found any aroma to be minimal at best; if not totally non existent. Labels front and back are said to be waterproof, although I found a hot water warming insufficient to impart any insignificant amount of softening.
For controlling more elaborate tasks, I'd feel comfortable saying that some sort of auxiliary heating/melting would be a likely prerequisite. However, with only "pocket warming" or no warming at all, I still find I can easily raise a nice thin ribbon to soften with finger friction. I suspect, however, that applying a heavy coat on a large, full mustache without carelessly removing hairs in the process, will prove to be quite a different matter entirely. This is for me not a product complaint, and rather should be construed as a definite product attribute. As a mustache grows, unwavering strength of the wax is indeed required, for me at least, to easily manipulate the newer, shorter growth.

On a related note, I've become increasingly concerned about unintentionally losing an occasional hair when applying and removing my preceding "competition strength" wax, and Secondary is much, much stronger than its predecessor.

A quick google yielded a YouTube video tutorial about softening and safely removing stubborn, post application wax. The author suggested olive oil. I opted to try coconut oil, thinking if my experience wasn't successful, perhaps my wife might be able to use it as a skin softener. The coconut oil label indicates it is pretty innocuous stuff. In a quick search of our local King Soopers's grocery store chain, I was able to locate a reasonably small, screw top jar of the extra virgin Coconut oil shown below. It was conveniently hidden on the lowest shelf in the area of smaller "travel sized" cosmetics for air travel. If memory serves, the jar of this oil was c. $3. Shown below, this jar should last for many months, and after applying a 1/4" sized dollop to each side of my mustache, my Kent 81T flew through my 'stache without the least bit of any resistance; while quickly carrying away the old wax from my mustache to the comb. A couple minutes later, both washed away with our Dove brand of bath-bar soap. After blotting the mustache dry, another fresh waxing was added for the next 24 hours of control.

A quick note on this coconut oil's properties. On the well air conditioned grocery store's shelf, the oil is a translucent, semi-soft solid. At home, with our A/C set to 74*, the contents turns to a slushy sort of mixture of oil and a very soft waxy consistency. A couple minutes in the refrigerator returns it back to a pretty solid state in short order, and heating the rather solid condition under hot water, quickly reverts it back into a total liquid. Not a complaint, but I thought just an interesting observation based on the short time to acquire another state of consistency. It hadn't spoiled for lack of refrigeration; that's just its nature.

I'm certain this isn't any shocker to the veterans, but to me it was tantamount to a miracle. I offer this to those of you that may be struggling with this issue, in the hopes of your avoiding yet another "rookie mistake" that I have so often made myself. This venture is hard enough as is without compounding things.

This wax and oil treatment has served me quite well. Your experience may well differ, and as such, I submit my usual "disclaimer" for their efficacy. I do, however, still suggest these two items if you're in need of a great deal of control, as I've found anything generically classified as "medium to firm" control in waxes, in my personal case, to be downright next to useless.

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This is my review of Wet Shaving Product's Hercules Hold, Barbershop Scented, Mustache Wax

POSITIVES:

A lovely and super convenient screw top lid, which especially for an older user, affords a solid grip when your hands are wet, etc. A seemingly small feature, but one I wish others would emulated; not only for ease of use, but also for a reliably sealed tin when carried in a trouser pocket.
A nice scent; although an ol' time barber shop wasn't something that came to mind; a scent that was moderately pleasant, none the less. (This, clearly due to my failure to order a sample of Hercules Hold, Olympus, Scented Wax; something that in retrospect, would undoubtedly have been better suited to my other toiletry scent profiles.
A full one ounce capacity.
Manufactured in the United States by a small, but capable and courteous company with good communication skills.
USPS standard shipping was pleasantly inexpensive, yet still gave me informative tracking data.
Offers the user a very firm hold, without the annoyance of ripping your face off, or defoliating your precious mustache hairs during application.
I, personally, found no need for ancillary heating of any kind to easily remove the wax from its tin, and or making the wax transform to a proper consistency for application. Even only shortly after being removed from a 13 degree Denver mailbox, it was nonetheless easy to remove a thin continuous ribbon ready for easy application.
I was very impressed that Lee graciously enclosed a product sample of another item with my order.

NEGATIVES:

Aside from not smelling like Al's Tombassio's first generation Italian barbershop of my youth in Cleveland, I have found nothing which is not pleasing, and after all, a product's scent is strictly a subjective matter. You will most likely enjoy the scent wholeheartedly. My initial 4 star rating because of the product scent, was elevated to 5 stars for an incredibly great mustache wax, which due to my fault, did not live up to my "barbershop expectations." And that is only fair since it is not WSP's fault that the aroma didn't coincide with my expectations.

I would highly recommend this company, its products, and Lee and his staff for an enjoyable on-line purchase!
 
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