I few weeks ago I was contacted by Old Spice to give their hair products a shot. Shortly after confirming, I received a gift box with seven of their products. Two 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioners and five hair styling products.
Before I get started, I just want to go over my hair type. I have pretty curly hair that gets frizzy without product. I keep my sides shaved and faded with a #1 while the top I keep a little longer at about 6-8mm. A number #2 for you clippers guys. The problem I have with styling my hair, and the reason why I wear baseball caps 90% of the time, is because I just hadn’t found a product that does what I want it to do.
If I’m going out, and I style my hair, I would normally wash it and put some standard Dep type gel in it. The problem is I get that 80’s wet look, and it’s made all the more evident that I’m starting thin out on top.
So when I use hair care products I need them to meet specific requirements. They must control frizziness. They must hold. After a couple hours, my curls will start fighting any product with lesser hold. And I need a matte look. This is just a personal preference.
As far as shampoos and conditioners, I just need them to do their job and clean. Get everything out of my hair that I put in it during the day.
So how did Old Spice products do? Pretty good. To find out which product was my runaway favorite, keep reading.
2-IN-1 Shampoo & Conditioners – Old Spice Swagger & Timber
The first two products I tried were the 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioners – Old Spice Swagger & Timber. Of the two I’d have to say my favorite was the Old Spice Swagger. Now don’t get me wrong, they both cleaned equally well. After the standard wet, lather, and rinse routine, they both left my hair squeaky clean.
What put Swagger over the top for me was the scent. It’s hard to describe. I would say that the Timber is more of a minty smell, for rugged outdoorsy types. While Swagger was a little more laid back, with, what seemed to me to be a little bit of a citrus scent, but still manly. My normal cologne is by Issey Miyake, which has the same sophisticated scent profile, and I think these two go real nice together.
Hair Styling Gels & Creme – Old Spice Deadlock & Cruise Control
Next up are the Old Spice Hair Styling Gel & Creme – Old Spice Deadlock & Cruise Control. Just by the names it’s pretty obvious what these two guys were intended to do. Cruise Control gives you that natural no product look and Deadlock is for the Spiked up Look with the most hold.
To start, I have to say that both of these products remind of the gels I generally use. Except these smell 10x’s better. Cruise Control is the manliest, while Deadlock has more of a mild, barely noticeable scent.
How did they perform? I would say they did their jobs. When they dried, Deadlock gave me great hold with a little shine, and Cruise control provided moderate hold with more of a matte look.
The issue for me was getting from wet to dry. Both of these guys go on wet, so they require working during the drying period. For example, to get the spiked look with deadlock, a blow dryer would probably be needed or continually working your hair with your fingers until it dries.
Remember above I said that my hair is curly and thinning? When I applied these products, my curls instantly tightened and grouped together, making the thinning areas more prevalent. Not what I’m looking for. I had to wait for these guys to dry and then work out the curls with my fingers. Pretty much the same process I had to use with my standard gels. Where these products were much better than the standards gels was the scent and no flaking when they dried.
If you’ve got a full head of hair, that’s relatively straight, and you’re used to putting a little extra time in for styling these would be the products use.
If you’re like me, then read on, because the products below are my new best friends.
Hairstyling Pomade, Paste, & Putty – Old Spice Spiffy, Unruly, & Forge
The last three products are the pomade, paste, and the putty. The Old Spice Spiffy, Unruly, & Forge respectively. Out of all of their products I’ve tried so far, these are by far my favorites. All of the previous products did their job quite well, but these guys seem like they were made for me. I put all three on dry and use my fingers and a fine-toothed comb to style. For each product, it only took me about a minute to get a perfect coif.
Although these guys are very similar, there are some subtle differences. I will boil them down to texture, scent, and hold. Forge has the strongest scent. Along the lines of a nice cologne, while Spiffy and Unruly have scents that are more subdued. Spiffy is almost scent free. Forge had the most hold and kept my curls at bay for some hours, without fail. With the other two, a little curl crept in during the initial styling, but overall the look was still great, just a bit more compact.
My favorite of the three was Forge. Great scent, great texture, went on dry, had the perfect matte look, and held my curls like a vice. Perfect! And you can’t beat the price. You can get the 2.64-ounce tub for under $5 bucks on Amazon.
Like I said, all of these products were great and did their job, considering how inexpensive they are. But with Forge and Swagger 2-in-1 I think I’m set on hair care for a long time to come.
Anyway, lets get to the giveaway!
We’re giving away an Old Spice Haircare Kit to one lucky reader. All you have to do is sign up for our service, CACHE, that lets you save your favorite gear. Just click the Cache button above this paragraph, sign-up, and add this post to your cache.
That’s it!
On July 15th, we’ll pick a winner and contact you via your email to get a mailing address. Sorry, but this giveaway is going to be limited to folks in the United States.
Good Luck!
Sponsored by Old Spice
