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My boyfriend absolutely adores the beard balm and mustache wax I make him, and he even sometimes used the beard balm as a pomade. But he still sometimes grabs the store-bought water-based pomade for extra hold. When I make a beeswax pomade he thinks it’s “too heavy” (I don’t blame him).
Does anyone have a successful gel/pomade type creation they can share? I figured it would be some combination of xanthan gum, glycerine, and water, but I’ve yet to use xanthan gum so I’m not sure at which concentrations to start.
I don’t have any gel/pomade recipes, but I’ve worked a few times with Xanthan gum. It tends to clump easily, so you really have to work fast, stirring as you mix. I’ve noticed it works better if you use equal amounts of Xanthan gum and glycerin stirred together, give it a minute or two to hydrate, then incorporate it into whatever you’re making. A tsp each of the Xanthan gum & glycerin will thicken 200 g of a Bronner’s Castile soap & water mixture to a thick bathwash consistency, to give you a point of reference.
So I tested out his water-soluble pomade and I have to say, I’m in love. It’s great for curls — I took half a pea-sized amount and scrunched it into my damp hair and I’ve got some really well-behaved, curly hair today!
The pomade he uses that I’m trying to replicate is Uppercut Pomade.
Ingredients:
Aqua, Ceteareth-25, PVP, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Parfum, Coumarin, PEG-75 Lanolin, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Tetrasodium, EDTA, Caramel, CI 16035 Red 40Also, I tried out the glycerin, water, xanthan gum and it created a great hair gel — just not quite what I’m looking for. I think I’m on the right track with water and glycerin (two ingredients in the pomade) but I can’t quite sort out the rest. Any advice?
Looking at that ingredient list, I’m wondering why there’s a surfactant in it?? I think that’s odd.
So, you’ve got the water, emulsifier, gel part, surfactant, humectants, smelly stuff, emollient, preservative, chelating agent, color. How to make a gel….??
Aha! When I first got into doing the Curly Girl method, I came across a blogger who has different hair product recipes on her blogspot. There are some gel recipes on there. I’ve even made a few but I can’t remember now how they did. Link is science-yhairblog.blogspot.com and her recipes are under the Recipes and Projects tab.
Maybe that will give you some hair gel ideas.
The description says it washes out with just water, so I imagine that’s why there’s a surfactant in it…
I make my own hair gel using Agar Agar. Here is my recipe
1 cup Water
2 & 1/2 tsp Agar Agar FlakesDepending on the type of gel you want you can vary the amount of Agar Agar flakes. I lost my previous amounts I used, so I am still playing. I like a thicker gel so I may add another 1/2 – 1 1/2tsp more.
Let the water come to a boil, while whisking add in flakes. Once flakes dissvole, then reduce heat to simmer, simmer for 5 minutes. Pour in a container. You can leave it on the counter or put it in the fridge to solidify like Jello.
After it solidifies I recommend giving it a quick burst in a blender. Here you can add in Aloe Vera gel and/or any essential oils you wish. Try not to over blend it may turn to liquid. I tried hand whisking just resulting in some very small clumps that wouldn’t blend.This yields me 4-6oz jar. I haven’t tried it, but I seen you can add leftover gel to ice cube tray and a freezer bag once it’s frozen. I am assuming you let it defrost maybe another blitz in the blender and it will be ready to use.
You can find the Agar Agar here. It may seem pricey for the small amount, but it lasts a long time.
https://www.amazon.com/Eden-Foods-Agar-Flakes/dp/B0017OAKLM/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1485362705&sr=8-1&keywords=Agar+agar+flakes
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