Vacation Time Wax Reviews

As most of you saw I was on vacation for the past week in my home town of Boulder, Colorado.  I brought along my entire wax collection along with me to test them out at higher altitude. Each day I tried a new wax, or combination of waxes to see how they worked at a higher altitude, and cooler temperature.  My experience at the higher altitude was almost the same as in California. Although It felt like I needed to spend more time warming up the wax than I normally do. Other than that I had little difficulties with each of the waxes I brought.

Since I brought and tried waxes that I have yet to spend a week with I will only let you in on a little about those waxes. As far as the ones that I have already reviewed I will spend a little more time on my experience up in the Mile High City.

I’ll start this review with the ones that I haven’t reviewed first, so I can spend more time on the ones I have already used for a week and reviewed. I will not put up a review on OWH, since that will be my next full review.

High Life Stache Wax:

High Life has a wonderful Coconut/Pina Colada smell that is a little over powering at first but wears off throughout the day. The wax itself is very light and soft. Not soft like the CVS brand(lotion like), but soft like a pomade. The wax went on smooth and was easy to work into curls although I needed to add more to keep them somewhat curled to my usual large curls. I did need to keep an eye on the ‘stache throughout the day to make sure that I was not a victim of DSS(Droopy ‘Stache Syndrome). Check out my full review of High Life Stache Wax

Count Justinian (Classic, Sticky As Hell):

Count Justinian Classic is what I would call a medium/firm hold wax. It is very easy to warm up in your fingers which is FANTASTIC (No need for a hair dryer at all). I had no difficulties applying it to the ‘tache as it is easily warmed. I did find that the hold was firm but easily adjustable, although it did wear off during the day. I compensated for the “softness”  of the Classic by using some of the Sticky As Hell as a strong base to the ‘tache. The Sticky As Hell is almost exactly like the Classic, only a lot stiffer. Warming it up takes a little bit more time in the fingers (might help using a hair dryer), and it didn’t quite soften up as much as the Classic. I did find that using a mixture of the both of them works fantastically throughout the day. Now the smell of the CJ waxes was quite…..ummm…Harsh/strong for a lack of better words (I’ll explain that more in my full review of the Count Justinian waxes)

Rex Wax:

Now I know I did a review on Rex Wax and was a little discouraged by my first experience. I will explain everything in my Revisited Review, but for now I will say that I think I have finally started to get a hang of how to use Rex Wax. And let me tell you, this stuff is Great! Since my ‘stache has gotten a little bit longer and unruly at times, the firmness of Rex Wax really can tame those unruly hairs and let me have a ‘stache that I can work with! Check out my full review of Rex Wax

Firehouse (Wacky Tacky):

This wax is still the same old great wax! Like I said earlier I did need to spend more time warming the wax up when first applying, and I did have some trouble keeping the wax at a workable temperature while working it into my ‘stache. I was a little put off by this at first, but since I’ve used Firehouse before I knew that it could be managed and worked in to a great ‘stache. Check out my full review of Firehouse (Wacky Tacky)

Bounder:

I have always had a little bit of trouble with Bounder, but I must say that I have figured out most of my problems with it I still have a few (still working on figuring those out!). Using Bounder in Colorado was not any different then using it in California or Arizona, It needs to be warmed up a little bit by keeping it in your pocket for a few minutes and then is easily worked into the ‘stache. I did feel that it did dry out a little bit faster up at this altitude since there was less humidity, but other than that I can’t complain about anything else! I must say that I always keep a tin of bounder in the “coin” pocket of my jeans, so I always have a wax with me to fix any problems I might have throughout the day. Check out my full review of Bounder Extra Firm

Make sure you keep checking back for my full reviews on Count Justinian, High Life, and OWH

Keep that ‘tache curled!

Warm Regards

-Mr.SuperCooper

Rex Wax: Handmade Moustache Wax (Firm)

Rex Wax, handmade in Oregon by a very nice guy who goes by the name of Paul Branham. I came in contact with him through Facebook on my search for smaller wax companies out there! He seems very into the whole Handlebar lifestyle and community.

Okay, I am going to be pretty blunt about this wax (And my apologies to Paul if I sound like I am “dissing” his wax – I just could not figure it out!)

I was eager to receive my tin in the mail from Paul Branham (the creator of Rex Wax), when I got my tin I could instantly tell that this stuff was STIFF! I could hear that the “Chunk” of wax in the tin could be shaken around and was not stuck to the sides of the tin at all. I figured I was going to have some difficulties trying to apply this wax, but nothing like the problems I ended up having.

Because this wax was so stiff I knew I was going to need to do some serious heating up! I started out by scraping a bit of wax off with my finger nail, rolling it between my fingers, and applying it to the ‘stache.  I got clumps of wax everywhere in my ‘stache. Tried to heat it up while in my ‘stache and comb it through, this helped but it was still hard to shape into curls. After this didn’t work I tried applying more thinking that I just hadn’t used enough. This made it worse! the curls that I formed Immediately turned into pincers(aka fell forward and I looked like a bug) and I couldn’t get them to stand up to form my normal handlebars.

After my first couple of tries with heating it up while in my ‘stache I went with trying to heat it up in the tin with the blow dryer, didn’t do a thing. – The wax was just as stiff as before! I just couldn’t figure out this wax!!! I ended up messaging Paul about how he applies his wax to his own ‘stache and he said

“What I do is scratch out a lil wax with a fingernail. Rub wax between fingertips to warm it and soften it up. Then, when wax is soft, massage into the hairs, come thru
Then, repeat the forefinger/thumb method to warm up another lil bit of wax, use this to add to the handlebar tips to give extra hold and style
I use an opposite hand/overhand method to form curls”

I took his advice and found that this did help with making the wax more pliable and easier to apply to the ‘stache. Although I was not able to figure out how to get the curls that I wanted I was able to keep the center up and out-of-the-way for days at a time!!!

So in the end I will say that I did indeed have trouble with this wax, but the times that I did get it to work out this wax is very firm and will hold throughout the day without falling into any sort of “Fangs”. So If for those of you who are able to figure this wax out I am more than sure you will have a perfect hold throughout the day in any sort of weather! I will definitely be revisiting this wax soon to see if I can figure it out and make it work for me! So make sure you check back to look for my revisited review on Rex Wax.

I must send many thanks to Paul Branham for his support for this blog, and for supplying me with a tin of his fine yet difficult wax!

-Until then

-Keep That ‘Stache Stiff

What’s Up Next?

Hello Again!

This past week I have been in the process of reviewing Rex Wax from Oregon. This review has been quite eventful, so we’ll see how the final review turns out!

Over the weekend I received TWO shipments of wax, and have already had more shipped out!

The wax I acquired over the weekend;

Oregon Wild Hair

Count Justinian (Classic)

Count Justinian (It’s Sticky as Hell)

So Those will be the next waxes I review, I will most likely start with the OWH since It was the first to arrive over the weekend! I must say I am quite excited to review all of these brands! – Plus the waxes that are in the mail are quite exciting as well!!

 

Keep checking back this week to find out how the eventful review process of Rex Wax went!!

 

Until Then

-Stay Stiff