"Cream or pomade?" We hear it in our barbershops every week, usually while the cape is coming off. Our answer is always a question back: what do you want your hair to do? Not what is popular, not what your friend uses. What you want your hair to look like, how you live, and whether you want to put your hands through it. The right product falls out of that answer. Here is how that conversation goes.
The quick answer
- Forming cream: flexible hold, natural finish, water based, washes out easy. For natural styles that move.
- Pomade: strong hold, high shine. For slick backs, pompadours and combed, structured styles.
- Wax: firm grip, heavy feel. Oil based versions are hard to wash out.
- Clay: strong hold, matte finish, a thicker look. For short, textured cuts.
None of these is "the best." Everything on the shelf has a use. The job is matching the product to what you want.
What we ask before we recommend anything
We never lead with a product. We start with three questions.
- What style are you going for? A slick back and a messy textured crop need completely different tools. If the style is combed and shiny, pomade earns its spot. If it is supposed to look like your hair, just better, a cream usually wins.
- Do you want to run your hands through it? This one decides a lot. Some guys never touch their hair after they style it. Most guys do, without even noticing. A product that sets hard punishes that habit.
- What is your hair like? Thick, coarse hair can carry weight. Fine or thinning hair cannot, and that changes everything below.
The mistake we see most
Here is the old way most guys style their hair: grab a heavy product and go straight for hold. If you have thick hair, you can get away with that. If your hair is fine or thinning, that weight pushes everything down. The product is technically holding your hair, but it is holding it in a weighed down shape. And weighed down hair looks thinner.
So the guy decides his hair is the problem and buys something even stronger. That is backwards. Thin hair usually does not need more weight. It needs volume first, then control.
The second mistake is amount. Do not scoop a bunch into your hair. Start with less than you think, about pea size for short hair, work it between your palms until it almost disappears, then add more only if you need it. Learn the product before you judge it.
Pomade: shine and structure
Pomade is the right call for a slick back, a pompadour or a sharp side part with shine. Water based pomades wash out easily. Oil based pomades hold longer, but they build up and can take more than one wash to remove. If your style is not combed and shiny, pomade is usually more shine and more stiffness than you want, and on fine hair it can look greasy fast. Our full breakdown of water based vs oil based products covers why washout matters as much as hold.
Wax and clay
Wax grips hard but it is the heaviest product on the shelf. It weighs down fine hair and does not restyle well once it sets. Clay gives a matte, thicker look with strong hold and works well on short textured cuts, but it can feel dry with daily use and takes effort to spread evenly. If what you really want from clay is fullness, not hold, a styling powder or sea salt spray gets you there with less weight.
Why we built MMIX as a forming cream, not a pomade
We are barbers. For years we listened to clients complain about products, and the complaints were rarely about hold. They were about everything else. The one we heard most: "Every product makes my hair feel heavy." After that came sticky, hard to wash out, and styles that fell apart the moment they touched them.
Stronger hold was never the only job of a hair product. Our clients wanted their hair to look fuller, look natural, move when they touched it and wash out without a fight. A pomade could not do that for most of them, so we built a forming cream.
MMIX Forming Cream gives a flexible, natural hold with a natural shine. It is water based, so it never dries into a shell. Touched it during the day? Bring it back with a little water or a little more cream. It washes out with a regular shampoo.
And we do not pretend it does everything. No single product does. That is why it is step two, not step one. Step one is MMIX Sea Salt Spray, which builds the base so hair looks and feels thicker. Then the cream gives control without crushing that base. Volume first, control second. Products that work together beat one jar that claims magic.
Cream pomade, grooming cream, forming cream: are they the same?
Not quite. A cream pomade is a softer pomade, usually with more shine than a forming cream. Grooming creams are often the lightest of the group, made for control and conditioning more than shape. Forming cream sits in the middle: enough hold to shape a style, a natural finish, and easy washout. Names vary by brand, so read what the product says it does, not just the label. We break the names down in forming cream vs styling cream vs grooming cream.
How to choose
- Natural look, hands through it, fine or thinning hair: sea salt spray first, forming cream second.
- Slick, shiny, combed: pomade, water based if you care about washout.
- Short textured cut, matte, strong hold: clay.
- Still not sure: ask your barber. Tell them what you want your hair to do and how you live. Matching product to hair is half the haircut.