"Gomina" Is The Word...
Is The Word...
Is The Word...

Here in Paris France they have a lot of products for men to use in their hair. None are available in US. Whitecloth2001 says some are very nice and you can use about ten or more different pomades, waxes, brilliantines, gels and other "fixateurs." In Paris guys are beginning to change their style. Slowly they are come up in slicking and geasing with "cire" which means perfumed wax.

by Whitecloth2001

I do not know about US, but in France there are many cosmetics for men who want to have their hair slicked. First, we have a word to call "grease" which is "gomina" in the common speaking. The word comes from the famous label "gomina" coming from Argentina and used by all the french men who had their hair slicked back till the second world war.

In the 1950s, French men used a new haircream called Pento. This haircream is usefull to have your hair shiny but it is not very interesting for slicking or sticking as a compact mass. I love the perfume of Pento because I remember when I was a young boy, secretly borrowing Pento from my uncle's bathroom.

Another trade mark, well known in France but very much older than Pento, is Petrole Hahn used in a liquid form by men for scalp massage since 1900. A haircream was added in the 1950s and 1960s, crème de coiffage de Pétrole Hahn "aux extraits naturels."

Some French people enjoy the British brilliantine of Yardley, but Pento was probably the most famous of all.

PIVERT, another famous trade mark in the 1930s and 1950s, made a sort of "GOMINA" proposed in coloured tubes very old fashion (one called "Pompeia"). It is very difficult to find these perfumed greases today.

L'Oréal, the famous French trademark, offers "Remix" which is a hairdressing paste, making the hair heavy, rigid, and offering to mould the hairdressing because the paste does not become dry. Also, "Special FX," a "radical gel" with an extreme fixing effect after a long time. It is very gummy and not greasing at all. Used with the hair wet, you keep the wet look.

Thierry Mugler (the couturier) offers a perfumed gel in a design presentation. "Hairgum" is another gel with wet shiny look. A new paste offering to Carven the hairdressing with "manipulator" de Toni and Guy. A new cream with "grooming" cream made by Bumble and Bumble. Another is "Messed Up Madness," coming also from the US, by Head Games Graham Webb. New Wax is also very interesting for me because I have my hair slicked back. It is "Shaping Wax" by Clinic Hair Care.

Several private places make their own wax that is perfumed with vanilla, coco, etc. Some colour your hair brown or black, like Rudolph Valentino known to get dirty the pillow cases in all the hotels where he lived.

Ed. Note: Whitecloth2001 lives in Paris, France and we hope we did him justice in improving his English. If there are any questions, please write us at slickville@slickville.com and we will forward them to Whitecloth2001. You may also want to post your comments and questions regarding slicked hair fashions in France to Greaser's Lair as there are other Feench residents on that Yahoo Group than can be of assistance.

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