Personally, I think that a proper styling product for your hair should not only work well, but also have a distinctive, pleasant smell. The 18.21 Man Made Paste has been able to deliver on those wishes and more. I first discovered the brand and product range through my local hair salon. The salon that I go to has a small range of quality products and brands that they use, so my first impressions were good. The first thing that you will notice is not the packaging nor the texture, but the smell. I am not exaggerating if I say that the smell alone is a reason for purchasing the product. To prove my point, 18.21 Man Made sells an actual fragrance with the famous scent that makes their products so recognizable and loved. While the fragrance is a selling point by itself, let me describe this great paste in a bit more detail before I give my verdict.
Before I dive deeper into the product itself, let me finalize the description of the fragrance. 18.21 Man Made calls the scent ‘Sweet Tobacco’. This might raise some eyebrows, because why would you like to smell like tobacco, let alone a sweet scent? Let me reassure you, this will not smell like an old, smoky café from the old days. It is rather a very masculine, sexy and dark but sweet fragrance. If this would have been released by Tom Ford, no one would be surprised as this scent smells really unique. The marketing materials of the brand make it clear that 1821 Man Made wants to be seen an old-school brand that is used by gentlemen in barber salons. While many of such salons do use these products on their customers, I believe that it fits more situations and lifestyles than just that. Anyway, onto the paste itself: I believe that the paste is the perfect solution for anyone who does not like the hardness of a clay or the watery creaminess of a wax or cream. The paste is a no-brainer, whether you have short, medium length or long hair. It is easy to apply in your hair, you do not need a lot of it and it stays in place all day. While I have used a generous amount of jars, I bet that you can use a jar for 2 to 3 months if you use just a tiny bit every day. The pricing of the products is comparable to what we see with other premium haircare brands, so no big surprises here. Check with your hair salon if they have this product so that you can give it a sniff. Already convinced? The paste is probably the safest blind buy from their product range, but if you are more keen on a clay or wax, feel free to go for those too. Any of their products come with the signature smell so you cannot go wrong there.