How To Comb A Pompadour

image of Elvis Presley pompadour hairstyle
Elvis Presley hairstyle

What is a pompadour, you may ask? It is a hairstyle characterized by hair that is combed and gelled backward, with a bit of a poof. It was made famous by American icons such as Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley.

The hairstyle was originally popular among men, though women also have grown to like the look. It coming back in fashion, with stars such as Gwen Stefani sporting pompadours. The following steps show you how to comb a pompadour:

 

1. Make sure that you have everything that you need. Of course, your hair must be long enough for the look. It should be at least a few inches long, otherwise it might not look quite right. You will need some sort of pomade, “hair glue, ” or beeswax; a comb, and warm water.

 

2. Wet your hair. If you have just come out of the shower, you may want to dry it a bit first, as it should be damp rather than soaking.

 

3. Apply the beeswax, “glue, ” or pomade to the hair. Rub the substance in your hands a bit first to warm it up, or otherwise follow the directions on the container. Use only about a tablespoon’s worth at first, as you do not want to use too much. Apply the gel by combing it into your hair from root to tip with your fingers.

 

4. Comb your hair back. Using a comb this time, comb the hair back from roots to tips. All of your hairs’ tips should be pulled toward the back of your head. However, you may want to comb the hairs on the side of your head with the comb vertical, and the hairs on the top of your head with the comb horizontal.

 

5. Style your hair into a pompadour. To begin, take one hand and place it about where you would like the “peak” of the pompadour to be on your head. Take your comb, and comb upward toward your hand, stopping when you reach it. Then curl the comb downward back over the “hump” of the hair so that it isn’t sticking straight up. Continue this motion until you have the pompadour that you are looking for.

2 thoughts on “How To Comb A Pompadour”

  1. I’m sorry, but this is all wrong. Like, all of this is wrong. First of all, Ol’ Blue Eyes didn’t have anything close to a pompadour. Second of all, the style was first popular with women, not men. In fact, it’s named after a woman! Third of all, the instructions make no sense. 1. No gel, ever. What Elvis and Cash did was greasy and pliable, and they are the standards by which the style is measured. They used something like Royal Crown or maybe even Vaseline. Maybe some hairspray was involved, but hair gel didn’t even exist back then. 2. I’m confused by what you were trying to say when you were talking about holding the comb vertically vs horizontally. I think the shape of a human head necessitates which orientation the comb has to be when combing different parts of the head. 3. Combing the hair “up” in the front will never, ever yield the correct “poof”, as you put it, and will not result in a pompadour. Believe me, I’ve tried it, along with about a million other things. What will result in an authentic pomp is essentially parting the hair on both sides and, after the top and sides are relatively slicked back, coming it in on itself on top, towards the middle, from both sides. This will pile some hair up on itself on top and push the front forward. Some light up-combing at the front will help keep the front from breaking and spilling down the forehead, but reverse-engineering it by combing up to get the height will look silly, and requires some kind or gel or some shit. A pomp doesn’t go up in the front, it goes up and out, out being the key, if only slightly. It has to be combed toward the middle of the head to create body and hight, and slicked back pretty hard on the sides to the back, independently of the front and top.

    Incidentally, the duck’s ass comes from coming/slicking the sides straight and around to the very back of the head, and then running a comb length-wise down the center of the back of the head to “part” it, to create that nice line down the middle of the back.

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