Reddit reviews Gatsby Moving Rubber Grunge Mat 80g (Original Version)

Caveat I've never tried the look myself so I can't guarantee this will work.


That being said, I've personally found, and read online that with asian hair, since it's so strong and straight, blow drying it is mandatory for pretty much any sort of style. Now, with respect to this hair style, it looks like you'll need the top of your hair to be at least 10 cm long. Any shorter and, with asian hair, you'll just end up with the spiky dragon ball Z look.


So for styling:

• First I would suggest starting with a heat protectant mousse, something like this apply it to damp, towel dried hair. Slick your hair back with the mousse then blow dry it in the direction you want. Blow dry until the hair no longer feels slick or wet. The mousse does two things, first it stops your hair from being damaged/dried out by the heat of the blow dryer, second it works with the heat to hold your hair in the direction that you blow dried it. You'll have to blow dry a lot to get it to go straight and back to give the slicked back look. You can try clipping or holding your hair down while it's still wet in the backwards position and then blowing it from there.
  
  
  
• Next use gatsby and slick it through your hair holding it down, straight and back. Gatsby is a japanese product designed with asian hair in mind. You can use other waxes like kevin murphy nightrider or Hanz De Fuko Claymation but I find for the hold, Gatsby is the cheapest option. It's about $10 whereas the other choices are pushing $20+. I suggest a matte wax because I personally find gels or other slick, shiny products tend to look really terrible in Asian hair. Rather than looking sleek and shiny the dark blackness of Asian hair tends to make it look greasy. That's just my opinion though. You can absolutely replace this step with a gel or other holding product that you like. The point of this step is to weigh your hair down with a product where the product also has sufficient hold to keep it in place in the direction you want.
  
  
  
• Last hairspray. This is just to lock everything in. A couple puffs of hairspray (not too much or your hair ends up with the greasy look) to lock everything in and keep it in place. This step is optional but I personally like using a bit of hairspray because I find hairspray to be more moisture resistant. If I sweat a bit I'm not immediately ruining my style, same thing if it's raining a bit. Hairspray also helps to keep any stray hairs in place if it gets windy or you're running around or something like that.
  
  
  And that's it. Like I said, I'm not sure if this will work for sure as I've never done a completely slicked back hairstyle. But overall I know for sure, with Asian hair, the key is to blow dry it. A blowdryer is your best tool, above any product, when dealing with Asian hair.

Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but I use Gatsby (either the pink or the grey one). It's a japanese hair product, basically its wax/paste that has a fruity apple scent.

There's a variety of colors that correspond to specific style/length (chart) with each having unique attributes (graphic here). Both the pink and the grey provide stronger holding power with little to no shine, ideally for "shorter" hair.

Links: Pink (Spiky Edge) and Grey (Grunge Mat).

Heeyago

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000V2ACIM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1542659594&sr=8-1&keywords=gatsby+hair+wax&dpPl=1&dpID=412y00qqBiL&ref=plSrch

not sure if this helps but this is the wax I use: https://www.amazon.com/Gatsby-Moving-Rubber-Grunge-Mat/dp/B000V2ACIM

Do you mean you want it to look like you have no product in your hair? If so, look into waxes and clays. A good, cheap wax to make your hair look natural with no product would be Gatsby Spiky Edge aka. Gatsby Pink. Gatsby Gray Mat is even more matte, but doesn't have as much hold. Hairbond Shaper Hair Toffee has similar properties to Gatsby Pink, but is a little better in some regards and is more expensive. All these products are very popular and have reviews and videos online, so research them to see if you like them.

Also, you should try hairdrying/blowdrying your hair before applying any product with a comb or fingers to get the general style you want, then use product to get it to hold that style. You'll notice it helps a lot.

Gatsby Moving Rubber Grunge Mat. I believe /u/jknowl3m uses it as well.

I like to use the other grey Gatsby one with an oil. Feels more light.

I've been using american crew fiber and it's the best product I've tried. I want to try gatsby matte wax next though people seem to like it on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Gatsby-Moving-Rubber-Grunge-Mat/dp/B000V2ACIM/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1474742231&sr=8-1&keywords=gatsby+hair+wax+grunge+mat

This is what I use now to achieve my layered fob hairstyle: https://www.amazon.com/Gatsby-Moving-Rubber-Grunge-Mat/dp/B000V2ACIM
Is there a better alternative that will also achieve the same side-swept bangs hairstyle and is healthier to the hair?

I have similar cut and I just use this wax . I think anything similar you can achieve that look if you fiddle with it.