421. For a cleaner, neater, fresher look! VITALIS SOLID BRILLIANTINE, 1957

VITALIS SOLID BRILLIATINE PRINT AD, 1957

Old school barber shops are becoming trendier these days—specializing in timeless haircuts styles done in the old fashioned way: pompadours, fades, tapers, bowl cut, crew cut, French crop, side part and slick backs. Suddenly, more male hair care products in vintage-style packaging are appearing in the market to appeal to this fresher, neater styles of the past.

 One such stuff men put on their hair as part of their grroming regimen during the Magsaysay years was VITALIS SOLID BRILLIANTINE., made by Metro Laboratories Inc., under license from Bristol-Myers Co., New York, U.S. VITALIS was originally a hair tonic brand that was produced in the 1940s, but since hair lotion was not popular in the local market, the VITALIS name was appended to a pomade brand that were more in use by Filipino menfolk. When launched, VITALIS was touted as the most exciting hair preparation since the ordinary pomade—holding hair better, thus keeping a man well-groomed all day.

Even the name VITALIS, however, could not hold the competitors at bay—like Vaseline and Brylcreem. Besides, there were cheaper pomades entrenched in the market—X-7 , Black Panther, Robin Hood, Three Flowers. The VITALIS brand still exists in the online market as VITALIS Hair Tonic, and is produced today by Idelle Labs in the U.S.