Layrite

Layrite is an American men's grooming brand founded in 1999 by the barber Donnie Hawley [7]. It is built around a water-soluble pomade designed to hold firmly yet rinse out with water, summed up in the brand's long-running tagline, "Hold Like Wax and Wash Out Like Gel" [6]. The product was first made at Hawleywood's Barber Shop in Southern California, and the company still trades independently as Layrite LLC, based in Costa Mesa, California [8].

The brand takes much of its visual language from the 1950s greaser look, but that is an aesthetic rather than a business lineage: Layrite itself dates to 1999, and grew out of the rockabilly subculture that revived the greaser style in the 1990s [7].

Donnie Hawley, a master barber, created Layrite while running his own shop. By his account the trade looked to be in decline at the time — "the year was 1999," reads the founder profile on the brand site, when "it seemed the barbering trade was breathing its last breath" [6]. The practical problem he set out to solve was that the petroleum-based pomades his customers wore would not rinse out, which limited how he could cut and style their hair.

Hawley developed a water-soluble pomade as the fix. The name came from a customer with curly hair who told him, as recounted in a BarberEVO interview, that he was "the only person in my whole life that's been able to get my hair to lay right" [7]. Hawley has linked the brand's beginnings to the music scene he moved in, saying Layrite "started because I was messing around making my own pomades, coming out of the rockabilly greaser scene" [7].

Early distribution was informal. Before social media, Hawley recalls filling his own cans and carrying the product to shows: "backpacking it in, sneaking it through with my band friends so they could get it backstage."

Layrite traces to 1999, the year Hawley opened Hawleywood's Barber Shop and made the first batch of the original pomade. Accounts place the original shop in Long Beach, California, per the BarberEVO interview, while the company's current operating address is in Costa Mesa [7][8]. Hawley later opened a barbershop in Australia, though no year is recorded for it.

Layrite operates as Layrite LLC out of Costa Mesa, California, and no larger parent company has been identified; the retailer Pomade.com describes it as an independent brand [8]. No acquisition of the company has been reported.

The brand frames itself as barbershop-made rather than lab-made. Its homepage states, in capitals, that Layrite is "a line of men's grooming products created for those in the know," and that it "was created by a barber, not a scientist" [2]. Pomade.com echoes the same positioning, describing the range as developed "For Barbers By Barbers". According to that retailer, the line has "become the staple brand used by barbers seeking quality and authenticity the world over" [8].

That positioning is reinforced through a "Band of Barbers" program, an ambassador network of professional barbers the company features by name and location. The roster spans the United States — including Costa Mesa, Chicago, Long Beach and Compton — alongside Glasgow in the United Kingdom, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and sites in Japan, which points to the brand's global barber distribution.

The original water-soluble pomade remains the flagship product, formulated, in the company's words, to "Hold Like Wax and Wash Out Like Gel". The styling range has since broadened to include the Superhold Pomade, Natural Matte Cream, Cement Clay, Supershine Cream and a grooming spray, with hold and shine varying across the line. Beyond styling, Layrite sells shave and beard products — among them a beard oil, an aftershave and a liquid cream shave — as well as a daily shampoo and conditioner. Pricing for the styling products sits in an accessible, professional range rather than a prestige one.

Layrite is active. As of 2024–2025 its products were sold across major retailers including Amazon and specialist grooming stores in the United States and Europe, with ongoing customer reviews and active social media accounts [8]. The company remains independently operated, and its barber-ambassador program continues to expand into new regions.