Sebastian Craft Clay Remoldable Matte Texturizer Unisex, 1.7 Ounce

Well, I was also a many-year used of their Xtah crude clay product, and I was also annoyed to see it made unavailable. After reading people's contradictory opinions about the replacement "craft clay" I broke down and bought one.

Here's the deal:
1) the product contains most of the same ingredients.
2) the product looks identical and is only a little bit different in touch/use (a bit harder, but the same general effect once it's in the hair). If I had to choose I'd take the Xtah, but honestly, they're practically the same.
3) the new boxes are 2.5 times smaller than the Xtah clay standard size (50 grams instead of 125 grams), but similarly priced per box. So it's about 2.5 times more expensive.
4) The Xtah said "Made in the USA" on the box - the Craft Clay says "Made in Mexico." Cheaper labor! I couldn't believe that when I saw it.

Summary: it's (practically) the same product as Xtah, but repackaged and made 2.5 times more expensive...Read more

I wrote this review because I saw that it was getting such low reviews because it was being compared to the now discontinued "Xtah Crude Clay" To be fair, I have never used it, but that's also why I thought it might be helpful to have a review that wasn't biased with the former users of Xtah Crude Clay.

This is an EXCELLENT product. First, let me describe my hair and style that I wanted to achieve. I am a male with short to medium hair length (3.5 inches at the longest areas), very fine and soft so that there is no volume whatsoever, but I wanted to achieve the carefully placed messed up, voluminous look, where the hairs are clumped together, the kind you find in luxury magazine layouts. And this did the trick!

The texture of this stuff is like hard clay/wax. it's super hard, so you have to dig it out and then rub it out in your palm or finger tips first and then when it's just a paste in your fingers you can just work it into your hair. there is no...Read more

My husband and I used Xtah Crude Clay for years, and then suddenly it was discontinued. So we decided to try out this new product (what we assume is a replacement) and were sorely disappointed. It's not that it's terrible -- it's just average. It's like any of a hundred similar products that does an okay job.

Crude Clay was particularly good at holding thinner hair in place, but this makes my hair limp and just a bit oily to be honest. We purchased it once, and it will be the only time we make that mistake. I really, really wish Sebastian would have a strong-holding product similar to Crude Clay. If not, we're going to have to go elsewhere.

I noticed Sebastian is putting out Matte Putty in July 2009, so we may give that one a try.