Hair care tips for men usually come with plenty of rules. Wash this often, avoid that product, use this much conditioner, never do this with a blow dryer.
Some of that advice can be useful, but your hair isn’t going to behave exactly like someone else’s. Even a routine that seems right can leave your hair flat, rough or harder to style.
That’s when I’d start looking at the routine rather than assuming you just need another rule to follow. If the same problems keep coming back, something you’re doing may need changing.
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Build Your Hair Care Routine Around How Your Hair Behaves
Start with how your own hair behaves from day to day.
Fine hair can fall flat quickly when a product is too heavy or you use too much of it, while thicker or coarser hair may need more conditioning before it feels manageable. Waves and curls can lose their shape or feel rough in different areas, and longer hair may need more attention at the ends than it did when it was short.
You don’t need to know your exact hair type before you can look after it properly. I’d pay more attention to the problems that keep showing up.
Maybe your hair falls flat after certain products, the ends keep feeling rough or styling takes more effort than it used to. Those are better clues that something in the routine needs changing.
A different haircut, more length or changing the products you use can all affect what works. Just because something worked before doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it forever.
Wash Your Hair Based on Oil, Sweat and Product Buildup, Not the Calendar
I wouldn’t decide how often to wash your hair just because someone says every day is too much or twice a week is enough. That only makes sense if it matches what is actually happening to your hair and scalp.
If your roots get oily quickly, your scalp gets sweaty or you regularly use styling products, you may need to wash more often than someone dealing with less oil, sweat or product buildup. There’s no reason to force yourself to wait another day just because you’ve been told washing less is always better.
Think about what you’re trying to wash out. Oil at the roots, sweat and styling product left in the hair can all affect when washing makes sense. The number of days since your last shampoo matters less than how your hair and scalp actually feel.
Your washing frequency can change too. Training more often, hotter weather or switching to a heavier styling product may mean washing more frequently for a while. I’d go by that rather than trying to keep the same schedule all year.
Your Scalp and Hair Don’t Always Need the Same Care
Your scalp and the rest of your hair can need different things, especially once you have some length.
You can have roots that get oily fairly quickly while the ends feel dry or rough. There’s nothing unusual about that, and treating all of your hair as though it has the same problem can make things harder.
If oil, sweat and buildup are mostly around the scalp and roots, that’s where shampoo needs most of your attention. If the lengths or ends feel rough or tangle easily, I’d concentrate more of the conditioner there instead.
My pick here would be Baxter of California Daily Fortifying Conditioner. It’s a straightforward men’s conditioner designed to moisturize and detangle, which is exactly what I’d want if the lengths or ends were feeling rough or harder to manage.
Longer hair makes the difference between roots and ends easier to notice. The ends are older than the hair close to your scalp and have been through more washing, drying, brushing, styling and general handling. They can feel rough even while your roots are getting oily.
An oily scalp doesn’t automatically mean you should cut back on conditioner everywhere. Dry ends don’t mean your roots need the same treatment either. Deal with the area that’s actually giving you trouble.
Learn the Signs You’re Using Too Much Hair Product
Using more styling product doesn’t always give you more control. Sometimes it just makes your hair harder to work with.
Hair that feels heavier than usual, falls flat or starts clumping together after you style it can be a sign you’re using too much product. Depending on what you’re using, it may also feel greasy or become harder to restyle once you’ve run your hands through it.
Adding more on top of yesterday’s product can cause the same problem. If some wax, clay or pomade is still in your hair, using your normal amount again can quickly leave you with more product than you actually need.
Before deciding you need something stronger, I’d try using less. Start with a smaller amount, work it through your hands and add more only if you need it. It’s much easier to add a little more than deal with too much once it’s already in your hair.
If cutting back suddenly makes your hair easier to style and restyle, you’ve probably found the problem. You didn’t need more hold. You needed less product.
Heat Damage Can Start Before Your Hair Looks Damaged
You don’t have to wait until your hair feels obviously dry or starts breaking before you rethink how much heat you’re using. Repeated high heat can cause damage over time even when your hair still looks fairly normal.
I’d look at how you’re using the dryer rather than blaming blow-drying itself. Holding it very close, staying on the same area for too long or always using the hottest setting can give your hair more heat than it needs.
If your hair starts feeling rougher, frizzier or noticeably harder to style after you’ve been using more heat, I’d change what you’re doing. It doesn’t prove heat is the cause, but I wouldn’t keep doing the same thing and wait for obvious breakage.
Move the dryer around, keep a little more distance and use less heat when you don’t need the hottest setting. If you regularly blow-dry your hair and frizz is also a problem, my pick would be Verb Frizz Defense Smoothing Spray. It gives you heat protection and helps smooth frizz, so I think it makes more sense here than buying a separate product just because you use a dryer.
A heat protectant doesn’t mean you can use as much heat as you like, though. I’d still change the way you’re using the dryer before relying on another product to make up for too much heat.
If Your Hair Is Harder to Manage, Fix the Routine Before Adding More Products
When your hair becomes harder to style, buying another product is an easy reaction. I wouldn’t make that the first move.
Start by asking what changed. Maybe you’re using more styling product than you were a month ago, washing at a different frequency, spending longer with the dryer or simply dealing with more length. Sometimes the cause is something small that you didn’t really notice changing.
I’d change one thing at a time. Cut back on the styling product and see what happens. Change your washing routine if product is still building up between washes.
Ease off the heat if you’ve been using more of it. If you change everything at once, you won’t know what was actually causing the problem.
A new product can still be the right answer if the one you’re using no longer does what you need. But I’d work out what you’re trying to fix before adding something else.
If you can’t explain what the new product is supposed to solve, I’d leave it on the shelf for now.
Beard Beasts Verdict: Hair Care Tips for Men Should Make Your Hair Easier to Deal With
The best hair care tips for men should make your hair easier to deal with, not give you more things to think about every morning.
I’d judge your routine by what keeps happening. If your hair is easier to style, feels manageable and you aren’t constantly reaching for more product to fix the same problem, it’s probably doing its job.
You don’t get extra points for having more steps. If something isn’t fixing a problem or making a real difference, ask yourself why you’re using it.
For me, that’s enough. If your hair is behaving the way you want and you’re not constantly fighting it, I wouldn’t complicate things.