Best Hair Products For Men: Science, Styling & More

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The difficulty in finding a hair product that is best for your hair is the sheer flood products on the market. You can find anything from one dollar products to others that cost several hundred dollars but just because one thing is more expensive, it doesn’t mean it is automatically better for you. Secondly, just because a hair product works well for your friend, it doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you simply because you may have very thick greasy hair when your friend has thin and dry hair.

How To Choose The Right Hair Product For Your Hair Type

Sven Raphael Schneider's unstyled hair
Sven Raphael Schneider’s unstyled hair

Analyze Your Hair Type

Hair types can be straight, wavy, curly, or kinky, all of which can be thin or thick. For example, I have coarse, thick, and voluminous hair that is quite dry so I need a product that tames my hair without drying it out. As a kid, I had curls and if I let my hair grow, it definitely becomes more wavy. For me, I always use hair products with an extreme hold, otherwise, my hair just does whatever it wants. On the other hand, if you have thin, sparse, or straight hair, you do not want a product without a hold, otherwise, it’s weighing your hair down. 

Frankly, it’s best to talk to your barber or to your hairstylist because they have more experience and they can tell you what kind of hair you got.

James Dean's signature hairstyle.
James Dean’s signature hairstyle.

Decide On The Style You Want

Basically, that means what do you want your hair to look like. Do you want to have beach hair that is wavy and stands up? Do you want something that I have that is relatively stiff and very neat and gentlemanly? Do you want your hair to be flexible or loose or just very much in place? do you want a matte and textured look? or do you want a smooth and shiny look? Should be obvious or should be subtle? These are all questions that you have to answer for yourself. Again, it pays to talk to your stylist and look at different photos and see what you like and dislike.

Take A Stylist’s Advice With A Grain Of Salt

As I mentioned before, a stylist knows your hair, they have a good comparison, they’ve tried different things, and they know what works for a certain type of hair and what doesn’t. On the flip side, they have a serious conflict of interest simply because if you think about your haircut right, doing your haircut takes them 30, 40, or 50 minutes. Now, by selling you a product, they can make twice as much or maybe even more money just by selling that product in an additional two minutes. Therefore, stylists aren’t really objective about what they’re selling you. Chances are they want to sell you something that is ideal for your hair that they have right there at the store.

In some salons and barbershops, they are trying to tell you that the products they have from a certain brand are different than if you buy them at Costco for example, however, there is no evidence that suggests that the J. Crew product you buy at your barbershop is any different than the one you buy at your drugstore.

Your regular stylist can help you out when it comes to your hair
Your regular stylist can help you out when it comes to your hair

In general, anything related to hair is a very high margin product so always keep it in mind when you buy something. Also, don’t be afraid to question and ask your stylist about specifics. The sales pitch may go like this, “This product has much higher quality ingredients that are much more concentrated without any filler materials, also it only uses essential oils and leaves out all the bad chemicals”. Good questions to ask are:

  • Why is this product the better quality?
  • Why is this one ingredient better than the others?
  • Which chemicals exactly are left out?
  • What is the concentration in this product?

If they can’t answer those questions or if they are not willing to tell you to answer them later and do some research, it’s nothing more but an empty sales pitch.

Assorted Hair Products For Men
Assorted Hair Products For Men

Different Types Of Hair Products

Pomade, gel, wax, styling cream, putty, clay, sea salt spray, paste, and last but not least, hair spray. So the big question is what do they do and what are they best for? Here is where the problem begins.

These are not trademarked or defined terms and every brand may use them slightly differently. So for one brand, pomade is kind of a wax based product with fat that you smear in your hair; for others, it’s completely waxless, water soluble, and just different altogether. Because of that, it’s very difficult for you, as a consumer, to do an apples-to-apples comparison simply based on the type of product you have. Yes, a spray is a spray but some may be aerosol sprays, others may be a pump spray which can be hugely different in their effect on your hair.

So what should you do instead? I suggest you look at the characteristics of each hair product which is hold, body, and shine. Every hair product will have different strengths in different areas and this is what matters most to your hair. With hold, I mean, how long does a specific product hold that hairstyle throughout the day no matter it’s really sunny, windy, or rainy? With body, I mean how much volume does a hair product add to your hair? By shine, I mean how reflective is your hair going to be in terms of light? Do you want it to sparkle or do you want it to be very matte? Now, even though I just said every hair product type is slightly different, we still try to create an infographic that fits 95% of the hair products out there and you can find it on our website here.

Evaluate The Ingredients Of Hair Products

As with pretty much anything, as a consumer, you have to be educated so you can cut through the marketing speech and make sure you get the best value product for your hair. Now you may wonder how do I do that? I have no clue about hair, where do I start making an informed decision? Honestly, the best place for information on hair products that I found is the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. Yes, that is a mouthful but guess what? This wasn’t made by marketers but by scientists hence the tongue breaker name. Even though the name suggests, it just covers cosmetics, it covers hair products as well and has overall more than 70,000 products that were analyzed in detail. All you have to do is type in your product brand and the product name and then it will show you if it contains any hazardous materials, what the composition is, and also if there are other products that are may be related but better.

Personally to me, it was reveling even just typing in big brands like Jack Black, or J Crew, Paul Mitchell, or Redken and realizing that these brands that are always praised as something really special are maybe not quite as good as you thought they were. Overall, it gave me a much better idea of what kind of stuff I put in my hair whether it makes sense for the hair type I have and the style I’m going for and what other products are out there that are much better.

Environmental Working Group Skin Deep Cosmetics Database
Environmental Working Group Skin Deep Cosmetics Database

Experiment With Different Hair Products

I really urge you to experiment with different hair products. Yes, the database can really help you to narrow things down to a certain group of products but and ultimately, you still have to wear it in your hair and decide if it’s something you want or if the look is just not right. No matter if you buy online or the retail store, chances are you’ll just have to invest some money to get some of the products. Very rarely are you allowed to return products that you’ve already used but it may make sense to ask beforehand what the return policy is with specific retailers. Of course, if they allow you to return things, chances are their prices are gonna be a little higher because they have to beat that cost. Now, if you buy a product from your stylist, you have the chance to just try it out in your hair maybe after a haircut without having to buy it so that’s a great opportunity to test things out without having to spend extra money.

Our Favorite Hair Products

göt2b Spiking Gel for Thick, Textured Hair

side view, Sven Raphael Schneider's styled disconnected udnercut
Sven Raphael Schneider’s styled disconnected undercut with göt2b Spiking Glue hair gel

Gentleman’s Gazette founder Sven Raphael Schneider, tried pomade for a while until he realized he suffered from pomade acne. However, he has very thick, stubborn hair and so he was looking for an alternative product that allowed him to create a nice look with a part that would keep his hair in place.

After experimenting for over 6 months, it turned out that the water-soluble spiking glue gel from göt2b was the only gel strong enough to keep his hair in place. Interestingly, other göt2b products did not work for him at all. He has been using the gel in the yellow tube for nearly 10 years, and his hair looks great. Even better, göt2b Spiking Glue is cheap and since it is made by Henkel, it should be available around the globe.

Groom & Clean for Thin, Straight Hair

Preston Wearing Groom & Clean
Preston Wearing Groom & Clean

Though not as well known as Brylcreem, Groom & Clean is a classic product from the 1950’s that is still a great product for men today, and it’s the favorite of GG’s Content Director, Preston Schlueter. Unlike it’s more famous cousins, pomade and Brylcreem, it contains no wax and is therefore easy to wash out in a single washing. Groom & Clean is an emulsion of water and mineral oil that also contains lanolin, a naturally derived oil, for moisture and hold. It has a pleasant but minimal scent fades quickly after application. developed in the late 50’s; easily touched up with a wet comb

It feels like a slightly tacky lotion and with a small amount, it will provide you with a light hold that is pliable all day long, or with larger amounts will result in a high shine with a medium to strong hold. It’s extremely versatile and is easily washed out without any sweat or tears. Long hair or short, Groom & Clean is well worth trying – and it’s inexpensive to boot.

CONCLUSION

I urge you to check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. That is really the first step and if you go down that path, you’ll have to invest a few hours but you’ll be armed with more information and you know exactly what’s good for your hair and what is not.

Reader Comments

  1. The annoying thing these days is that everyone thinks that they are hair stylists. So far, in the last 8 months I have tried 10 different hair “stylists” in London and I still haven’t found a good one.. All of them were giving me the same haircut. Every time I ask them what would suit me I get a reply which sounds something like “umm, we could cut the sides short and leave a little bit longer on the top, so you could do them to the, sorry which side you usually brush them? Oh, ok, so yeas, you could do them to the left them with some gel, this one is good”

  2. How do you like the American Crew Pomade? I think it is used by Jon Hamm and other actors in Mad Men to style their hair.

    1. Personally, I love the American Crew pomade. However, it was left out due to the fact that I’m a Brand Ambassador for American Crew and we didn’t want to appear biased. What do you think of it?

    2. Alec, I used it but it didn’t work for thick hair. On the other hand, J.A. Shapira likes it, so it really depends on the type of hair your have. If it is thick and sturdy, maybe not a good choice.
      Always bear in mind that TV productions often work with product placements, so just because they use something doesn’t mean it is the best, but that it was provided to them free of charge ;).

  3. Mr. Schneider,
    good insightful information here my hair type is however course salt and pepper in colour and I want to know if any of the hair care products highlighted in this article would be specifically target to my hair type in addition I generally keep my haircut short and manageable with simple brushing.

    1. Hi Mr. Weatherby,

      It really depends on what you’re trying to achieve but I’d start with a grooming cream, and follow it up with trying either a pomade or a light hold gel.

      Let me know how it turns out.

  4. What are your thoughts on the Aveda Men Pure-Formance line of products? I have my own opinions but would like to read what you think.

  5. My personal favourite hair pomade is Sweet Georgia Brown (est. 1934) its great I use it every day and I have no complaints.

  6. Gentlemen

    I am also interested in hearing your comments about Aveda products. I use their other ranges and not the men’s as i find that my hair, which i wash and condition every day, requires intensive moisturising shampoo’s and conditioners. It is very fine and thinning in older age.

    I have tried not washing my hair everyday but, i cant maintain my style (which is very simple – no wax or pomade) and, the hair looks greasy. Any thoughts on why? I will certainly try the idea of washing my hair with conditioner only – worth trying!

    This area is quite a mine-field and even more so for those of us with difficult hair!

    Excellent article (as always). Keep up the good work

    Regards
    Bradley

    1. Bradley, I have very fine hair and know what you mean….most products just weigh your hair down without achieving much else.

      -have you tried Eau de Portugal, a very light dressing still available from Ed. Pinaud?

      You are right in thinking that reducing the frequency of shampooing as beneficial. The best thing I’ve found is a large pitcher of de-mineralised water (the stuff they sell in the supermarket to put in your steam iron)

      -Keep it in the shower and rinse your hair every time you step out.

      Gradually you will be able to cut out the double shampooing (shampoo-rinse-shampoo, again) and you can switch to a single shampoo every second or even third day.

  7. I have used Phyto’s products for years, and find their offerings to be above average.

  8. My hair is fine and a pomade is too heavy for it. A lot of these texture creams are too heavy for my hair. Also, I have blonde hair so these heavier products darken it, which is something I don’t want. You may think perhaps I’m using too much, but I’m really not.

    Does anyone have any recommendations? I am currently using the Redken Rewind mentioned is this article. It’s not bad at all. I’ve been using it for a while now. I was just wondering if anyone has come across anything similar that they might prefer?

    My current hairstyle is what this site likes to call “The Gent Gazette”. Parted and combed back / to the side with a little poof in the front.

    Thanks in advance.

    -Tony

    1. Try Trufitt and Hill C.A.R. Cream Without Oil. Use on wet or dry hair as preferred, or as I do, style a small amount on damp hair, then brush out lightly when dry: this keeps the hair pretty much as styled but without the appearance of any product.

  9. My hair is fine and thinning.
    I have found that if I don’t dry my hair at all–no towel-dry and certainly no blowdry,
    but just comb it when it’s wet, it dries naturally and I don’t need any hair product at all.

  10. Groom and Clean does NOT provide “greaseless hair control” despite what it says on the package and tube.
    The main ingredients are mineral oil and lanolin, i.e., grease.

    1. I think what they mean is that it won’t make your hair “greasy” in appearance.

  11. I use Oatmeal & Honey CatWalk, which was recommended by my stylist. But she goes outside of her shop to buy it for me. She says it’s basically adding proteins to my thinning hair. But I’m not sure. It doesn’t leave me feeling greasy or anything, but it’s expensive. I find everything else is either sticky, crispy, or oily for us thinning hair blokes. Keep trying and trying, I guess.

  12. surprised no one has mentioned Eau de Portugal, particularly useful for fine hair.

    the real problem with flyaway hair, though, is over washing.

    The best “product” I ever found for my very fine (but dense) hair is a pitcher of demineralised water from the supermarket…..rinse your hair with it every time you leave the shower, and you can gradually cut out double shampooing, and then reduce the frequency of shampooing to every second or third day.

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