Mens Styling Products

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MENS

When I met Justin he only knew about one styling product. It was a very wet, loose-hold product that was actually free.

It was water.

Yes. He “styled” his hair with water.

This both shocked me and made me realize that he needed a lot of help in the styling product department.

The first time I cut Justin’s hair, which is actually quite a funny story, I also gave him some styling tips between all the flirting.

Mens hair can be challenging to style because typically there is no heat styling involved. So it’s all up to the texture you were dealt in your genetic make up, and however it air dries.

One of the worst things that I see guys do to their hair all the time is rub it with a towel to dry it. Sure, it dries quickly but they’ve also created a pile of frizz to live on top of their head for the day.

Believe it or not, I’m still working on Justin to quit doing this. He’s set in his ways I tell you. I was able to get through to him about the importance of product, so these are a few of his favorites (and one of mine). His texture is just barely wavy, a medium coarseness and a little bit challenging to work with.

mens2handmade customizable dopp kit

For awhile he was using Redken Molding Paste Work Hard. It was a bit sticky, but also a soft and workable paste that was perfect for definition and hold. It can be used on wet, dry, or damp hair. Justin typically used it on damp hair to try to control any frizz.

Lately he’s been enjoying Bed Head Pure Texture Molding Paste for more of a matte finish. It’s much thicker than the Redken product, but gives a similar flexible hold.

One of my favorite styling products for dudes is the Tigi Bed Head Hair Stick. One of the things I like most about it is that it’s fun to use. It’s similar to a glue stick, so if your man wants to just rub it all over his head he can, or he can scoop out what he wants with his finger. It’s a clear, stiff wax and is excellent for course hair.

I’m drawn to matte, soft finishes with mens hair, instead of the crunchy gel look. All of the products mentioned above will be able to achieve just that.

Most of my male clients from my days behind the chair needed a lot of guidance when it came to product and styling. I found that they don’t really care to think about it, and prefer for someone to do the work for them. Suggesting what I thought would work best for their texture was helpful, and they usually always bought when I suggested.

If you are trying to get your man to do a switch, you may need to buy him a product or two to try out. In other words, he’s likely not going to go to the store and shop around for awhile testing the consistencies of the paste or wax.

Wax will work with almost any hair texture (especially fine hair!) , and consider more of a paste for unruly hair.

Happy styling, guys. And gals trying to get your guys to convert to better products? Good luck.

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Judy says · 07.08.14

I am always on the lookout for a better product for my husband. He wears his hair very styled, and the product he currently uses is a wax and works…but he needs something that provides a bit more volume. He has a semi-course texture hair but it is straight and can often lay perfectly flat on his head when he combs it. I am also not a fan of the feeling after he uses waxes, so I’ve tried to get him to use volumizing foams, but without heat they just end up super crunchy!

His haircut/style is similiar to the Justin Timberlake smooth side part hair. I wish I new what JT used to style his hair! lol

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Joanamarit says · 07.08.14

I think men are quite different in Europe when it comes to hairstyling. Most men I know here in Germany almost die without a blowdryer and theirs styling products. But when I lived in the States for 1 year, I never met a guy with styled hair.

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Kate says · 07.08.14

interesting!

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Whitney @ Come Home For Comfort says · 07.08.14

I never thought about it, but my husband does always rub his head with his towel! Thanks for the tips…I’m on a mission now! 🙂

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Sara says · 07.08.14

Of courrrse! The towel! My hubby will take that towel all over his head then comment on how frizzy his thick hair can be. Never connected the two until now. Water is his go to styling product as well, with sometimes a little gel. Definitely will get him some of these from the post to try out!

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Heather says · 07.08.14

The only products my husband really researches and uses are for his beard. He’s very into beard maintenance but less so for the top of his head. I’m happy when I can convince him to go to the barber for a haircut rather than do it himself.

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Lindsay says · 07.08.14

My husband told me what he wanted his hair to do and was SHOCKED when I was able to come home with the perfect paste for his hair. Literally shocked. I don’t think he’d ever considered actually reading the labels.

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Heloisa says · 07.08.14

I am so excited about this post! My husband was open to trying a new product a couple of weeks back and I’m going to suggest to him your picks.

On a side note, now we’re all dying to know the story behind when you gave Justin his first haircut! Ha.

Thanks, Kate!

Warmly, Heloisa.

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Sara says · 07.08.14

Thank you for the tips. With a young family I really don’t take time to think about my hubby’s hair. I think I will just pick up product and suggest he not rub his hair, maybe I will say it rubs it off, hehe. Love reading your blog in the morning with my coffee, my me time.

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Sami says · 07.08.14

This is perfect. My husband thinks you only need that one loose styling product also (water). I have been trying for years to get him to use something. It never occurred to me that I should just buy it for him and show him how to use it. I’m am so doing this!!

Sami

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Cristen says · 07.08.14

Any tips for a bald husband? 😉

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Kristin says · 07.08.14

Thanks…I may try some of these in my little boy’s hair. It is very coarse and unruly. I love that messy spiky look on little boys…would this stuff work? Would you recommend putting it in damp or dry to get that look?

Kristin
http://Www.thehedgehoglife.blogspot.com

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Alex says · 07.08.14

My boyfriend is actually the expert of the two of us when it comes to hair. When I got my pixie cut (and was distraught because I wasn’t happy with it at first), he helped me style it and I ended up loving the cut!

Skincare, however, is another story…

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Paula says · 07.08.14

You should have him try Sumo Tech from Bumble &Bumble

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valerie dagostini says · 07.09.14

This is a wonderful one!

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Lauren says · 07.08.14

I’m sure my husband uses the towel and rubs instead of scrunched it dry which is not helping him at all. He’s just figured out in the last year or so that he has curly hair and has let it grow out so now he has a fro going on, he’s got good sized curls, not huge, just the size where the wrap around a finger loosely, and he has not yet learned how to style his hair to keep it from looking like shot mess! Oh, and he has a curly beard happening too…

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Abby says · 07.08.14

The water thing had me cracking up! I think guys can be pickier about hair products than we are!

xo Always, Abby

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Melissa says · 07.08.14

We’ve had a bit of an odyssey with my hubby’s hair. He likes it to look nice but not overdone (and I agree with him), but we have a hard time finding products that don’t make his hair look like a helmet. Leave-in conditioner is the one thing that has worked wonders (he likes the Paul Mitchell Tea Tree one), but as far as a styling product we’re still searching.

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Michelle W says · 07.08.14

My husband uses the Tigi Bed Head product as well but I find it can be really heavy and greasy to the point where it sometimes weighs his hair down. Any other suggestions for waxy products that aren’t as thick/heavy? Every time I suggest something, my husband thinks it’s going to make his hair crunchy and he doesn’t want to take a trip back to the 90’s with that! Thanks for writing this post!

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Nedra says · 07.08.14

Any suggestions for a teen boy with wavy, coarse hair?

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Kate says · 07.08.14

try a wax!

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Rosalie says · 07.08.14

My husband is THE towel rub guy! I’m constantly shaking my head at him! However, he does outdo me with the hair products. You’d think he has a flowing main of hair with all the products he comes home with!

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April says · 07.08.14

Love this post! My husband totally used to “style” his hair with water when we were dating too! Haha! I now have three little boys with varying hair texture and hate the gel look that later looks flaky after an afternoon on the playground at school. I’ll have to give these a try!

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Melissa says · 07.08.14

I have a four year old that has really fine hair that wants to fall straight down while I’m trying to get it to part and go to the side. Any suggestions?

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Steph M says · 07.08.14

Yes, this. Sorry I repeated the question!

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Kim says · 07.08.14

My husband currently uses Nano Glaze by Pureology, and he is freaking out because he heard it’s been discontinued (distraught to the point of paying almost $200 for 4 bottles of it online! YIKES!!). Do you have any suggestions of similar products I could steer him towards? I’d say he has pretty fine hair and wears it short, just needs some “control”. THANKS!

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Steph M says · 07.08.14

Just a PSA…my husband’s hair was very coarse and difficult for him to style; it looked niced for about a week after a hair cut, then just got weird. He got lazy about hair cuts last fall and when we started doing the Curly Girl method for my daughter’s frizzy hair, we realized he might have curly hair. He grew it out and oh my goodness! It’s full-out corkscrew curls, people! So now he uses sulfate-free shampoos, leaves a good coating of conditioner in, and gel-scrunches his curls. When the gel dries, he can sort of break the cast to soften his curls. It’s crazypants! His hair is more work than mine now! Lol…

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Steph M says · 07.08.14

And a real question, Kate: Do you have tips for mommies styling their little guys’ hair? My boy is two and I like him to have a real man haircut but it’s very stubborn. Like you, I prefer the matte look and use a putty or wax, but the sort of hipster-brush-to-the-side look I try ends up pointing down over his forehead again an hour later.

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Jessica says · 07.08.14

Love the this post! I’m always looking for stuff for the hubby.

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S says · 07.08.14

Do you recommend any men’s products for adding denseness along with control to very thin hair that’s about two inches long? Using some products causes scalp to show more than with others.

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Benedetta says · 07.08.14

very intresting products!!!!
Be happy with fashion

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Heather says · 07.08.14

How Funny, I used to use that Bed Head Stick on my hair lik 15 years ago! I loved how it smelled. I didn’t know they still made it, I don’t have a choppy piecy ‘do anymore so I haven’t used it in years.

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Karla says · 07.08.14

Great post! I would love to see a post on men’s skin care down the line too!

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Lizzy L says · 07.08.14

That’s cute that you cut your husband’s hair—I cut my hubby’s hair every month! Also I was really excited when I heard that you attended my best friend Karm’s calligraphy workshop at Gather in Cary tonight. So neat!

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ISEE-ATO Glamor Tech Lady says · 07.09.14

Fabulous site you have here. I’m working to build up a little site too, so if you have just one minute, it’d be perfect if you could click through here http://isee-ato.com/?m=201403

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Alison says · 07.09.14

Mine is 33yo and balding…no products needed.lol His hair line started thinning and receding about 5 years ago so he started buzzing his hair off himself. He hasn’t gone full Vin Diesel on me yet, that’s about 5 years away. But I’ve always been attracted to baldies so I don’t mind. I saw a picture of his dad at around 40-50 years old and I didn’t mind what I saw…knowing that’s what he would look like, it didn’t bother me.

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valerie dagostini says · 07.09.14

I know you’re probably promoting professional products, however if you haven’t experienced the tried and true Crew Comb, you should. It’s completely old school and can be found at Sally’s. One of my clients, that liked to go economy on his products introduced me to it during one of his appointments. Perfect for course hair and washes out easily.

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Melissa Sims says · 07.10.14

My husband is one of those men who has the 1940’s cut and part, and he uses more products than me! He washes his hair once every 7-10 days, uses a matte pomade, water, blow dries his hair (more often than I do!) and even uses the majority of my hair spray! (I’m not much of a styling product person since I’m in the gym so much and it just gets onto my face and neck from sweating.) But he has sneakily experimented with the products I have under my sink 🙂 cracks me up!

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Kelsey Page says · 07.10.14

My husband is bi-racial (african american/black) so he has…difficult, hair. It’s extremely curly but closer to fine than coarse. Any products you could recommend to tame the fuzzy frizz?

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Kelsey Page says · 07.10.14

Correction: african american/white

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Christy says · 07.10.14

My husband has course hair so I may buy some of the Tigi. My MIL is a cosmotologist so my husband has always used salon products. He currently loves Tee Tree by Paul Mitchell. Great post.

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Jen says · 07.10.14

Love this post! Any suggestions for husband with medium length hair (~3 inches) that’s slightly wavy? Thanks! Jen (PS: Also would like to here about husband’s first hair cut with you!)

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Nicole says · 07.21.14

Just a note, Kate. When I pull up your site on Google Chrome this post shows as the latest blog entry. When I pull up your site on Safari your blog is up to date. You mentioned this in a blog post, and I am certain you are addressing it. 🙂 I just wanted to give you a tip about Safari working and Google Chrome not, which I am sure you know. I know how tricky sites can be to code and to show up correctly on all devices (iPad, iMac, Windows, etc.), browsers, etc. 🙂 Good luck!

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Shannon says · 07.22.14

Would you be able to post a before and after pic of your husband’s hair styled vs towel dried? It sounds like his hair is similar to my husband’s and I’m curious to see the difference. Thanks!

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Haley says · 09.24.20

Hi Kate, do you have any new favorites to this list or are these still your go-tos for your family? My husband just got a new style and has never used hair product. His hair is thick and straight.

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