No matter what your hair type, find out what keeps it healthy and how to make it look good if you haven’t been quite as caring as you should. Of these 30 tried and tested healthy hair tips for men, many are common sense, but some may surprise you.
In case you’re unfamiliar with any of the products mentioned in this post, look them up online—Amazon is particularly helpful for this.
Shampoo Tips
1. Wash Your Hair Less Frequently
Frequent shampooing can either dry hair out or stimulate sebum production, making it greasy.
That’s why you should wash your hair no more than two or three times a week.
Always shampoo twice: once to rid the hair of dirt, sebum, and product buildup, and a second time to allow the shampoo’s active ingredients to work.
2. Shampoo Only Once if You Wash Daily
It’s tempting to wash greasy hair daily, even though you know it can worsen the condition. To minimize damage, shampoo only once, using as little product as possible.
3. Use Dry Shampoo Between Washes If Your Hair Is Greasy
In order not to over-stimulate the sebaceous glands in oily hair, apply dry shampoo between washes.
Spray or sprinkle the shampoo into the roots and distribute throughout the hair with a comb. Not only will it absorb excess sebum and leave a clean texture, but you’ll achieve more volume, too.
Dry shampoos are available for light and dark hair.
4. Be Sure to Use the Right Shampoo for Your Hair Condition
Use only shampoos formulated for your hair condition. This is particularly important if your hair is dry or chemically treated. Products specifically for colored hair, for example, help to minimize fading and have hair strengthening properties.
5. Go to a Dermatologist If You Have Dandruff
If you experience dandruff, finding an effective shampoo at the drugstore may prove difficult.
Save yourself time and possible embarrassment by visiting a dermatologist who can diagnose the cause of your dandruff and prescribe a product that is certain help.
But make sure it really is dandruff: white particles sticking to the hair that don’t fall out when you shake your head are caused by product buildup and not dandruff.
6. Use a Clarifying Shampoo
This is what you need if your hair seems flat and limp. Or if your hair remains dry and wiry despite conditioning treatments—this is often the case with gray hair.
Clarifying shampoos rid the hair of product buildup and make it more absorptive. As a result, you’ll have more body and bounce and conditioners will penetrate more deeply.
Apply a clarifying product once or twice a fortnight, and always shampoo twice.
7. Rinse Thoroughly With Cool Water
To prevent scalp irritations, make sure you rinse out shampoo and conditioning products thoroughly.
But of all our healthy hair tips, I think this is of the most important—allow only cold or lukewarm water on your hair, regardless of condition.
This way, you won’t over-stimulate sebaceous glands and, because cold water closes the cuticle and smoothes the hair, you’ll lock in moisture and enhance shine.
Even a matte finish achieved through styling products will look its best when created on a surface of healthy, shiny hair.
Conditioning Tips
8. Always Use a Conditioner After Shampooing
Conditioners seal the hair to give it a smooth and shiny texture, which makes it easier to comb and less susceptible to tears and breakage.
9. Use the Right Conditioner
Use a conditioner formulated for your hair type and condition.
10. Don’t Let Conditioners Weigh Your Hair Down
To prevent fine and thinning hair from becoming limp and flat, don’t apply heavy conditioners to the roots and crown. Here you should stick to a lighter product, ideally with panthenol.
11. Use a Leave-In Conditioner
For a smoother, healthier appearance, leave-in conditioners are great, especially for wiry gray hair or hair that has acquired a straw-like texture through chemical damage.
But don’t use leave-in products on fine or thinning hair, since they are too heavy and will weigh it down.
12. Use a Deep Conditioner
If your hair is dry, damaged, or long, apply a hair mask or hot oil treatment at least once a month.
Deep conditioning is more effective if you use a clarifying shampoo beforehand, since the hair is then more absorbent.
13. Use Regular Conditioner After Deep Conditioning
Deep conditioning treatments do not seal the hair, so always finish with a regular product. This will lock in the moisture provided by the deep conditioner.
Healthy Hair Tips for Split Ends
14. Cut Off Split Ends
Split ends are a problem mostly for men with longer hair.
It’s understandable that you’ll want to trim less regularly in order to gain length. But the longer you neglect split ends, the further up the hair they’ll travel, which means you’ll eventually have to cut off much more than desired.
As a rule, it’s a good idea to get your ends trimmed once every six to eight weeks.
15. Apply Castor Oil to Split Ends
The main cause of split ends is dryness, especially in longer hair. This is because scalp sebum production isn’t sufficient for the entire hair length. As a preventive measure, apply castor oil or a so-called “repair” fluid to the hair ends.
Unless your hair is fragile or brittle, go through it once a day with a boar bristle brush to distribute sebum to the ends.
Coloring Tips
Before proceeding with the following tips, take a look the below table for a better understanding of some of the various dyeing products available.
| Denotation | Permanence Level | Duration | Gray Coverage | Components contained in the package |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-Permanent or Temporary | 1 | 3 to 12 washes | First grays or less than 25 percent | 1 (color only) |
| Demi- or Semi-Permanent | 2 | Up to 30 washes | Between 25 and 40 percent | 2 (color and developer) |
| Permanent | 3 | The color must grow out | 100 percent | 2 (color and developer) |
16. Choose the Healthiest Coloring Product Possible
Use the gentlest coloring product possible depending on your needs—the harsher it is, the more it will dry and damage your hair.
Of course, this leaves few options if you want to cover gray; it’s more about damage prevention than keeping hair healthy whenever an aggressive coloring product is necessary.
17. Use Temporary Colorants and Vegetable Dyes for Healthy Hair
Temporary products and vegetable dyes like henna are actually good for the hair. The former is full of conditioners and lasts from three to 12 washes. The latter leaves hair with a magnificent sheen and fades within about eight weeks, which means you won’t have roots.
Henna-based dyes are available in many natural shades. And there are colorless products if you’re only interested in their conditioning benefits.
Use temporary colors and vegetable dyes if you want to deepen or darken your natural color. These, however, are not suitable for men’s gray hair since results will mostly be unpredictable and appear unnatural.
18. Enhance Color With Demi-Permanent Dyes
Like temporary colorants and vegetable dyes, demi-permanent products like Just for Men can deepen and darken. And they can blend out gray if you have no more than 25-40 percent throughout the whole head.
Demi-permanent dyes fade within about 30 washes rather than growing out, so you’ll have no visible roots.
But due to hydrogen peroxide, these dyes can have a slightly drying effect, so always use a conditioner to keep your hair looking healthy.
By the way, beard and mustache dyes are also demi-permanent and ideal to cover grays and even out color—facial hair often consists of several shades, which can make it appear scruffy. In case of dryness, apply argan oil to your beard or mustache by day and jojoba by night.
19. Eliminate Gray Hair With Permanent Colorants
Permanent dyes contain hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. They can lighten, deepen, and darken, as well as cover any amount of gray.
Because they’re marketed primarily for women, colors are often fashion-inspired. As a man, choose only natural shades, ideally featuring the word “ash.” Containing fewer red pigments, these appear less saturated and are therefore more inconspicuous.
As an extra tip: you’ll find that medium and dark ash blond dyes turn out as dark as brown shades and look more natural.
When the color starts to grow out, aim to touch up the roots rather than re-dyeing the whole head; your hair will otherwise become dull and dry. And dye only affected areas if you’re not completely gray, for example, only the temples.
To keep your hair looking healthy and its color fresh, follow our shampooing and conditioning tips above.
Source: Pixabay20. Minimize Damage When Bleaching
Bleaching products are the most aggressive and can leave the hair parched and brittle. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that bleached hair can never be healthy. But we can try to keep damage to a minimum.
Before bleaching your hair, use a deep conditioner or hot oil treatment and don’t wash it for at least two days. This will not impact the end result, but the accumulated sebum will offer some protection, especially to the scalp.
For a sun-bleached beach look, try highlights or blond streaks before undergoing a full bleach treatment.
And while following our healthy hair tips above on shampooing and conditioning, be sure to use purple products. These will neutralize yellowness, keeping your color fresh and vibrant.
Purple shampoos and conditioners , by the way, are also essential for gray and white hair for the same reason.
Drying and Styling Tips
21. Take Care When Towel Drying
Don’t rub when you towel dry. The friction will cause the hair to split and tear, especially if it’s fine, thin, or long. Pat dry instead.
22. Air Dry Your Hair
If you have the time, give your hair a break from blow-drying and let it air dry.
23. Use a Blow-Dry Lotion
A blow-dry lotion protects the hair from heat and reduces friction caused during styling.
Many pre-styling products, like mousses, also provide protection.
24. Keep Heat to a Minimum
Don’t expose your hair to more heat than necessary.
Hold your hairdryer at least eight inches from your head, and make sure all styling devices are set no higher than at a medium temperature This also applies to beard straighteners.
25. Wear Your Hair Loose
Constantly pulling your hair back to a man bun or ponytail can cause traction alopecia (hair loss through pulling). Wear it loose whenever possible.
By the way, elastic bands will damage the hair over time.
Source: PixabayCombing and Brushing Without Damage
26. Use the Right Comb
The longer or thicker your hair is, the wider toothed your comb should be. And always choose one made from carbon, or that is hand-sawn and seamless. The seam you see on machine-made plastic combs will tear your hair.
This is actually another of our most important tips, since cheap combs used on a daily basis are probably more detrimental to healthy hair than anything else mentioned here.
This also applies for beard and mustache combs.
27. Use a Wide-Toothed Comb or Detangling Brush on Wet Hair
Use only a wide-toothed comb or detangling brush on wet hair, which is more fragile than dry hair.
When getting rid of tangles in either wet or dry hair, start at the ends and work toward the crown.
If possible, keep your hair from tangling by combing often.
28. Use the Right Round Brush
If you use a round brush when blow-drying, maybe to straighten curly hair, choose one with boar bristles. It will seal the hair, leaving it smooth and shiny, as well as preventing frizz in humid conditions.
29. Do Not Use Metal Combs and Brushes
To avoid tearing the hair, never use metal combs and brushes.
How to Sleep on Your Hair
30. Invest in a Smooth Pillow
And our final healthy hair tip: invest in a silk or satin pillowcase.
Because there is no friction, it won’t damage the hair. And it preserves shine and style so you have less work in the morning.
For the same reason, it’s also great for facial hair.
© 2024, J. Richardson. All rights reserved.
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