Dappered Classics: Getting the hair you want

10 Tips for getting your hair to look the way you want it to

For men, talking about hair is borderline taboo.  Guys see caring about hair as feminine.  But they do care, and often it’s the men who care too much who talk about it the least.  If they have their hair and hate it, they hide it with a baseball hat every day.  If they’re losing it, they spend tons on hair loss products.  It doesn’t have to be a daily battle with that mass of dead protein on top of your head.  Here’s a few suggestions to get it to look as good as it can…
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1. Get a haircut every three weeks

Most guys go once a month. That’s infrequent enough to look like you got a haircut after you got a haircut.  What you want is every three weeks and for people not to even notice when you get a trim.  It’ll feel odd at first shelling out for a haircut when you can’t see a big difference, but you end up with a head of hair that’s always your just-right length.

2. Know your barber/stylist

They’re like a tailor for your head.  And just like developing a relationship with your tailor, developing a good working relationship with the person who cuts your hair makes all the difference.

3. Don’t fight it

Many men fight the way their hair naturally grows.  When I was in elementary school I hated having my hair parted on the right side of my head.  So I forced it to the left.  Took me a decade and a half to finally give up and let my hair do what it wanted.  And it looked all the better for it.

4. Use less product

Long gone are the days of the wet-head Ross, Chandler, and Joey look.  But the instinct is still to use way too much product.  A nickle or quarter sized pile of cream or clay is really all you need.  Emulsify in your hands, start at the back of your almost completely dry head, and work forward.  On a windy day your hair is supposed to get messed up.

5. Conditioner.  Really.

Ever seen those commercials where a woman’s hair is all dry and frizzy and she can’t get it to do what she wants?  Right.  Same theory applies for guys even if our hair is much, much shorter.  I shunned conditioner forever thinking it was just too girly.  Post-shampoo and towards the end of your shower, get a tsp. – Tbsp. of conditioner in your hair and let it sit for a couple minutes while you finish up.  Turn the water down from hot to cool so you don’t burn out the moisture, then rinse.  Your hair should be more willing to cooperate.

6. Let it grow out a bit.

Shorter does not always equal easier to deal with.  If you’re stuck in-between a buzzed head and an inch or so on top of your scalp, let it go for a bit.  Some hair on top that goes out and up in front will balance out many a face.

7. Buzz it all off

If you’re quickly losing your hair, ignore #6.  Many guys look terrific as they manage their hair loss.  But guys who try and hide it don’t.  Most men who are afraid to make the jump to the world of  Jason Statham claim their heads have dents in them.  Embrace your dents.  Poorly hidden dents with too long and thinning hair will only look worse.

8.  Don’t overreact

So your hair is irritating the hell out of you.  You think you got a bad haircut.  You’re just tired of it in general.  Maybe you should just cut it really short with a clippers.  Sleep on it.  For three days.  Because if you don’t, the risk is a two or three month waiting process until it grows back.  If after a few days you still want to?  Go for it.

9. Care less

90% of “bad hair days” are caused by over caring and fixing and re-fixing your hair until it’s an overworked mess.  You’ve got a big date or some event and your hair isn’t doing what you want it to do.  Resist re-styling it.  Walk away from the mirror, go drink a cup of coffee or do some chore, then come back.  It’ll probably look a lot better.

10. Know that nobody gives a damn about your hair

Unless you’ve got epically bad hair (see former Purdue coach Gene Keady), no one is going to notice your hair.  They’ll notice you, but they’re not going to fixate on your hair.  When’s the last time you specifically looked at someone else’s hair?  So if yours doesn’t look just so, know that no one will notice anyway.