Long Haired Men, How Do You Take Care of Your Hair?

It’s my first time growing out my hair. I currently almost have shoulder length hair.

Here’s my dilemma, I usually just stay home and don’t like using product when I’m not going out, my long hair falls down in front of my face blocking my eyes, even reaching my mouth and it’s extremely inconvenient.

I’ve tried using hair ties, but somebody said it eventually leads to a receding hairline.

I’ve also used headbands, but am looking for alternatives.


I’d also appreciate some advice when using product, because sometimes it still falls down and/or becomes flat and lack some volume.

My end goal is to have a slicked back hair.

  • Dandroid@dandroid.app
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    1 year ago

    Hair ties leading to receding hair line reeks of an old wives tale. I would look into actual research on the topic, and if it hasn’t been proven true, assume it is false.

    • klemptor@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      It’s possible, it’s called traction alopecia. It happens from frequent use of hairbands that are tied too tightly. The solution is to use a lightly tied hairband and not use a hairband every day.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Not a man but hair ties leading to receding hairlines is referencing traction alopecia. Basically you pull your hair so tight it gets ripped out at the front over and over resulting in more or less the equivalent of how folks who plucked their eyebrows for years had them stop growing back.

    My recommendation as a long haired woman who doesn’t like her hair in her face is hair ties in loose buns/ponytails (best practice is to switch it up from time to time so you don’t wind up with friction damage on the same place) and hair clips once it’s long enough for them.

  • WestwardWind@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I have long 2A hair with your goals and wear my hair slicked back and it took me a long time to figure out how to take care of it well so here are my tips:

    Once you get it around the length you want, go to a good salon and get a trim. The outside layer of your hair gets the most environmental and UV damage and I bet you haven’t gotten that cleaned off since you started growing it out. Just this single item changed my mind from “I’m getting sick of long hair and I don’t know what to do with it maybe I’ll cut it all off again” to loving it more than I have in many years. It has more movement and looks way healthier and has helped me keep it out of my face.

    Yes, wearing hair ties can cause your hair to thin at the front of your scalp, called traction alopecia. But only if you have some combo of weak hair retention, pull and tie your hair way too tight, and/or use too tight of hair ties all the time. This happened to me after a couple of years and switching to claw clips sometimes and changing some routine steps helped me recover most of it.

    If you’re just chilling around your house try using a claw clip instead of a hair tie. I make a loop over the top of my horizontal index finger, curl my finger in to grab the hair, and then give my wrist a half to full twist so that the bend in the loop is facing down and the end of my hair is pointing up and clip it. It keeps all my hair out of my face without any pulling pressure.

    Don’t use a fine, close toothed comb on your long hair. I recommend a combo of a wide space, fine tooth comb (hard to describe I wish I knew the name of it) or a paddle brush. I’ve started dropping the comb entirely and using just the paddle brush and my hair has had more body.

    Find a nice shampoo and conditioner for your hair type and scalp oiliness. A nicer shampoo can be a benefit but there is a diminishing return on cost so you don’t have to buy the most expensive stuff on the market. Then work on figuring out a good shampoo schedule for your hair. Usually for me it’s one day on/one or two days off but my hair is very fine so it looks gross quickly when it gets oily (but again a nice haircut from someone who knew what I was looking for helped this out a ton, too). Every day, especially if you’ve spent all day with it tied up, use your fingers or a scalp massage brush to really stimulate your scalp. Not only does it feel amazing, it helps ensure good blood flow to your scalp follicles and clean up any sebum build up. On days you don’t use shampoo, either just do a massage with your fingers or just use water to clean your hair in the shower and do the massage. Depending on the moisture/protein content of your hair, use conditioner but infrequently. I use a very small amount of conditioner about once a week, but again I have fine hair. Only use the conditioner about halfway down your hair length to avoid weighing down your hair by your scalp, this can help you keep your hair healthy but keep from getting flat. Make sure to thoroughly wash the conditioner out.

    I squeeze my hair out and then use old t-shirts to dry it instead of a towel and after a little bit of that I noticed my hair improve over using a towel which can roughen your hair and pull moisture out (allegedly). If you want to feel really fancy, pick up a cheap silk pillowcase, mine a few years ago was about $20. It’s very smooth so it helps keep your hair from getting snagged and tangley at night.

    Now for product - I’m a recent convert over to using mousse. I hated how flat and no volume my hair looked when I didn’t want to wear it up, and how much it kept falling in my face. Mousse helped give my hair volume and hold it back without giving it that crisp look gels and hairspray can give or the oiliness of pomades. There are dozens of types of mousses on the market but look for one that advertised volume and medium hold. With your hair slightly damp, rub the mousse in your hands to activate it, flip your head down and your hair forward and run your hands and fingers through your hair from root to tip along the front half of your hairline and a little in the back. Scrunch your hair up and run your fingers through towards the back as you feel the mouse dry. Flip your hair around a little and then stand up and flip it back. Wet your hands just a little and run your fingers through your hair towards the back, adding a little bit of mousse if you need it and let it air dry. This should give you a good amount of volume and also help keep your hair out of your face (my least favorite thing about long hair.

    I hope this helps you out and feel free to ask any questions. I’m not an expert but I’ve had long hair for several years now and I’m finally happy with how it looks both up and down

    • counselwolf@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Also how does a trim remove the outer layer or something, wouldn’t they just remove the tips of the hair?

      • WestwardWind@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Sorry by trim I meant getting a cut without removing a ton of length. So yes removing the last length of your hair, an actual trim, but getting an actual styled haircut without cutting out a lot of length. They’ll cut some more off the length off of the outer layers of your hair, which I was really afraid of because my hair is already very fine I thought it’d look like I thin lanky hair after. But removing some of the outer layer let all the healthy hair that had been protected by that outer layer come out and it’s much more manageable and didn’t just slide flat into my face nearly as bad because it isn’t as damaged

    • counselwolf@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      speaking of shampoo, what do you do if also have a dandruff problem.

      Sometimes if I don’t shampoo daily, I get a lot of dandruff.

      • WestwardWind@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        It’s hard to say because there’s lots of different causes of dandruff. You can have sebum build up, dry scalp, fungus stuff. If it’s sebum build up, the scalp massage can help as can shampoo that markets itself as scalp invigorating. But not stripping or cleansing if you can help it. It can also help dry scalp in conjunction with a moisturizing shampoo. You can always mix in something like a dandruff specific shampoo every few washes. But honestly, even though it sucks, finding a good stylist in your city and booking an appointment and indicating that you’d like to have a consultation beforehand can be a ton of help. It’ll be more expensive than just getting a cut but going forward you’ll know what you need and how to ask for it.

  • guyrocket@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I wash my hair once a week. For about a day after washing it it is very “flyaway” even though I use shampoo with conditioner. It is much less “flyaway” after my natural oils weigh it down again. Different shampoos / conditioners have different results…YMMV.

    ETA: I wear hats often. They do an ok job of holding hair out of your face…better than nothing.

  • Devi@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    A woman rather than a man, but you need to just train your hair where to lie. When it’s wet, part it where you want, and brush it where you want it to lay. Not saying it won’t fall in your face on occasion, but it won’t be there by default.

    I don’t really use products on a day to day basis, besides a good shampoo and conditioner.

  • SpoopyKing@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    A lot of your hair care depends on if it’s curly or straight, oily or dry, thin or thick, etc.

    For managing hair in your face, hair bands are good. If you’re not tying it back as tight as a gymnast or something, you’re probably not putting enough strain on it to cause balding. If you want better ways to hold it back, spiral hair ties like these are more gentle and tangle less than normal elastic ones. Long barrettes for the back of the head like this keep hair on the sides from falling into your face. They look especially good with curly hair, and if you’re worried about it looking too feminine (which you probably shouldn’t) you can get subtle black ones. Side braids are a really good way to control the sides, and make you look like a Viking. You would need to get good at French braiding or have someone do it for you.

    For hair care, it really depends on what makes your hair happy. I have very curly hair that goes about halfway down my back. I wash it about once a week, more if it gets dirty. I start with a pre-wash scalp oil. I use a really gentle shampoo or none at all, then a really good conditioner or hair mask meant for curly hair. After showering, I use a de-frizz leave in conditioner, then a hair oil, then a pomade on the tips, all using the scrunch method. I never brush my hair when it’s dry, I carefully comb tangles out in the shower while the conditioner or mask sits. Brushing will destroy curls.

    I highly recommend Jonathan Van Ness for care advice, and his products are excellent, but pretty pricey. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, and it’s hard to find cheaper alternatives that work nearly as well.

  • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Mild shampoo. Conditioner. Brush or comb it, and use a hair tie to keep it back. Used to have hair down to my butt and that’s pretty much it. I don’t notice any recession in my hairline, but that’s kinda hard to track unless you’re looking for it so idk.

    Someone else mentioned it having to do with your hair type (straight, wavy, curly, oily, dry, thick, thin, etc) - this is absolutely true. I have really just… good hair, so I don’t have to do much for it to look and act decent. My roommate has thick, Asian hair that actively hurts if you poke it wrong, she has a bit harder of a time. I’d start with figuring out your hair type definitively and go from there.

  • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Just use a looser hair tie or one made out of a softer material and don’t tie your hair too tightly. Hair ties can break your hair and cause frizz, but a receding hairline is usually a genetic thing, there’s nothing much you can do about it outside of checking with a dermatologist for some treatment.

    As for your second question, to have more volume the best option is to get a haircut with some layering, it helps to create volume. The other thing you can do it is use a leave-in conditioner to help style your hair, apply just a coin sized amount (maybe even less) to your hair from the middle of it’s lenght to its tips, applying too much will make your hair flat, it will help keep it in place with some volume. Your other option is to use some hair pomade to keep it in place, but it can look wet if you use too much.

  • AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You can use hair ties, just keep it real loose. Don’t make it tight like how female gymnasts usually tie their hair. When I had long hair during the lockdown, I used hairties, sweatbands, beanies, and hats to keep my hair away from my face.

    I have wavy hair so another thing I learned to keep my hair looking nice is to squeeze the water out after a shower. Ruffling a towel through my hair like when I had short hair ended up making my hair look dry and damaged.

  • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I have hair passed my shoulders and hair getting in my eyes was only a problem when it was above my shoulders. Keep growing it and it’ll become less of a problem. I know that’s not really a solution for now but just a heads up

  • owsei@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    dry it somewhat in the shape you want it to stay as, shaping it with a comb

    I dry my towards the back, so the hair stays behind my ears, and not even close to my mouth

  • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Hairties leading to a receding hairline sounds like grade A bullshit to me, sure it might pull some hairs out but in that case either you’re going to lose the hair regardless or you need to tie it looser.

    As for product: just don’t. If you’ve rubbed cowpats into your hair for some reason then just use regular soap to clean it, anything more advanced is a scam perpetrated by product companies to make you spend money on expensive shampoo that strips your hair and scalp of natural oils so that you have to also buy expensive conditioner to put oils back…

    Just scrub your body and rub your hair a bunch in the shower, and use as fine-toothed of a comb as you can find on your hair every day, to distribute the oils through your hair. This is what people have done since we invented combs (and we invented them pretty damn quick) and it works fine.

    • DenSortePingvin@feddit.dk
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      1 year ago

      As a man with somewhat curly hair, i would never be able to run a fine toothed comb through my hair… find one that fits you, everyone is different.

      But i agree with the washing tip, as a mason ionly use soap when i have done really dusty work (grinding concrete, cut out stones etc.) And else i just scrub my scalp with my fingers a couple times.

      And for styling your hair? Hair ties are god given… pony tails, man buns you name it… but do you want to spoil yourself? Learn to braid your own hair, and find a style that suits you

      • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        Seconding braiding. Looks nice, stays nice without product, doesn’t pull the hair as much as a tie alone, and less breakage than a tie alone. I was able to grow my hair and additional six inches behind the previous terminal length when I switched to braiding as my go-to style over ponytail.