What to style your hair with?

2022.04.10Hair Styling

What to style your hair with?

TYPES OF HAIR STYLING PRODUCTS

From pomade to wax to hair spray, these are the products that will add varying degrees of hold, texture, volume, and shine to your hair.

POMADE

Hold: medium to high hold
Shine: high shine

Pomade is the classic men’s hairstyling product—so much so that the word pomade has become a de facto umbrella term for many men’s styling products. But when we talk about pomade, we’re talking pure unadulterated pomade, which comes in two forms—oil-based and water-based.

OIL-BASED POMADE
Oil-based pomades are old-school and have been around since the 18th century. They’re made from grease or petroleum products and give you that high-shine, slick look that can be combed back into place throughout the day.

If your hair tends to be overly dry, an oil-based pomade might be the right move for your quaff since it adds oil into the mix. Oil-based pomades also don’t dry as hard or crunchy as many of their contemporary water-based peers.

The downside is that oil-based pomades can be incredibly difficult to wash out of your hair. Oil and water don’t mix, and therefore, you’re going to be using a lot more shampoo to get it out.

It might not be a product you’ll want to use every day. But if you’re going for a retro-inspired combover or pompadour, oil-based pomade will give you an authentic look and feel.

WATER-BASED POMADE
Most pomades today are water-based, making them easier to rinse out than oil-based pomades. Today’s water-based pomades offer a variety of hold strengths and can be matte or high shine. No matter what style your after, there’s likely a pomade for you.

Water-based pomades tend to leave your hair feeling stiff and crunchy as they dry, especially if you use them on damp hair. Many pomades will soften up once you run your fingers through your hair a few times.

WHO SHOULD USE POMADE?
Pomade is a great option for all hair types and can be used by men with thin and thick hair. We’d recommend using pomade on short to medium classic styles such as side parts, combovers, pompadours, and quiffs. Regardless if you opt for oil-based or water-based, pomade will give you a highly manicured look.

WAX

Hold: Low to medium hold
Shine: Medium to high shine

Hair wax is made from ingredients such as beeswax, carnauba wax, and lanolin.

Wax is designed to give you medium to high shine and a lighter hold than pomade. Technically you can use wax on any hairstyle, but it’s an ideal product for creating the messy, textured, bed-head looks that became popular around 2010.

Ruffians Creative Director Denis Robinson recommends applying wax to dry hair, focusing on the areas that need the most shaping and control. Wax does give you the flexibility to re-shape your hair throughout the day. Still, again, it typically won’t give you as much hold and control as other products.

WHO SHOULD USE WAX?
Hair wax is a great option for men with thicker hair that has a natural lift and hold on its own. Use wax on dry hair to add more texture and create a more careless look. If you need more hold or are going for a style that requires your hair to have a little more structural integrity, another product will likely be a better fit.

CLAY

Hold: medium to high hold
Shine: Low to medium shine

Hair clay and hair wax have many similarities, and many hair clays are made with beeswax.

Is your head spinning yet?

Let’s keep it simple. Wax has more shine and less hold. Hair clay is the exact opposite—matte finish and higher hold.

Like wax, hair clay is ideal for creating textured bed-head styles. However, it’s a better option for men with thinner, straight hair that tends to fall flat when left to its own devices because it has more hold than wax. To get more lift, focus on just the roots when applying the clay. Applying clay to the entire hair shaft would weigh your hair down.

If your hair is already naturally oily and shiny, clay is an excellent option to help tone down some of that sheen you’ve got going on.

Like pomade, clay works well on damp and dry hair.

WHO SHOULD USE CLAY?
Anyone with short to medium length hair who needs a lot of hold but doesn’t want any shine. It’s great for creating messy looks that will stay in place throughout the day.

STYLING BALM

Hold: low to medium hold
Shine: Low shine to medium shine

Styling balms are relatively new and cover a lot of ground regarding what they offer for hair.

Some balms are more creamy and conditioning with low hold, while other balms tone down the conditioning power and focus more on hold.

Beardbrand Styling Balm is made with lanolin, beeswax, and PVP to provide a medium-strength hold and satin-like finish. It’s a lightweight product with a marshmallow-like consistency that works well for all hair types. It can boost volume when applied solely to hair roots but can also be used to create more classic combed-through styles.

Balms will generally give you a very flexible finish that doesn’t try too hard or too crunchy. Beardbrand Styling Balm is no exception.

WHO SHOULD USE STYLING BALM?
Men with short to medium length hair and of all hair types can use Styling Balm.

HAIR PUTTY/MUD

Hold: medium to high hold
Shine: no to low shine

Hair putty and mud are one and the same—it just depends on what each brand calls it. It’s often confused with hair paste because it has a similar consistency and hold.

Putty is ideal for men going for a casual, easy-going style. And unlike pomade, it adds texture and some movement. The more putty you add, the more of a messy, disheveled look you can create.

You can also use putty as a finishing product to lock in slicked-back styles.

WHO SHOULD USE PUTTY?
Putty is good for various hair lengths and types of hair, but it performs best on shorter hairstyles to add texture without as much shine as wax.

FIBER

Hold: high hold
Shine: no to low shine

Fiber is strong and pliable. It’s thick and kind of resembles a dried-out wax and has a tackiness that adds volume to your hair.

Fiber generally provides no shine whatsoever, so it’s a fantastic product for a natural, messy look.

The best time to apply fiber is when your hair is dry. It’s excellent for use on thick hair, but if you’re looking for a product that’s more combable, you may want to try styling clay instead.

Know this about fiber—it’s a no-nonsense styling product for men who don’t want their hair to budge even slightly during the day. With fiber, your hold remains locked in until you wash the fiber out.

Pure fiber can be hard to work with, so it often comes in other forms such as fiber foam, fiber wax, and fiber cream.

WHO SHOULD USE FIBER?
Men with short to medium length hairstyles who want to add natural-looking texture with no shine. Fiber works great on thick hair since less product is needed to shape and hold the style.

PASTE

Hold: medium to high hold
Shine: low to medium shine

Paste is a great tool to have in your grooming kit. It’s a versatile, all-around styling product that can be used on its own or combined with other products.

Paste is good for almost every hairstyle, and you only need a small amount of paste to get the style and hold you desire. It gives your hair separation and flexibility, but it also adds volume and texture—especially if you apply it before blowdrying.

Most pastes are water-based, which makes washing them easy to rinse out, and they won’t clump (which makes it easier to restyle your hair during the day). Add a splash of water, and you’re ready to restyle your flow. If you choose a paste that’s thicker than others, rubbing it between your palms will soften it and make it easier to distribute it evenly through your hair.

WHO SHOULD USE PASTE?
Anyone can use paste, but men with thinner hair that doesn’t hold styles well will benefit from the high hold and flexibility that paste provides. It can be used on its own or with other texturizing products like Sea Salt Spray to add even more volume.

CREAM

Hold: low hold
Shine: low to medium shine

Hair creams come with a variety of benefits. They give your hair flexibility and strength while providing a low hold that doesn’t have the stiffness or greasiness of wax and pomade.

Creams generally consist of oils and amino acids that provide a strong but flexible, natural appearance. Some also act as a conditioner by helping add moisture to the hair.

Texture-wise, creams range between lightweight lotions and those that have wax-like consistency. And some have a stronger hold as compared to others, so it’s essential to define what you want to accomplish by using creams, as well as your preferred hairstyle.

WHO SHOULD USE CREAM?
One of the main benefits of styling cream is to give medium to long hair a healthier look and natural-looking shine. It can be especially beneficial for frizzy hair that’s hard to manage. You can use it to guide your hair in a specific style/direction while taming stubborn stray hairs.

Hair cream is an excellent option for men with thinning or fine hair who don’t like to use pomade or wax. The cream is lightweight enough to make you feel as if you aren’t wearing any product at all and is easily among the best men’s products for thin hair.

STYLING POWDER

Hold: low hold
Shine: low shine

Styling powders are still relatively new but have gained popularity due to their ease of use and ability to use on dry hair.

Texture powders contain a silicone-like material called silica silylate that sticks to hair fibers. In turn, it creates volume by causing friction between the fibers. Texture powders also absorb excess oil from hair, which also helps boost volume.

Some powders may leave your hair feeling a little crunchy and stiff, and if you have coarse hair that tends to be on the drier side, a styling powder may not be the best product for you.

WHO SHOULD USE POWDER?
Men with fine, straight hair that want to add texture and volume. Powder works best on short to medium hairstyles, but we’ve seen men with thin long hair have some success with it as well.

SEA SALT SPRAY

Hold: very low hold
Shine: low shine

Sea salt spray gives your hair just a touch of hold. It’s enough to set your style, but unlike pomades or clays, sea salt spray leaves your hair soft and free to move.

As oil and product accumulate on the hair and scalp, hair shafts become heavy and weighed down. Additionally, the oilier hair gets, the more the hair shafts clump together and become matted and lifeless. Sea Salt Spray helps to remove that excess oil buildup, allowing the hair strands to be lighter and more independent of each other. Naturally, this allows for greater volume because the hair shafts aren’t weighed down by the oil.

The salt, which naturally has a slight amount of grit, helps texturize the hair.

Like all hair styling products, Sea Salt Spray isn’t going to be right for everyone. Salt does have a drying effect on hair, and it is possible to use too much of it.

If your hair tends to be extraordinarily dry, Sea Salt Spray isn’t going to be the product for you.

On the other hand, if you have an overly oily scalp, Sea Salt Spray will be perfect for you because it will help remove some of that excess oil.

Not sure if Sea Salt Spray is right for you? We put together a deep dive in our article Sea Salt Spray: The Pros and Cons.

WHO SHOULD USE SEA SALT SPRAY?
Men with short, medium, and long hairstyles can use Sea Salt Spray. For short hairstyles, it’s best used in combination with another product, like Styling Balm. For longer hairstyles, it really helps add a little control and natural flow while helping to enhance your hair’s waves.

GEL

Hold: medium to super high hold
Shine: medium to super high shine

You’ve likely used gel at some point in your life—especially if you grew up in the 80s and 90s when hard, spiky hair was king and hoards of frosted-tip adolescent boys roamed your local shopping mall on Friday nights.

Unfortunately, hair gel is still trying to recover from its crunchy, cringy past when most hair gels were made with alcohol. Those hair gels strip needed moisture from the hair and scalp and leave hair dry, brittle, and harder than a football helmet.

Fortunately, it’s easy to find alcohol-free hair gel in various hold strengths and formulated for a variety of all types.

Today’s gels perform more like a gooey cousin of pomade, giving you a slick, wet look that can be as greasy as you want it to be. Don’t want the wet look? Well, there’s plenty of matte finish gels available as well. The point is—gels have evolved, so don’t discount them.

If you’re one of those 90s kids we mentioned above and are feeling a little unsure about getting back into the gel game, we recommend trying a flexible hold gel that will keep your hair in check but also allow you to rework it throughout the day.

WHO SHOULD USE GEL?
Men with short to medium hair lengths who want some extra oomph and shine. Even men with longer hair can find a gel that suits them in today’s market. Men with really thick and dense hair will get the most out of gel, whereas men with thinner hair will likely want to leave it on the shelf.

MOUSSE

Hold: medium to high hold
Shine: medium to high shine

Mousse doesn’t have the street cred or popularity it once had in the 1980s when you’d find it on a wide variety of crunchy, “big hair” styles. But that’s not to say that it doesn’t have merits for today’s style-conscious man. In fact, like gel, mousses have continued to evolve, and they are a bit of a “secret ingredient” among celebrity stylists.

One thing to keep in mind about mousse—a little of it goes a long way. All you need is a golf ball-sized amount to spread evenly over your hair. You can always adjust the amount from there.

Chemical compounds called polymers contained in mousse surround the hair strands to provide an overall fuller appearance. You’ll also find some mousses with ingredients such as rosemary to help treat hair loss. Indeed, giving hair more body is a requisite for men dealing with hair loss.

One of hair mousse’s positives is that it provides both volume and control. It definitely helps to hold your style in place without an oily and stringy look. It also allows you to maintain most hairstyles daily without a lot of buildup, and you can do mid-day styling touches that aren’t difficult.

To maximize the volume you get from your mousse, add it primarily to the roots of your hair. Spread the product upward as you tilt your head over.

To apply mousse, start with clean, damp hair. Rub the foam between your palms, and then run your hands and fingers over your hair until you distribute all of it. Concentrating on the roots while you spread your mousse helps ensure that you won’t have any greasiness.

After evenly distributing the mousse, you can blowdry your hair for a polished look with more volume, or you can let it air dry for more of a wet look.

Note: of all the styling products discussed in this article, mousse is probably the most difficult to use correctly. If your hair becomes stiff and crunchy with mousse, you’re likely using way too much of it.

WHO SHOULD USE MOUSSE?
Men with medium and long hair can benefit from the right mousse—keyword, right. Like gels, finding the right mousse for your hair type is half the battle. The other half of the battle is figuring out how to use it correctly.

HAIR SPRAY

Hold: low to high hold
Shine: low to high shine

At one time, hair spray was perhaps the most popular hair styling product in existence.

Hair spray gets a bad rap, but it’s a versatile product that works on various hairstyles. It’s not a bad idea to keep some around.

Among hair spray’s many attributes is that you can use it alone or in conjunction with other hair styling products, such as paste or pomade. But where hair spray really shines is as a finishing product to look your style in place.

Hair spray provides volume to your hair and helps sustain volume if you have thinning hair. You can apply hair spray on the outer layer of your hair to lock your style in place or spray it deep into your hair’s roots to help lift them up.

Hair spray is a lifesaver in times of high humidity, which can turn your hairstyle limp in a hurry.

Another thing to know about hair spray is that it comes in three types of hold:

Flexible hold
Flexible hold sprays provide the least amount of staying power and hold. They’re excellent for longer hairstyles in which you want to retain your hair’s natural bounce while still preventing frizziness.

Medium hold
This type of hair spray is suitable for hairstyles that need volume but not too much stiffness.

Maximum hold
If you want to keep your hair in place throughout the day, give it a few shots of maximum-hold spray. You’ll maintain your style’s definition and texture while keeping it locked in place.

Hair spray is also versatile in that it ranges from low to high shine, which allows you to choose accordingly.

WHO SHOULD USE HAIR SPRAY?
Men with thinner, medium-length hair who want to add a little more staying power to their style. If you’ve used other products to create a lifted pompadour, finishing it with hair spray will help keep it from falling flat throughout the day.

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