15 Ways to Style Any Haircut for Men
Every men's hairstyle is the same three variables in a different order — root direction, product weight and heat. Learn the three and you can style any cut you are given, including one you did not ask for.
In this article · 22
- The Three Variables
- How to Choose Yours
- The 15 Styling Methods
- 1. The Damp Finger Dry
- 2. The Cool-Shot Set
- 3. Clay for Lift
- 4. Cream for Fall
- 5. Salt Spray for Texture
- 6. Powder for Fine Hair
- 7. The Round-Brush Lift
- 8. Diffusing Curl
- 9. The Rough Dry
- 10. Styling Against a Cowlick
- 11. The Two-Stage Product
- 12. The Comb Part
- 13. The Water Reset
- 14. The Air-Dry
- 15. The No-Product Test
- Styling and Upkeep
- Mistakes to Avoid
- FAQ
- Final Thoughts
Men buy products to solve styling problems that products cannot solve. The variable they are missing is usually not on the shelf.
Every men's hairstyle is three variables in a different order. Root direction, product weight and heat, applied in some combination.
Learn the three and you can style any cut. Including one you did not ask for, which is more often the situation than anybody admits.
The Three Variables
Root direction decides where it goes. Hair travels in whatever direction it leaves the scalp, and everything past the root is following.
Product weight decides lift or fall. Clay adds grip without weight and lifts. Cream adds weight without grip and drops.
Heat decides how firmly it sets. The shape is fixed by the cooling rather than the heating, so the last ten seconds of a dry decide more than the first two minutes.
Water resets all three. It is the only thing that releases a set direction, which is why styling starts at damp.
How to Choose Yours
Start from what your hair does on its own. Fighting a growth pattern costs you ten minutes every morning forever.
Pick lift or fall before you pick a product. They are opposite requirements and most men own the wrong tub.
Budget the time you will actually spend. Half of these take ninety seconds and half take five minutes.
Match the finish to the cut. A matte cut with a glossy finish reads as two different haircuts.
The 15 Styling Methods
1. The Damp Finger Dry
Towel to damp, clay through the roots, then dry with the fingers in the direction you want. It is the baseline method and it covers most short and medium cuts, because the fingers separate the hair at the same moment the heat is fixing its direction.
2. The Cool-Shot Set
Flick the dryer to cold for the final half minute of every dry. Hair holds the shape it is in as it cools, which makes this the cheapest hold available and it costs nothing.
3. Clay for Lift
Emulsify a pea of matte clay between the palms and work it into the roots. Grip without weight is the exact combination that makes hair stand away from the scalp, and a lump of unemulsified clay lands in one spot and flattens everything under it.
4. Cream for Fall
A light cream through the mid-lengths adds enough weight to bring standing hair down. It is the correct answer for anyone whose hair sticks up when they want it flat, and it is the product most men should have bought instead of a third tub of clay.
5. Salt Spray for Texture
Salt roughens the cuticle so strands grip each other. Choose it on fine or wavy hair where any weight at all would flatten the roots, and apply it to damp hair rather than dry so the texture forms as the water leaves.
6. Powder for Fine Hair
Texture powder at the roots creates grip where there is no natural weight. Use a fraction of what looks right, because powder builds up fast and cannot be removed without washing.
7. The Round-Brush Lift
A small round brush at the root, rotating away from the face, followed by cool air. It is how volume is built at the front of a quiff and it takes about four minutes.
8. Diffusing Curl
Low heat, low speed, diffuser cupped under the hair. High airflow blows curl clumps apart before they set, which is the main cause of frizz on curly hair, and once a clump has been broken it will not reform without re-wetting.
9. The Rough Dry
Dry to about seventy percent with the head down and no direction at all, then style the last thirty. It removes water without committing to a shape, which keeps your options open.
10. Styling Against a Cowlick
Dry it past where you want it, then bring it back. Attacking a cowlick directly never works, because the root has to be overshot before it will settle in a new direction.
11. The Two-Stage Product
Clay at the roots while damp, then a pinch of the same product through the tips once dry. Two stages, two purposes, and it is the difference between styled and separated.
12. The Comb Part
The only method here where a comb helps, and the one side part hairstyles for men depend on. Part damp hair with the comb, dry each side away from the part, then leave the comb alone. Every further pass flattens the section and undoes the separation you just built.
13. The Water Reset
Wet the section under the tap instead of restyling over the top. Water is the only thing that releases a set direction, so adding product to a fallen style just makes it heavier.
14. The Air-Dry
Product on damp hair, then nothing at all. It leaves root direction irregular, which is what makes a cut look worn rather than done, and it is the whole method behind deliberately messy hairstyles for men.
15. The No-Product Test
Once a week, style with water and heat alone. It shows you what your cut genuinely does, and that is the version you should be discussing with your barber. Anything that only works with product is a cutting problem being paid for daily.
Styling and Upkeep
Emulsify every product before it touches your hair. Product applied as a lump lands in one place and stays there.
Work from the roots outward. The tips are the last thing to receive product, never the first.
Wash your brush weekly. Build-up on the bristles transfers straight back into clean hair.
Reduce the amount before you change the product. The tub is rarely the fault; the amount on your fingers usually is, and halving it fixes more than switching brands.
Keep one clay and one cream, nothing more. Between them they cover lift and fall.
Mistakes to Avoid
Applying product to dry hair. Product changes weight, never direction, and by the time hair is dry the direction has already been settled at the scalp.
Skipping the cool shot. The shape relaxes within an hour without it.
Using too much of anything. Weight is the enemy of every style that needs lift.
Combing after styling. The teeth pull the whole head into one flat direction, which is the opposite of what any finish built on lift requires.
Buying a third product instead of learning the second. Almost nobody needs more than two.
FAQ
What are the three variables? Root direction, product weight and heat.
Which product first? A matte clay and a light cream, and nothing else yet.
Why does it not hold? It was styled dry, or never cooled at the end.
Final Thoughts
Damp, direction, heat, cool — in that order, on any cut, at any length. Once that sequence is automatic the products in your cupboard stop mattering nearly as much as you were led to believe, and a haircut you were not sure about usually turns out to be fine.
For the cuts these methods suit see haircut ideas and styles for men, and for the texture-specific version see styling curly hair for men. More in Men's Haircuts.
