For every guy rocking long locks, a man bun, or curtain bangs, there are at least two others struggling to conceal thinning hair. For the follicularly impaired, hair styling can be a minefield. Styling thinning hair requires finesse, with the wrong products serving to enhance the scarcity of your strands. While there’s a plethora of lotions, potions, and supplements purporting to restore your crowning glory, these aren’t the only option. Nowadays, there are styling products that work to add texture, volume, body, and just generally make your hair look less sparse. Some may even aid in promoting hair growth, or at the very least; preserving the hair you currently have.
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To maximise what you’ve got, these are the 13 best styling products for men with thinning hair.
The best styling products for men with fine and thinning hair in 2024
1. Oribe Gold Lust Dry Shampoo
Not just for prolonging the days between shampooing, dry shampoos can be used to add volume to thin hair. Used between shampoo days, the Oribe Gold Lust Dry Shampoo works to absorb excess oil at the roots of your hair, adding body by allowing your hair to stand up rather than falling flat.
2. R+Co Badlands Dry Shampoo Styling Paste
Styling pastes are one of the best products for men with thinning hair, working to add texture and lift without weighing your hair down. A dry shampoo-paste hybrid, the R+Co Badlands Dry Shampoo Styling Paste adds texture and density to your hair, making it the ideal product for those looking to achieve that causally tousled look or simply push your hair off your face. Plus, it washes off easily with water, meaning you can go a day or two without shampoo.
3. EVO Salty Dog Salt Spray
For maximum texture with minimal work, a good salt spray is a foolproof option to have in your styling arsenal. Sprayed on damp hair and left to air dry, EVO Salty Dog Salt Spray creates fullness and texture, while its matte finish prevents any excess shine.
4. American Crew Light Hold Texture Lotion
Styling creams and lotions add texture and provide light hold without the weight of traditional styling products like waxes and clays. The American Crew Light Hold Texture Lotion contains ginseng and lanolin oil to help hair appear thicker and lock in moisture throughout the day.
5. Oribe Serene Scalp Thickening Treatment Spray
Yeah we know, the packaging likely looks more at home on your girlfriend’s vanity than yours, but it’s 2024 and if it works, it works. Designed to be sprayed on freshly washed, damp hair, the Oribe Serene Scalp Thickening Treatment Spray helps add volume and plumpness to fine hair, while encouraging improvement in hair density with continued use over time. We’d recommend following up with a paste or lotion to style.
6. Baxter Of California Clay Pomade
For high hold styles, the Baxter Of California Clay Pomade is the ideal go-to styling product for men with thin hair. Ingredients beeswax and kaolin clay work to lift fine hair and add texture and thickness, while providing long-lasting hold. For best results, work into dry hair before styling.
7. GROW Volumising Dry Shampoo
Another hybrid product, the GROW Volumising Dry Shampoo combines a dry shampoo and styling powder in one. Perfect for guys who don’t like the weight of pomade or clay, this dry shampoo utilises rice powder to absorb excess oil at the roots and silica to provide volume and matte finish texture to fine, thin hair.
8. KEVIN.MURPHY Body Mass
While thinning hair can’t be reversed, you can still take care of the hair you have and prevent any further hair loss. Created utilising eyelash thickening technology, KEVIN.MURPHY Body Mass is a thickening treatment designed to strengthen the hair while creating thickness and fullness. Baobab extract provides strength and moisture to your strands while wheat protein improves body and nourishes hair, resulting in fuller looking locks.
9. Nioxin 3D Styling Thickening Spray
This pre-styling volumising spray adds texture and grip to your hair, coating each strand of hair in polymers for a denser, fuller appearance. The Nioxin 3D Styling Thickening Spray can be used on its own or followed up with a styling clay or wax.
10. Patricks M1 Matte Finish Thickening Paste
A light-hold styling paste, Patricks M1 coats the shaft of each strand of hair to give the appearance of thicker, denser hair. Applied from root to scalp, it holds hair in place with a natural finish while the brand’s recovery complex (think rosemary, coffee, clary sage, and ginkgo biloba) works to promote scalp and hair health while reducing hair fall.
11. Triumph & Disaster Karekare Tonic Spray
The best sea salt sprays deliver volume and texture without sacrificing movability, making them a key styling staple for those who prefer a softer, more natural hair style. The Triumph & Disaster Karekare Tonic Spray combines epsom salt with willow herb which addresses scalp irritation and green tea and sea beet extracts to restore shine and lustre to dull hair.
12. Uppercut Deluxe Styling Powder
A veritable barbershop staple, Uppercut Deluxe Styling Powder adds weightless body and texture to fine hair. While it can be used before clay or pomade as a pre-styler, its matte finish and easy-to-use credentials make it a fuss-free styling staple on its own for those desirous of looser, more natural looks.
13. American Crew Hair Fibre
For those who need more hold than that bestowed by the brand’s Light Hold Texture Lotion, the American Crew Hair Fiber adds much-needed volume and boasts a stronger yet pliable hold while retaining a relatively natural finish.
Tips for choosing the best styling products for men with thinning hair
First off, a note on the difference between fine and thinning hair. While ‘fine’ and ‘thinning’ are often used interchangeably, they refer to different things.
- Fine hair refers to the strands of hair themselves, which are smaller in diameter (i.e. finer) than those with normal or thick hair.
- Thinning hair refers to the volume of strands on the scalp; men with fine, normal, or thick hair can still have thinning hair, this simply means less hair is growing.
The products recommended in this article are designed to cater to those with fine and/or thinning hair. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when selecting the best styling products for fine or thinning hair.
- Look to add texture and hold without adding too much weight. Heavy styling products (think ultra-thick pomades and high-hold clays) add weight (making fine hair appear limp and flat) and can clump your hair together, exposing more of the scalp beneath.
- Sea salt sprays are an invaluable product to style fine and thin hair, adding texture, definition, and light hold to your hair. They can be used as a pre-styling product before a lightweight clay or fibre, or simply on their own.
- While volume is important, volume without texture isn’t a good look for fine or thin hair; adding height alone tends to expose more of the scalp and have the opposite effect than that desired.
- Don’t be afraid to blow dry. Heat styling often gets a bad rap, but it can be useful for those with fine hair. In conjunction with the right products (think texture spray and a light clay, lotion, or fibre), blow drying your hair from wet to dry upwards from the scalp gives it lift and volume. Letting your hair air dry flat makes it difficult to build volume regardless of the products you use.
Words by John Deckard
