Since growing my hair to a solidly head-bangable length four years ago, I've come to notice that many in our little community aren't well versed in what it takes to maintain a healthy head of hair. Going to a show and seeing dudes with what could be a gorgeous mane ruined by improper care is frustrating. Growing out your hair isn't something you just do. It takes time, effort, knowledge and yes, proper products. Here's what I've learned though research/trial and error/girlfriends over the years:

1. Brush your damn hair. At least once a day. It decreases tangles, keeps it healthy, and scalp stimulation can speed up/help growth.

2. Trim it. Cutting off split ends keeps your hair looking good. Aim to get a half inch cut off at least once a year, even when you're growing it out.

3. Don't shampoo every day. It may sound counter-intuitive, but shampooing too often actually makes your hair greasier. Because shampoo strips your hair of essential oils, the more you strip them the harder your scalp works to replenish them. It will take time to your head/hair to adjust, but you shouldn't be shampooing more than twice a week.

4. With that said, condition often. Every time you shower. It replenishes the aforementioned oils and keeps your hair soft and healthy.

5. Spend the money on proper products. There's a reason some shampoos cost $3 and others cost $30. I'm not telling you to break the bank, but do your research and find a solid combo that does a good job and keeps your smelling and looking how you like.

6. This is purely cosmetic, but learn how to put up your hair properly. A foot long ponytail generally doesn't look good unless you're going for that 90s computer programmer look. I'm a fan of a samurai-style top know when I need to put it up.

This isn't meant to be an indictment, just trying to spread some knowledge of what I've learned over the years. Any other tips you guys have?

7. grow a nice beard if you're a REAL man!

Detergent shampoos strip oils from your hair and do bad things to it over time. Try JR Liggett's old fashioned style shampoo, it's an oil-based bar shampoo that will help wash away excess oil, but not strip the oils in your hair itself. Takes a week or so to get used to, but the results are great.

Have you ever noticed that the hair on the back of your head and around the sides tends to be shorter and breaks more easily, but the hair at the crown of your head is in the best shape? This is because your hair gets caught on most fabrics a little bit. When you sleep with a cotton pillowcase, the hair on the back of your head gets snagged on it a little bit each time you move. This is why that hair is messier and is a bit tangled in the morning. Use a silk pillowcase like this one and your hair glides across it.

Good to know about silk pillowcases, didn't know that!

All of you guys with mostly straight hair (aka the majority of the world) have it easy and have no right to complain about hair care.

Can't agree with this. It is said that expensive hair products are the same as the cheap stuff, only re-branded, and I think that prejudice is mostly correct. Bottom line is that there are only some basic ingredients that even matter, and they have little to no influence on the price.

Shampoo is supposed to remove oils and clean your hair. It is basically a type of soap that doesn't damage the hair (when used sensibly), and soap isn't exactly rocket science.

Conditioner depends on what you want it to do. I find that the only thing I ever really need conditioner for is compensating for the loss of oils after shampooing, so I can brush afterwards.

I wash my hair only twice a week using products for well under 3 €, yet my hair might just be the healthiest thing about me.

The secret to hair care is simply to avoid damaging it. Ironically most of what is marketed as hair care (predominantly to women) does exactly that. It's a market that literally produces the needs which it means to satisfy. Just like hard drugs.

It's true! My hair is quite light, curly, and becomes hopelessly tangled in just a couple of days. I almost never use shampoo, can not use a brush - just a heaping glob of conditioner and finger combing to get the knots out.

Edit: I'll be on the lookout for a silk pillowcase now though!

If you have curly hair, do not do this. Definitely not when wet, although you could probably get away with it occasionally when dry if you're careful. Brushing will likely just damage your hair. Instead, detangle gently with your fingers or wide-toothed comb. Detangling is important though, and remember to start at the bottom!

I would also strongly recommend fellow curly-haired folks to try the Curly Girl Method. http://www.wikihow.com/Follow-the-Curly-Girl-Method-for-Curly-Hair



I definitely am on board with buns. Loose buns on top of or behind your head are absolutely the way to go and having a tight hair tie can damage your hair. Those hair clips with the interlocking teeth are also great, although I only wear them around the house.

Absolutely great advice. It makes all the difference, seriously. An alternative is satin pillowcases which are cheaper but still way better than cotton.

More of us use straighteners than you might think.

I have a dreaded wave in my hair so when it gets to my shoulders it gives me "wings" according to my wife. Sometimes I straighten it other times I just put a bit of product in and rock the curl/wave mess. Anybody else have the same issue or any ideas for managing it.

Gonna be honest here, one part of metal culture that I've never understood is the grow your hair out thing. I can't see myself ever doing this. XD

I wish I gave this a shot before chopping my hair off. Casual dress/suit with hair on my shoulders isn't ideal but a topknot with a suit looks fucking great, although I lack the ability to grow facial hair to complete the look.

Try it yourself and after you look at your majestic hair in the mirror, you'll never want to go back.

My approach to hair care is fairly basic but works for me (I mostly do as the OP says although not entirely), but this thread fills me with pride and that epic feeling. I give it my highest approval. Nothing greater than majestic long hair.

Top knots make you look like old women, not samurai. I don't care how hard you wish. Haven't had only a foot long pony tail in over 5 years. If you are active... it's actually going to tangle far less with a looser pony tail than some top knot shit.. I've tried both. I went back to what works.

Also there is a difference between higher costing and lower costing shampoo/conditioners. I use both, I can tell what seems to work better for my own hair.


And never grew my hair out because of metal culture, it was the only style I really hadn't tried before aside from skintop bald. and it worked best for me. Also didn't grow a beard because of metal culture, grew a beard because my father and pretty much every other male figure in my life that was worth a fuck had one aside from my grandfather. So really.. I'd have both even if I wasn't listening to metal, I just happen to.
Disagree with washing it only twice a week... maybe if you aren't doing anything at all esp anything that causes you to sweat. If you are conditioning properly then you could every day. I go more for every other day or every 3 days.

citations needed.
'replenishing hair oils' is a new one to me, but the others all sound like pretty common myths.

'healthy' is a strange term to apply to dead cells.

don't worry, you can still be a drummer.

if that is a new one to you, you must have never heard or talked with anyone about hair ever...basically lived in a communed of nair enthusists

and it's not dead cells, it's made from dead cells. those cells are formed into a shaft of basically scales that protect the cuticle. So while techincally you are right, you are also wrong since you state it as if hair is a dead material.. if it was it would just fall off like waste or like the dead skin cells that you constantly shed daily.

Your skin has glands that secrete oil which moisturize your hair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebaceous_glands

It's worth noting that hair care for straight hair and curly hair is pretty different. With straighter hair, you can get away with shampooing fairly often because the oils the glands on the top of your head secrete can easily travel down the hair. With curly hair, this is not the case for obvious reasons, so you must limit your use of shampoo (I personally do it about once a week). Conditioner is not optional either. Also, sleeping on satin or silk is an absolute must if you don't want to wake up with literal knots in your hair.


I mostly follow this guide. My hair is more on the extreme end of the curly spectrum though (around a type 3b to be exact) and has the problem of too much volume. I would tell anybody else with similiar hair to avoid the plopping part like the plague. While I'm sure it works nicely for those with longer curls, anybody like me whose hair basically grows in circles will look pretty insane with all that volume. The stuff about the shampoo, conditioner and combing is spot on though.

Ok, I know nothing of hair care, so bare with me.

When your hair is long (and straight), what are the benefits of brushing it as opposed to combing it? Does a soft brush get the tangles out?

I've never liked conditioner, because it makes my hair feel slimy, unlike when I use shampoo, which makes my hair feel clean. So if I only shampoo twice a week, but condition daily it won't LOOK greasy?

brushing increases the voluminous look of your hair - that is, it'll look like your hair is thicker and so on if you brush. if you brush your hair while it's dry, especially on a humid day, you'll look like you just got electrocuted. by comparison, if you comb your hair while dry it stays about the same.

i don't know about the second point - i generally shampoo my hair once a week (it's short now, but also when i had long hair) and otherwise leave it. i found that conditioner made it greasier, especially after two days of just conditioning. i just never found conditioner necessary. mind you i also had the advantage of thin hair, so it rarely tangled and was easy to comb even without conditioner. what i'd recommend is the soap-free range of everything, too; these days i use a soap-free, 2-in-1 thing. once or twice a month i break out the head and shoulders to stave off the ever-waiting dandruff, but other than that it's fucken sweet!

Such a good tip, plus getting rid of the split ends makes your hair easier to manage. Just because you're growing it out doesn't mean you never get a trim!

My tip: after a shower don't blow dry with too much heat as it can damage your hair. It irritates me how long it takes to blow dry my hair but it's worth spending the time with lower heat. Towel it off well and use higher heat to get the bulk of the moisture out but then lower the temperature and comb/brush or work the hair with your fingers as you dry. I have fine and full hair so it won't work for everyone, but I don't need to use a brush if I take the time drying. That said, good work with a blow drier will go a long way in helping the health and appearance of any hair type.

you guys that say that using conditioner just makes your hair greasier... are you actually washing it out of your hair fully? it's not supposed to just go in and that's it.

Also conditioning daily without washing your hair will make your hair greasy/gunky/nasty. you aren't replacing oils at that point you are just building an oil fill in your head.

But also everyone needs to take in mind that their and everyone's hair is different, what might work for some won't work for all and vice versa.

snowflakes n shit.

I don't know many people who discuss the female equivalent of broscience, which is what all of this looks to be.

do you have any citations for the claim, or have you just 'heard' non-trichologists talking about it?

Aw man, I need to do that. I do have a pretty nice sense of rhythm.

It's definitely seasonal for me - in summer my hair is dry and even gets a bit frizzy, in winter it's smoother and more likely to get oily quick. I also use way more conditioner than shampoo when I wash it, which is about every four days or so, it really depends on what it looks/feels like. I do like pulling the back over my face and hunting for split ends, or pulling out the gray hairs (which seem to congregate on the back of my head on the left side). I know a couple of people who don't use shampoo or conditioner at all, you know, relying on the hair's natural oils to clean itself. I've tried that and my hair just gets far too greasy with a lot of dandruff, it definitely doesn't work for me (and to be honest these guys I know who don't use chemicals to clean their hair look greasy, I can't say that their hair looks very clean, it looks like they have product in it).

A ponytail looks better than tying it up in a 'samurai' bun I think, why would you want to make your head look bigger than it already is? Sheer madness.

Metal dudes, assemble in the shower!

I usually shower every second day, use regular shampoo but rarely conditioning, and my hair is just fine. So far (after about three years of growing) it's not getting much thinner at the bottom end and I hope they'll get some longer. But I have to say that my hair is quite thick (about 80-100 µm compared to 50-70 µm average), so that might give me some advantage

You must not have a wife/girlfriend or know anyone with long hair. I can google a bunch of citations, but so can you. it's not my fault that you are ignorant to it. And it's not really that I'm saying you should have known, I'm just surprised it has never came up in your world ever.

Being ignorant to the care of yourself doesn't come across like you are macho.. just comes off that you are clueless and possibly rank.

Interesting, I avoid blow drying all together because I'm scared it will do damage. It is frustrating having wet hair in the winter, but I'm just too worried about damage to even blow dry on low heat.

it really doesn't cause that much damage if you aren't cooking it. I used to never blow dry my hair. Now I put it up in a towel for around an hour and then blowdry it for 5 minutes and it's totally dry and not burnt up or damaged.

I have precisely the opposite problem.

I actually don't have that problem at all on either end.

People are saying to use conditioner daily and to only shampoo twice a week, so considering that, how do I wash the conditioner out of my hair, other than those two days a week I use shampoo?

I'm saying you shouldn't do that at all. Wash your hair and then condition it. None of this other shit of just constantly adding more conditioner.

You know wash...rinse, condition, rinse. boom volume and silky smooth

What about 2 in 1? Like Head and shoulders 2 in 1.

Use whatever you think works for you. But for me none of that 2 n 1 shit works.

I honestly tried.
the only hits I get for 'oil' related to hair health rather than scalp health are about adding coconut oil, not about 'replenishing' anything that ought to be there.

When I had long hair I used schampoo and conditioner once a day. I also brushed it once a day just after the daily shower. To be honest I saw little difference when using cinditioner and when not using conditioner. For me the make or break was that with coniditioner my hair was super easy to brush. And then I went to the hairdresser whenever my hair had grown a little to long to trim down the tops.

For me long hair was never a pain in the ass. I think my hair was fairly easy to manage as long as I kept to the daily routines. I could definately see and feel it if I decided to not shower for one day.

This is getting a little ridiculous. Just go read this page, jeez. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_conditioner

Thanks guys! This thread is giving me more determination and perseverance. I decided a couple of months ago to let it grow. And it's getting in the crap stage now.


Anyone using the 'no-poo' method? No shampoo etc.