10 Best Hair Styling Products for Men, According to Grooming Experts (2024)

There are too many haircare products on the market. Or at least, it feels that way when you're sorting through 18 different kinds of pomade—do I need a light-medium hold or a medium-light hold?—in an attempt to find the right one for the mop on top of your head. Everyone wants that tousled, Chalamet-esque look, but how to achieve it? Everyone's hair is different, meaning we need products for longer, or shorter, or wavier, or whatever-er hair. And that, friends, is confusing AF.

So, from serums to salt sprays and everything in between, we've compiled a comprehensive list of all the things you might need to style things up with healthier hair than ever. Some of these options might be new to you. Others might be familiar favorites. But all of them are effective, easy to use, and available to enjoy right now.

The key to curl creams is striking the right balance between hydration and hold. Hydration helps nourish your hair and keep your curls from getting frizzy while hold helps keep the curl pattern intact. Many curl creams we’ve tried fall too far on one side of the spectrum, but this one hits just the right balance. It’s creamy and hydrating enough to keep your curls smooth and soft, but is still lightweight so it won’t weigh them down and the perfect amount of hold keeps your curls curling all day long. It’s the best we’ve found for a variety of curl lengths and patterns.

Like a pomade, a hair clay is meant to give your hair definition and hold, but the added benefit of a clay is that it’s dry and is really great at providing texture and body to your hair. Unlike a pomade, which is often oil-based, clay uses actual clay (in this case, Moroccan lava clay) to give your hair a bit of grit that allows it to look piecier, more textured and sometimes even fuller. The matte finish of this clay gives hair a more natural, less product-y look to the finished product. It has a medium hold, meaning you can still rework your hair if you need to, but it’s going to stay how you style it for hours.

If you’re styling your hair but not using hairspray, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Hairspray helps to lock in a style and keep it in place for way longer than if you just used a product on its own, even if it has high hold. This lightweight hairspray feels feather light on your hair but delivers a staggering amount of hold without adding crunch to your hair. It’s one of the best hairsprays we’ve tried because just a quick spray is enough to keep your style locked in all day long – plus the scent is way, way better than any other hairspray we’ve ever used.

Think of hair fiber as the cross between styling cream and pomade. It’s a cream-based formula, so it’s moisturizing and nourishing to your hair, but it has a high hold which is going to keep your hair in place for hours. It’s ideal for all sorts of short styles, whether you’re trying to smooth things out or create texture and definition. We love this one for its versatility and the matte finish, which gives your hair a natural look instead of shine. We found that a little goes a long way, so start with just a tiny bit and gradually add more until you’ve achieved the look you want.

Let’s get real, one of the reasons many of us use styling products is to make our hair look thicker and fuller (or at least that’s the hope). This hardworking spray gets right to the point. Not only is it lightweight and non-greasy, but it’s packed with expanding polymers, which instantly plump up the strands of your hair to make it look thicker and more voluminous. There are also ingredients like creatine (seriously) that help to strengthen your hair over time, so it’s not only going to give you instant volumizing effects, but also benefit your hair the more you use it. There’s a bit of hold, though not as much as a hairspray, so this could be the only product you need.

You may think dry shampoo is meant to freshen up your hair when it gets dirty between washes – and you’d be right. But it can also be so much more than that. Using dry shampoo as a styling product helps to volumize and pump up hair. Since oil and grime can weigh down hair, spraying some dry shampoo at the roots can help make it appear thicker and fuller simply be cleaning it up a bit. Keep in mind that there’s no hold to this formula, so if you’re looking to lock a style in place, you’ll need another product like hair spray. Use this as a first step to give your hair a fuller base when you add other products on top of it.

Sometimes you just need to bulletproof your style and that’s where a gel like this comes in. Even just a little bit of this gel is enough to give your hair an incredible amount of hold (seriously, it’s not going to budge for hours) and a high shine finish. Pull this out when you want slicked back looks or classic parts. It’s also great for detail work, when you have cowlicks or flyaways that need taming (just be sure to use a teeny tiny amount). What we love most about this gel is that even though it locks everything in place, it’s not going to give your hair that dry, crunchy texture that you get from so many other gels (plus, it washes out easy a the end of the day).

Salt sprays are designed to mimic ocean water which is the secret behind why your hair looks so good after a day at the beach. The salt sticks to your hair follicles and plumps them up, giving them volume and texture. The problem is that many salt sprays are heavy on the salt, which can leave your hair feeling dry and crispy. Out of all the salt sprays we’ve tried, this one is the best because it’s also moisturizing. It contains what the brand calls Ocean Silk Technology which helps to moisturize your hair and scalp, ensuring that even with the salt-driven volume and texture this spray gives your hair, it won’t ever feel or look dry.

Curly or dry hair requires extra moisturization in order to help style it and keep it manageable and often your typical styling products just don’t have enough. This leave-in moisturizing serum instantly hydrates dry hair to make it smoother and shinier, not to mention healthier. Just a few drops is enough to make your hair or beard look sleeker and softer. It doesn’t have any hold in the formula, but it plays well with other styling products, so add a bit of this before you add pomade or gel if you’re after a style that requires hold.

If you’re styling your hair but not using hairspray, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Hairspray helps to lock in a style and keep it in place for way longer than if you just used a product on its own, even if it has high hold. This lightweight hairspray feels feather light on your hair but delivers a staggering amount of hold without adding crunch to your hair. It’s one of the best hairsprays we’ve tried because just a quick spray is enough to keep your style locked in all day long – plus the scent is way, way better than any other hairspray we’ve ever used.

When choosing our list of best hair products, we not only tried them ourselves but considered all sorts of other factors like price points, ingredients, hair type, longevity, whether they delivered on their claims and more. We are confident that these hair products are the very best for any style or hair type you can think of.