How to Grow Long Hair for Men
Growing your hair long sounds easy. Stop cutting it. Wait.
The waiting is the part nobody warns you about. There's a stretch in the middle where it looks worse before it looks good, and that's where most men give in and book a cut. Push through that and long hair is well within reach. You just need to know what's coming and how to handle it.
Here's the full grow-out, stage by stage, plus what to actually put in your hair along the way.
How long does it take to grow long hair?
Hair grows about half an inch a month. Slow. A proper shoulder-length look is a two-year job for most men, sometimes more. Genetics decide a lot of it, and so does how healthy your hair is while it grows.
One thing worth saying plainly: nothing you buy makes the follicle grow faster. Any product promising to double your growth rate is selling you a story. What good care does is stop breakage, so the length you grow is length you keep instead of losing it to snapped, frazzled ends.
The grow-out happens in stages
Roughly three of them. Short, the in-between, then long.
The in-between is the killer. Your hair's too long to spike and too short to tie back. It flicks out over your ears. It sits flat and shapeless. The back grows a curtain before the sides catch up. Everyone hits this wall. It passes if you let it.
Knowing it's coming makes it easier to ride out. So does having the right stuff on the shelf.
Getting through the awkward stage
This middle phase is where product does the heavy lifting. Your hair won't behave on its own yet, so you make it behave.
On the days you want it slicked back and out of your face, reach for our Pomade. It's water-based with a strong hold and a high shine, built for classic looks like a slick-back or a side-parting. Works best on short-to-medium hair, which is exactly the length you're stuck at here. Washes out clean at the end of the day with a normal shampoo. No waxy residue clinging on into next week.
Prefer it matte? Our Matt Clay and Matt Paste both give a natural, shine-free finish with enough hold to keep mid-length hair in shape. The Paste is the one to grab if you've got curls, it defines them and takes the frizz down without weighing anything flat.
A comb helps more than you'd expect at this length. Our Liquid Wood Styling Comb puts a parting in without dragging or snagging.
Which styling product for which stage
| Product | Finish | Hold | Best for while growing out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pomade | Shine | Medium–strong | Slicked classic styles at short–medium length |
| Matt Clay | Matte | Strong | Textured mid-length looks |
| Matt Paste | Low shine | Medium | Curls, frizz, restyling through the day |
| Sea Salt Spray | Textured | Light | Waves and volume at any length |
Look after it or you'll lose it
Long hair is old hair. Think about it. The ends have been sitting on your head for a year or two by the time your hair's long, weathered by every wash, towel and pillow since. Dry, weaker, first to snap. Care matters more the longer you go.
Wash less than you're used to. Daily washing strips the natural oils and leaves the lengths brittle. A few times a week does the job. Our Shampoo clears build-up but leaves the oils your scalp actually needs.
Then condition. Every single wash. This is the step men skip and it's the one that matters most once hair gets long. Skip it and by midweek you're fighting a knotted, tangled mess. Our Conditioner is made for keeping longer hair soft and manageable, so it combs through instead of ripping.
Styling it once it's actually long
When there's finally enough length to play with, texture is what you want. Flat long hair looks lifeless. Movement is the whole point.
Our Sea Salt Spray is the one we'd hand you first. Spritz it onto towel-dried hair and blow-dry for volume and a loose wave with a low-shine, natural finish. Or scrunch it through dry hair for a rougher, just-off-the-beach look. Barbers keep a bottle within reach for good reason, and it works whatever your length. It'll carry you from the in-between stage right through to full length.
Go easy on heat where you can. Air-drying is kinder to long hair than blasting it every morning.
A few honest tips (and a couple of myths)
Get it trimmed while you grow it. Sounds like the opposite of what you'd do. It works, though, because a small tidy-up every couple of months takes off the split ends before they travel up the strand and cost you real length.
Diet and sleep keep the hair you've got healthier. They won't sprout you a mane overnight, whatever the supplement adverts claim. Keep the expectations sensible.
Small stuff adds up too. A softer pillowcase, a proper hair tie instead of a snapping rubber band, not brushing it while it's soaking wet. None of it is dramatic. All of it means less breakage over two years of growing.
Not sure which products suit your hair type? We've put together a full men's hair products guide sorted by hair type to point you at the right ones.
A few common questions
How long does it take for a man to grow long hair?
Around half an inch a month, so shoulder-length is usually a two-year stretch. Your genetics and how well you look after it both change that.
Can I make my hair grow faster?
Not really, not the actual growth rate. What you can do is stop losing length to breakage by conditioning properly and trimming off split ends before they spread. Healthy hair reaches long faster because you're not snapping it off on the way.
Do men need to use conditioner on long hair?
Yes, and it's the step most skip. The longer your hair, the older and drier the ends, so conditioner every wash keeps it manageable instead of tangled and snappy.
How often should men wash long hair?
A few times a week, not daily. Washing every day strips the oils that keep long hair from drying out. Space it out and use conditioner each time.
What's the best product for styling long men's hair?
For most long styles it's sea salt spray, for the texture and wave without a greasy shine. Pomade and matt paste come into their own more at the shorter and mid-lengths while you're still growing it out.
Free delivery over £15.99. All vegan, all cruelty-free, all made in the UK.
Reading about it is the easy part. The products that see you through every stage are all in one place. Tens of thousands of men already sorted. Your turn.
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