Should Men Use Conditioner? What It Does and Who Needs It

Yes. Most men should.

That's not the answer a lot of blokes want. Conditioner has a reputation as an optional extra, something that lives on the other side of the shower shelf and gets ignored. Plenty of men have gone their whole lives on shampoo alone and reckon their hair's fine.

It might be. But it's probably not as good as it could be, and the fix takes about two minutes.

What Does Conditioner Actually Do?

Shampoo is there to get you clean. Sweat, yesterday's clay, the oil your scalp's been churning out since Monday, all of it goes down the drain. Good at that. The catch is it can take some of the natural oil your hair likes to keep along with the grime.

Each hair is covered in tiny overlapping scales called the cuticle. When hair's in good shape, those scales lie fairly flat. Every wash lifts them a little, and rubbing your head with a towel like you're drying a wet dog lifts them a lot more. Lifted cuticles catch on each other. End result? Hair that knots, goes frizzy and by Thursday looks a bit like straw.

Conditioner leaves a thin coating on each strand so that outer layer sits flatter again. Strands rub against each other less, which means less tugging when you drag a comb through and fewer snapped bits left on the towel. It feels softer. Combs through easier. It tends to look healthier as well, mainly because smooth hair catches the light where rough hair just sits there looking dull.

So shampoo does the cleaning bit. Conditioner sorts out how your hair feels and behaves once it's clean. You want both.

Do Men With Short Hair Need Conditioner?

Length matters. So does your hair type.

Got a skin fade and an inch on top? Honestly, you might not see a huge change, and we won't pretend otherwise. It's still worth using if your short hair feels coarse or goes rough after a wash. Coloured it, or blast it with a hairdryer most mornings? Same again. And the more length you grow, the more it pays off.

Past a couple of inches it really starts to matter. Longer hair is older hair. The ends have been through months of washing, drying and styling, and they show it first. Growing your hair out? Conditioner stops being optional. Our guide to growing long hair for men goes into that in more detail.

Thick, curly or wavy hair also tends to run dry, because the scalp's natural oil struggles to travel down a curl. Those hair types usually notice the biggest change.

How to Use Conditioner Properly

Most men who say conditioner doesn't do anything are using it wrong. Usually they rub a blob into the scalp and rinse it off three seconds later.

Here's how to actually do it.

Shampoo first and rinse it out fully. Squeeze out the excess water so the conditioner isn't sliding straight off soaking wet hair.

Take a small amount. About a 10p coin's worth for short hair, a bit more if it's longer.

Work it through the middle and ends. Not the scalp. Your roots get plenty of natural oil already, and piling conditioner on there is how hair ends up flat and greasy. The ends are what need the help.

Leave it a minute or two. Finish washing the rest of you while it sits.

Rinse it out properly. Leftover conditioner weighs hair down, which you'll notice more if you're after volume.

That's it. No mystery.

Can Conditioner Make Your Hair Greasy?

Yes, it can. Nearly always down to how much you use or where you put it.

The classic mistake is a big dollop slapped on the roots and a ten second rinse. Do that with fine hair and it'll be lying flat on your head before lunch. Use less, keep it to the lengths and rinse longer. Naturally oily hair? Every other wash might be plenty.

Lightweight formulas help as well. A heavy, waxy conditioner on fine hair is a bad match.

Should You Use Conditioner Every Time You Wash?

Yes, for most of us. Shampoo goes in, rinse, conditioner goes in after. Every time.

How often you should be shampooing is a different question. Hair type comes into it, so does how much you sweat at the gym or on site, and how much product you're piling in each morning. Our guide on how often men should wash their hair has all that, and we're not going to repeat it here.

The simple version is that conditioner follows shampoo. Water-only rinse days? Skip it.

Does Conditioner Help With Styling?

More than people expect.

Dry, rough hair is hard work to style. Clay grabs in patches, paste goes on lumpy, and you keep adding more until it finally sits where you want it. On conditioned hair the product spreads out much easier, so you'll usually get away with less.

Watch it if you're after big volume, though. Heavy conditioner and height don't really get on. Go light, rinse it out properly, then let the root-lift and your styling product do the lifting. Our guide on how to add volume to men's hair covers that part.

What to Look for in a Men's Conditioner

Nothing fancy needed. No single ingredient does it all either, whatever the bottle claims. Flip it over and have a look at the label for a few things.

Conditioning oils. Coconut, argan and sweet almond turn up a lot. They're in there to make hair feel softer and stop strands snagging on each other.

Proteins and panthenol. You'll often see hydrolysed wheat or soy protein on the list, plus panthenol, which is vitamin B5. Both get added to help dry, worn-out hair feel and behave better.

A formula that suits your hair. Fine or oily hair usually gets on better with something light. Thick, curly or dry hair can take a bit more.

A scent you don't mind. You'll be smelling it every morning.

Ours ticks those boxes. Our Conditioner's got coconut, argan and sweet almond oils in it, with panthenol and wheat and soy proteins on top. It's suitable for all hair types and free from parabens. It's also vegan and made here in the UK.

It's designed to go straight after our Shampoo, which is made with argan oil and is SLS-free for a gentler wash. Used together, you get a clean scalp without your hair feeling stripped and rough afterwards.

Give your hair two minutes it's been missing. Pick up our Conditioner, pair it with our Shampoo, and see how it feels after a week.

Conditioner FAQs