Rock the Best Haircuts and Hairstyles for Long Curly Hair!

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that a part of owning a good-looking head of curls is choosing and having the right hairstyle and haircut for long curly hair.

There is this kind of consensus that curly-haired males with long hair cannot style their curls (or only have a couple of options) and that any kind of haircut will look bad, in part due to the tendency of long curly hair to puff up and out when cut/trimmed badly by a hairdresser or barber.

However, once curly hair grows long enough (i.e. over six inches of hair length), then it starts to hang down and it puffs out less (the longer it is, the less it puffs out), and that’s when a curly male can get creative with the different long curly hairstyles and haircuts.

In an effort to give you the best information on growing and/or keeping your long lustrous curls, it’s thus that I’m publishing here our guide on long hairstyles and haircuts for curly men.

Seriously, just read this guide and forget about the nonsense that you may have heard as a curly dude wanting to grow your curls long. Reading this guide is going to give you a new outlook on your curly mane, so it’s worth continuing your reading below. Any questions are welcomed and you may post them at the end of the guide too.

Let’s move on!

Haircuts for Long Curly Men’s Hair

As your curls grow, you will more than likely want to chop off your mane in an exercise in desperation; this is where your patience will be tested. That does not mean that you may not cut some of your curls so as to sport a sleeker hairstyle as your curvy tresses grow, not at all; what this means is that you need to be careful with regards to how you go about trimming and buzzing your shapely locks.

The best advice that you can get as a curly dude wanting to grow your curls long is to not get a haircut until you achieve your desired hair length. By far, that’s the most-common type of advice that our customers get when they step into our barbershops and tell us that they want to grow their curly hair to a long length.

In retrospect, such type of advice is counterproductive for myself and my team of barbers, and I know that some barbers or hairdressers may even hate me for letting out this little secret to growing men’s hair as fast as humanely possible. After all, it’d be in my interest to have you visiting my barbershop as frequently as possible for small trims and whatnot, but this guide is about sporting (and growing) a head-turning mane of long curls, so I’m here to give you the best advice possible while cutting all the junk that clutters the space of men’s curly hair.

Anyway, if you still want to go ahead and cut your curly hair while growing it or once you’ve achieved the hair length that you desire, then I can only recommend three haircuts for long curly hair: the undercut haircut, the taper haircut and the layered haircut.

What’s more is that these three haircuts can easily be done by any decent barber or hairdresser, so we ain’t talking rocket science here.

Let’s check out these three aforementioned men’s haircuts for long curly manes.

Undercut haircut

An undercut haircut has all the hair across the sides and back of the head buzzed to any given hair-clipper number. An undercut for curly hair removes all the bulk around the sides and back that’s so frighteningly associated with curly hair will giving a cleaner look to your chosen style.

The problem with the undercut haircut is that it really only suits men with wavy hair and not men with either coiled hair or kinky hair, unless said men (i.e. with coiled/kinky hair) have hair that exceeds twelve inches in length (as seen in the undercut-haircut picture below).

Taper haircut

Unlike the undercut, the taper haircut strives to keep the curls on the sides and back of the head at a gradually-decreasing length. So, rather than having the sides and back of your head buzzed with any given buzzed-cut length, you instead have a range of buzzed lengths across the sides and back which makes the transition in the (decreasing lengths) way more pleasing to the eye.

The taper haircut still removes plenty of bulk of your curly mane, but it doesn’t cause a sharp-and-squared perimeter on the sides and back of your head, with the latter being what the undercut haircut results in. Thus, the taper haircut is most suitable for men with coiled curls and kinky curls.

Layered haircut

A layered haircut leaves all the hair on your head at a similar length so that, when the hair is long enough, the curls hang down in a curtained fashion. Layered haircuts have been used by women all over the world for decades as one of their go-to haircuts that always dos the job when no other haircut can yield an aesthetic look.

By the same token, layered haircuts are great haircuts for curly men and are one of the best haircuts for long curly hair that I frequently recommend. While layered haircuts work on all three curl types, both wavy hair and coiled hair benefit the most from this type of long haircut.

If you want to learn about all suitable haircuts for your curl type, then go ahead and study this long haircuts guide for men with curly hair which also includes wavy hair, coiled hair and kinky curly hair. As a rule of thumb, do not get a haircut as you’re growing your curls and only get a haircut (preferably any of the three listed above) once you’ve achieved your desired hair length.

Curly hair can be difficult to predict as to how it will look with certain haircuts, especially during the awkward-hair stage of its growth, so you’re better off keeping your growing curls untouched and getting a haircut once you’re happy with the current length of your curly mane.

Hairstyles for Long Curly Hair

Long curly hair can be a beast to style, which is why I tend to recommend that you leave your curly mane in a free-styled manner; essentially, your long curls are only mildly styled with your fingers and left to hang down with no products or few high-quality styling products specific to curly men.

Going back to hair-guru Rogelio Samson, he advocates for a loose shake-and-go type of styling for long curly hair, and I could not agree more (see the picture above for a clear example of what a loose styling of curly hair can look like as advocated by Rogelio Samson).

You’ve already read in this guide that you should not use most combs to style your long curls, except for wide-tooth combs, so you’re left with your fingers as the sole method of styling your curly locks (i.e. finger-styling).

Because finger styling doesn’t work well for glued hairstyles (i.e. updo’s and shaped hairstyles), you are limited in your hair-styling choices, although this doesn’t mean that you cannot style your long curly hair. In fact, let us now go through all the cool hairstyles that you can achieve by (primarily) finger-styling your long curls and keeping things simple in the hair-styling department. Before that, allow me to quickly list all the hairstyles that I will be detailing:

• Side part hairstyle
• Afro hairstyle
• Shake & Go hairstyle
• Modern slicked- back hairstyle
• Modern slicked-back hairstyle with a headband
• Messy hairstyle
• Hanging locks hairstyle
• Man bun hairstyle
• Top knot hairstyle
• Manbraids hairstyle
• Long cornrows hairstyle
• Samurai hairstyle
• Tied top with hanging sides and back hairstyle (also known as a “half ponytail”)
• Side part undercut hairstyle
• Side swept undercut hairstyle
• Jim Morrison hairstyle
• Middle part hairstyle
• Ponytail hairstyle
• Braided hairstyle (all kinds)

Quite a few long hairstyles for your curly hair, huh? Let us now go through all of them.

Side part hairstyle

The side-parted hairstyle has been a hair-styling staple since the beginning of the human specie. It looks great, is easy to do and requires practically no time to achieve. Just use your fingers and direct your hair towards the left side or right side of your head. Done and done!

Afro hairstyle

The afro hairstyle probably needs no introduction for curly males, but, for all purposes, let’s talk about it briefly as one of the “de rigueur” hairstyles for men with kinky curly hair. The afro hairstyle has the hair lifted up in a rounded shape with no hair touching the face, neck or shoulders. Despite the hair being long enough to effectively touch the shoulder, the afro hairstyle emphasis the lifting up of the curls so as to give the illusion of levitating hair.

Due to the aforementioned lifted-up emphasis of the afro hairstyle, it best suits men with kinky curly hair (such as most African American males).

Shake & Go hairstyle

The Shake & Go hairstyle is pretty much what the name of the hairstyle entails: you wet your hair, shake it off and you’re now all set. The shake-and-go hairstyle is of great use to men with kinky-curly hair and with coiled-curly hair. The weight of the water coating the curls weighs the hair down, which means that guys who have coiled curls and kinky curls can rapidly get their curls hanging down by simply wetting them and shaking them.

Modern slicked back hairstyle

If you want to slick back your curly hair, thou shalt only use your fingers to do so! Slicking back curly hair with one’s fingers only is what’s known as the “modern” slicked back hairstyle and it is one that gracefully suits males with wavy hair and coiled hair. In contrast, do not attempt to get a classic slicked back hairstyle, as the “classic” style requires that you use a fine-tooth comb (i.e. a regular men’s hair comb) that will only damage and break your curls. So, if you’re into slicking back your long mane, only do so with your fingers!

Modern slicked back hairstyle with a headband

You can spice up your slicked-back style by also including a headband (whether it is an elastic headband or an Alice band) to keep your curly hair slicked back and in place. As a matter of fact, I recommend that you invest in a few headband accessories for your curly mane as these types of men’s hair accessories will amplify your hair-styling range. Just take a look at the picture below of one of our community members with his hair slicked back via the use of a headband!

Messy hairstyle

The messy hairstyle is similar to the Shake& Go hairstyle in that the goal of the hairstyle is to present a tousled, carefree look. However, with a messy hairstyle, one’s fingers are used to meticulously tousle the hair so that each curl is placed intentionally on the scalp to created an organized follicular chaos.

There is no particularly-defined shape that constitutes the messy hairstyle per se; all that you’re required is to tousle your hair with your fingers until you’re happy with how messy (albeit-clean) your hair looks. The messy hairstyle works best on wavy-haired men, and the best men’s hair products for the messy hairstyle are hair-styling gels, styling creams and hair-mousse products (i.e. hair-styling foam).

Hanging locks hairstyle

The hanging-locks hairstyle was pioneered by Rogelio Samson and described in both of his books in the early 2010s. As such, the hanging-locks style has the hair hanging down all across the scalp, but the hair on the sides and back of the head is anywhere from two to four inches shorter than the hair on the top of the head; the hair is then styled down with a hair-styling cream so as to get all of the curls to hang down while still retaining the big-volume emphasis that characterizes medium-length curly hairstyles.

Man bun hairstyle

You’d have to be living in a cave somewhere in the Gobi desert to not know what the man bun hairstyle is. In a nutshell, a man bun is a type of log hairstyle for men that has all the hair on the head tied into a single bun. The bare minimum hair length for a man bun hairstyle is eight inches of length, although I always recommend that you at least have ten inches of hair length all across the head so as to be able to get an epic manbun.

For the record, hair buns have been used for centuries as convenient hairstyles by men. Warriors, Vikings, 16th-century Europeans and many more males of those civilizations that have flourished (and gone) over the last 2000 years have work bun hairstyles for their long hair. In other words, a bun as a men’s hairstyle is way too convenient to not use it when you’re sporting long hair and you want to keep your hair secured while fighting other dudes in the name of whatever kingdom you belong to.

Top knot hairstyle

The top knot hairstyle (also known as a “topknot” or “bro knot”) is a spin-off hairstyle from the classic manbun hairstyle. In the top knot hairstyle, only the hair atop the hair is tied into a single bun, while the hair on the sides and back of the head is left shaved, buzzed or scissor-trimmed and shorter than two inches in length. If the hair is buzzed as an undercut haircut, then the hairstyle is called a man bun undercut or a topknot undercut.

The topknot is a good hairstyle for curly-haired men who want to obtain a sharp-looking image with their long curly hair. As mentioned earlier in the haircuts section of this guide, having the hair on the sides and back of your head short does provide an immediate sharp-looking effect, as curly hair is inherently bulky at the sides and back of the head. To tie the hair on the top of your head into a topknot, you will need to pull your curls a little, so make sure that you do indeed pull softly and without any sudden pulls, for you may damage your curly mane in the process if you don’t tie your topknot using a smooth pulling motion.

Manbraids hairstyle

The manbraids hairstyle is also a spin-off hairstyle from the man bun hairstyle. The manbraids hairstyle has the hair braided fully or partially and then tied into a bun placed on the vertex area of the head (i.e. the crown area). As with the topknot hairstyle, the manbraids hairstyle is usually paired with an undercut haircut or with a fade haircut so that the braided hair making up the manbraids is emphasized further.

Man braids can be made up of one, two, three or as many braids as you like. If you’re to get your long curly mane styled as manbraids, then I recommend that you experiment around with the number of braids that you want to wear. Furthermore, I strongly recommend that you visit a hair professional who specialized in braiding hair as not all hairdressers and barbers can braid hair in this hair-styling manner.

The man-braids hairstyle became a popular hairstyle in 2016, although some of us barbers have been seeing this hairstyle since the early 2010s and even earlier than that. Manbraids go great with coiled-curly hair and kinky-curly hair, and the manbraids hairstyle is an alternative to the cornrows hairstyle as the latter has the hair braided on the scalp, while the former allows for plenty of movement of the braids if one were to wear them down and not as a manbun. Still, one may blend the cornrows hairstyle with the manbraids hairstyle as seen in the picture below; the one thing that is needed for this hairstyle is that your hair is over 12 inches in length.

Long cornrows hairstyle

Cornrows are specially popular with young black males; however, long cornrows aren’t so popular. Still, if you feel like braiding your long curls “to the scalp” (i.e. get your curls into cornrows), then long cornrows as a hairstyle is one that will suit you provided that you get your cornrows correctly!

Samurai hairstyle

The Samurai hairstyle (also known as a “Samurai tail”) is a long-misunderstood long men’s hairstyle. What many people think is a man bun or a top knot, is, as a matter of fact, a Samurai hairstyle. Basically, a Samurai hairstyle is a medium-to-long ponytail that is tied atop the head towards the back (i.e. at the crown) and which defies gravity. Due to the gravity-defying aspect of the Samurai hairstyle, men’s curly hair is very well suited for this hairstyle as all curly-hair types will not fully hang down at lengths varying from six to eight inches of hair length.

Remember, it will only be a Samurai hairstyle if the tied hair doesn’t hang down; otherwise, it’s a conventional ponytail hairstyle (as described further down in this guide). Lastly, the Samurai hairstyle is to be placed in the crown area of the head as shown in the picture above, which is also the de-facto placement for the man bun hairstyle.

Tied top with hanging sides and back hairstyle

The tied-top-with-hanging-sides-and-back hairstyle enjoyed some buzz at the start of the 21st century as David Beckham popularized this hairstyle during his stint at Spanish soccer team Real Madrid. While David Beckham does have straight hair, this same hairstyle is just as possible (and useful) for curly-haired males with long hair.

As the hairstyle name implies, you gab all the (long) hair on top of your head and then tie it into a ponytail, Samurai tail or bun; the hair on the sides and back of the head is left un-tied and dangling, which gives a prominent look since the long curly hair on the sides and on the back provide bulk that nicely blends with the tied ponytail or bun.

Other names for the tied-top-with-hanging-sides-and-back is a “half ponytail” or “half Samurai hairstyle”.

Side part undercut hairstyle

As you’ve already learned in this guide, the undercut haircut for long curly hair is a double-edged sword when it comes to looks and aesthetics. An undercut well trimmed can look great, yet an undercut that hasn’t been trimmed well with curly hair can lead to the awkwardly-famous mushroom effect. I’ve talked about the mushroom-hair effect her at LongHairGuys.net in the past, but, to give you curly folks an idea of what a bad undercut with curly hair looks like, here’s a pretty good picture illustrating this mushroom-inspired hairstyle effect:

Thankfully for us curly dudes, the longer that our hair is, the less of a mushroom-effect that we will be prone to when getting an undercut. From my experience as a barber, curly-haired men with hair exceeding twelve inches in length can have peace of mind; with such a length, the mushroom-hair effect is very unlikely. However, men with curly hair under twelve inches in length or men with coiled-curly hair and kinky-curly hair are at risk, so it’s imperative that your barber does some skillful tapering of your undercut’s perimeter.

With the above said, a great long hairstyle for curly men is the side-part undercut hairstyle. In this hairstyle, the hair is buzzed as an undercut at the sides and back, while the hair at the top is parted to the side at any of the two head’s temples.

The side-parted undercut best suits wavy-haired men. However, men with coiled curls can too get this hairstyle provided that their barber or hairdresser does a good job at tapering the perimeter of the undercut. Males with kinky curly hair are advised to not go for the side part undercut as it tends to not suit kinky curls.

Side swept undercut hairstyle

The side-swept undercut is similar in function and in style to the side-part undercut hairstyle. The only difference is that the hair is not parted per se in the side swept; instead, all the hair on the top of the head is directed (i.e. swept) to the side with hair gel, hair mousse or with a hair-styling cream. The hair at the forelock (i.e. the front of the top of your head) can be left hanging down and dangling as bangs or as a fringe; it’s up to you.

Jim Morrison hairstyle

The Jim Morrison hairstyle has the hair in a messy (yet carefully-styled) manner while hovering the forehead, ears and neck. The Jim Morrison hairstyle can be colloquially seen as the afro hairstyle for white dudes or the afro hairstyle for Jewish dudes (i.e. a jewfro hairstyle). It’s a great hairstyle for males with wavy hair, and those of you with coiled hair and kinky hair will do better with the afro hairstyle or with the hanging-locks hairstyle.

Middle part hairstyle

The middle part hairstyle was all the rage back in the 1990s and late 1980s. In the mid-2010s, the middle-parted style for long hair has made a decent comeback to reinstate itself as one of the big trending hairstyles for long-haired males. For curly males, the middle-parted hairstyle offers an easy-to-maintain look that rarely looks out of place.

The one thing to note with the middle-part hairstyle for long men’s curly hair is that you will need at least twelve inches of hair length for the hairstyle to work on you. Curly hair that’s shorter than twelve inches in length has a tendency to puff up and out so middle parting it (i.e. middle parting your curly hair) will result in the dreaded Christmas-tree effect by which your hair forms an awkward-looking triangle across your head.

Ponytail hairstyle

If you’re having a bad curly-hair day and all else (i.e. hairstyles) fail, then keep it simple and tie your curly mane into a ponytail hairstyle. Easy, fast and headache free, what else can you ask from a men’s long hairstyle?

Braided (tail) hairstyles

It goes without saying that you can braid your curls and/or ponytail into as many braids as you want. Braided styles are actually very useful for men’s curly hair as braids allow for a male’s curls to stay secured (i.e. in a braid), which promoted a tangle-free environment for curly hair. A classic example is braiding your long curly hair into a single French plait (i.e. single braid) before going to sleep and then undoing the braid when you wake up; bedtime is a good time for your curls to tangle against each other, which is why keeping them secure in a braid as mentioned will work wonders to avoid tangled curls and out-of-shape curls.

The sky is the limit when it comes to braiding your hair: from the referenced French-plait style to a three-into-one braided style with an undercut design (see picture below). The great thing about braiding your long curly mane is that you can get as creative as you want; you only need to look at the manbraids hairstyle to realize how mankind as a whole has gotten its creative juices flowing!

Keep your long curly mane tied at work

Now that we’re talking about hairstyles, I shall talk about the hairstyles in the workplace for long-haired males, specifically for curly-haired folk. If your work or job requires that you face the public or clients, you will more than likely be asked to keep your hair clean so as to exude a sharp and polished image. Since curly hair (be it wavy, coiled or kinky) is a naturally-voluminous hair texture, long curly hair in males tends to not go down very well in the workplace if you’re wanting to rock your free-flowing dangling tresses. Never mind that you’re told straightaway by the human-resources department that long hair is simply banned from the organization and you will have to remain a short-haired dude for as long as you work there.

With the above said, if you’re given the OK by your company to grow your curly hair long or if you were hired with long hair already, then you can absolutely have long hair at work without it (i.e. your hair) being detrimental to your job’s performance or work presence. Without a shred of a doubt, I always recommend long-haired men to keep their hair tied back in as much of a shortly-tied hairstyle as possibly allowed without damaging your hair. This in turn means that manbun and topknot hairstyles are your best allies, as well as any hairstyle that keeps your hair tied and secured close to your neck; just make your chosen hairstyle a discreet one and no one will complain.

As a fellow long-haired guy myself, I encourage you to report any long-hair discrimination that you may be subject to. Some managers are of the hardcore authoritative type and they will not allow long hair whatsoever in their team of employees. If you were hired with long hair, yet you’re asked to cut your long hair or are treated differently because of your long hair, then report these issues to the higher managerial positions and you will, most of the time, be able to be treated as any other employee without long hair. Men with long hair are becoming more common in most professional industries and long men’s hair is tolerated for most jobs so long as the hair is kept looking sharp and clean.

Oh, and please don’t pull your curls when styling them

As a final word of wisdom when talking about styling curly hair, I highly recommend that you do not sweep, chaff or pull your hair so as to make it less curly, plaster it with hair-styling gel or make it less voluminous.

Long curly hair hates being pulled in all forms and manners, and a pretty-good example of what chaffed curly hair looks in an attempt to slick it back is that of Shia Labeouf prior to his “Just Do It” moment:

Moreover, pulling your curls to keep them chaffed up can also lead to traction alopecia, whereby you progressively lose the hair on the forelock area of your head as the pulling of your curls causes many hair strands to detach from their follicles which then causes irreversible baldness. Just avoid pulling your curly mane when styling it and you’ll be good.

Conclusion to our guide on long hairstyles and haircuts for curly-haired males

It really is a pity that so many curly dudes are adamant about looking into growing their curls. A lack of general information has made it impossible for virtually all curly-haired males to try to attempt rocking a long mane. With my series of guides on long curly hair for men, my goal is to give you that information that you’ve so much needed for many years.

With this particular guide on long hairstyles and haircuts that you’ve just read, you now have a resource to reference at any time when you want to change the looks of your curly mane; likewise, if you’re growing your curly hair long, this guide will serve to keep you inspired and informed about the styles that you will soon be achieving. It doesn’t matter that you have wavy-curly hair or kinky-curly hair, or that you want to sport a side-parted style or a man-bun style; the key to rocking a great-looking had of long curls is having access to the right information. And, that, my friend, you now have.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them in the comments section below.

Last updated: 25th July 2020

This is the fourth part to our Long Curly Hair Guide – Please visit now the fifth part to this guide: Long Hair Products For Curly Men