Your hairstyle guide for styling ideas on boys’ long hair

Ah, kids, when talking about men’s long hairstyles and haircuts, seldom are young boys ever mentioned. After all, what a parent needs in his or her daily life is convenience above all and not inconvenience stemming from his or her son’s long mane. Or do they? Time and time again I will tell concerned parents that long hair is not an inconvenience at all and that long hair in boys is both easy to care and style. In fact, long hair in adults and kids shares the same characteristics and tidbits, so the advice on how to grow long hair for men will be just as useful to the younger little ones as it is to grown-ups.

It’s difficult to kill pesky long-hair myths in the hair-care industry. I should know since I deal with said myths every single day. A customer will come to our barbershop and shyly enquire about growing his hair long, only to follow his question with his stated fears of having long hair. And this also applies just as much to parents taking their sons to our barbershop. Aside from debunking long-hair myths spouted by otherwise-misinformed parents when they come to our barbershop, I will also pull out our professional photo-book which includes pictures of long-haired kids with a plethora of long men’s hairstyles created by our in-house hairstylists; this is usually more than enough to convince a parent that long hair for a boy is nothing to be scared of.

Since I can only do so much by telling people on the spot (i.e. at our barbershop) about the wonders of long hair and how kids can rock some epic long tresses, it is thus that, in this guide, I will be going through some of the best long hairstyles for boys (including pictures) to give y’all some great hair-styling ideas for your boy’s hair. Below you will find all long hairstyles and haircuts for boys that I’ll be going through:

• Shoulder-length hairstyle with straight hair
• Shoulder-length hairstyle with wavy hair
• Chest-length hairstyle with wavy hair
• Afro hairstyle with kinky-curly hair
• Jim Morrison hairstyle with wavy hair
• Man bun hairstyle with straight hair
• Man bun hairstyle with kinky curly hair
• Bobcut haircut with long wavy hair
• Shaggy side-parted hairstyle with long wavy hair
• Man bun hairstyle with temple fade haircut for curly hair

Without further ado, here’s my guide on long hairstyles for boys!

Shoulder-length hairstyle with straight hair

Out of all hair lengths, the shoulder-level length is, by far, the most-common hair length for long-haired boys. This is because shoulder-length hair brings out the aesthetics of well-cared healthy hair without making a boy look like a girl. With straight hair, a shoulder-length hairstyle is rapidly achieved in 12 to 16 months as straight hair “visually” grows the fastest of all four hair types. Notice how I’ve placed an emphasis on the word “visually”; you’ll learn more on this later on.

Shoulder-length hairstyle with wavy hair

Shoulder-length hairstyles with side-parted hair also look incredibly aesthetic for wavy-haired boys. Wavy hair acquires great (hair) volume as soon as it grows past the six-inch length mark, and, considering that shoulder-length hair in boys is 8 to 12 inches long, it’s at this length that long wavy hair looks its best. Parting the hair to the side makes the hair look more casual and tousled, which works great for pre-teen boys and teen boys alike.

Chest-length hairstyle with wavy hair

Chest-length hair is a lot more uncommon than shoulder-length hair (as is waist-long hair). The main reason for this is that chest-length hair can (and will) make a pre-teen boy look like a girl. Remember that it isn’t until pre-teen boys hit puberty that they start to look like young men and get their masculine physical traits; this in itself explains why long-haired teenager boys tend to pull this look with ease as opposed to pre-teen boys.

The best hair types to pull a chest-length hairstyle are, without a doubt, straight hair and wavy hair (as per the picture above of a wavy-haired boy). Long curly hair at chest-length tends to knot and tangle too much for a parent’s liking and this is the only situation (i.e. chest-long curly hair) in which a boy’s long hair will become mildly inconvenient.

Afro hairstyle with kinky-curly hair

Alright, while chest-length hair may not be much suited for curly-haired and kinky-haired boys, the afro hairstyle is indeed a much-suited long hairstyle for them. Kinky-curly hair has a natural tendency to grow up and out, which means that it’s relatively easy for a young curly-haired boy to achieve a long afro hairstyle.

A word of warning: kinky-curly hair takes the most amount of time to grow visually. What this means is that, despite your boy having a good 12 inches of hair length, his hair may look like it is only 8 inches long. This is because kinky-curly hair eats up some of its own length as it grows due to the inherently-curvy nature of its kinks and coils. Instead of growing straight, kinky-curly hair takes the “longest” path to grow long and reach its final destination (i.e. its desired length).

If you’re still unsure of how curly hair loses some its length visually, then I invite you to read my long curly hair guide so that you learn about the intrinsic factors of long curly hair (of which the “visual” length of curly hair is one of these factors). Another great source of information is the book “The Curly Hair Book” by Rogelio Samson; this book is the encyclopedia for all curly men (young and old) and does an excellent job in teaching you all on men’s curly hair.

Jim Morrison hairstyle with wavy hair

The Jim-Morrison hairstyle is one of those styles that seems to be custom-made for boys. The hair is grown to six inches in length with a long taper haircut and all of the hair is left dangling down. The result? A voluminous hairstyle with a tousled look that not only resembles the hairstyle of the late Jim Morrison but that also suits the vibrant lifestyle of kids nowadays.

The Jim Morrison hairstyle is quite doable too: simply tousle your boy’s wavy curls with your fingers and use a hair-styling mousse to weigh his hair down and get it even more shapely and voluminous!

Man bun hairstyle with straight hair

The man-bun word is enough to make some people cringe as it is also enough to make other people talk for days of the virtues of this glorious type of bun hairstyle. Never has the whole planet been so divided, yet, at the same time, so hypnotized by such a long men’s hairstyle. While the man bun hairstyle took over the world from 2014 to 2016, this hairstyle is to continue to march strong in 2017 and 2018 (and beyond!) among the long-haired crowd. Have no doubts about that.

As more and more parents have succumbed to the curiosity surrounding long hair for boys, it’s only natural that they too have been taking the time to look for good hairstyles for their sons’ hair as it grows longer and longer. Enter: the man bun, a greatly-utilitarian hairstyle for boys with long straight hair.

Man bun hairstyle with kinky curly hair

Other than being aware of the visual-length discrepancy of long kinky hair in boys (as detailed earlier), you don’t need to be paying attention to anything other than making sure that you keep your son’s long curls free of tangles and knots. This is easily done by using the correct products for long curly hair which include a rinse-out conditioner and a moisturizing shampoo.

As you will know from browsing my site, the minimum length for the man bun hairstyle is ten inches, while the minimum length for the top knot hairstyle is six inches. Luckily for young boys, the manbun’s minimum length (i.e. so as to sport it) is three inches shorter (i.e. seven inches long) than the minimum length for an adult male due to a kid’s smaller head. Basically, the minimum length of a man bun is governed by how long a distance you have between the center of your forehead’s hairline all the way back to the center of your head’s crown area. Naturally, a boy’s distance between his hairline and crown will be significantly shorter than that of an adult.

The take-home message? Your son’s kinky-curly hair will, in no time, be long enough to sport it in a man bun hairstyle!

Bobcut haircut with long wavy hair

The bob-cut haircut for boys’ hair has been a staple of parents for decades. The essence of the bob cut as a men’s hairstyle is that it allows one to sport medium-length hair at the top while also sporting long hair at the sides and at the back of the head. Think of it as a pseudo-mullet with way more style.

A bob cut haircut for boys will only be suitable for straight hair and wavy hair. Curly hair (coiled-curly hair and kinky-curly hair) puffs out too much at medium lengths for the hairstyle to remain in harmony as the hair on the top would be too “up and out” in contrast with the hair on the sides and back of the head.

Incidentally, a bob cut for long hair is a great way to see if one has the common occurrence of having two hair types on the scalp instead of just one. How this commonly expresses itself is by one having curlier hair on the sides and back of the head when compared to the hair on the top of the head; this can only be spotted with ease when the hair is at a medium-to-long length all across the scalp, which is the most-popular length for a men’s bob cut hairstyle. Oh, and a longer bob cut isn’t just called a long bob haircut but is also called a “lob”, in case that you want to sport one either for your kid or for yourself.

Shaggy side-parted hairstyle with long wavy hair

A favorite of blonde long-haired boys, the shaggy side part is finger-styled with hair gel or hair wax for a tousled look while keeping the side part in check. The shaggy side-parted hairstyle works extremely well for straight hair and wavy hair, especially when a blow dryer is used to augment the messy look as discussed in my long hair products guide. Just make sure to finger-style your son’s hair when it is damp and not dry.

Man bun hairstyle with temple fade haircut for curly hair

If you had thought that the man-bun craze could not be spun off any further than with the manbraids trend, then you’re in for a big surprise. The reality is that, for as long as long-haired guys keep putting their locks in buns, there will always be creative manbun spin-offs. Ergo, we have a new man-bun trend for 2017 which is slowly picking up at barbershops in the United States and which we’ve, at our barbershop, have been pioneering for a couple of months now: the manbun temple fade.

Right, so the hairstyle continues to be a man bun; that, we do know. However, a textbook man-bun hairstyle requires that you go all in when it comes to growing all of your hair since all the hair on your head has to be longer than ten inches (ideally). There are no undercut haircuts or taper haircuts involved; a man bun with tapered or buzzed sides/back is, in fact, a semi-bun or a topknot, and not a regular man bun. With the manbun temple fade, the hairstyle maintains the core of the man-bun ethos but it also injects a fresh aesthetic angle to the man bun via the fading of the scalp’s hairline (only) into what’s known as a temple fade or temple-fade haircut.

For those of you into your short fade haircuts, a temple fade is also known as a “temp fade” or a “Brooklyn fade”; just don’t expect any hugs or smiles if you’re visiting New Jersey and ask for a Brooklyn fade haircut (just call it a temple fade while you’re there).

Look at this little dude below looking all dapper with his man bun temple fade. No wonder this trend, which is so close to us, is starting to pick up in popularity!

Conclusion to these long hairstyles and haircuts for boys

Long hair is not to be feared, dear parent. Our young ones can absolutely rock long hair and their rock-and-roll manes can come in all shapes, forms and formats. So long as you stay true to your son’s hair care and cover the bare basics of styling long hair (as explained in my many guides on this website), you will be able to offer your kid the option of having long hair and of learning more about himself and about that which you gifted to him via the magic of the human gene pool (yes, the shape, color and density of your kid’s mane has been partially inherited from you and the rest from his mother).

As per the usual on this website, you’re welcome to ask questions on the topic and I will do my best to answer them.

Guide last updated: 4th January 2017