The Ultimate Guide to Long Hair Styles for Dudes
While long hair for men may not have the massive range of hairstyles that short hair has for dudes, long manes do still have quite the repertoire when it comes to styling their locks. After all, long hair is all about freedom and expressing your inner beast! Since with this site our intention is to help you get the most out of your long hair (whether you have long hair already or plan to grow it out), I’d like to publish this guide on long hairstyles for men. There are 27 hairstyles for long men’s hair, so rest assured that this guide will provide you with all the intricate knowledge needed to vary your long hair in as many hairstyles as you so choose!
With long hair, you have other factors to take into account such as your hair care and your diet, but styling your long locks is yet another factor that you must get right. This guide will concentrate and give you everything on long hairstyles, so, by all means, do continue to browse late our Long Hair site to learn more about other long-mane factors like hair care and nutrition.
Without further ado, here’s our guide to long men’s hairstyles.
Introduction to the range of long hairstyles for guys
As a hairdresser, I pretty much have two categories of long hairstyles for men: down and tied. A “down” hairstyle is when your hair is simply left on its own and styled in all sort of manners, from a middle part to a side part to a slicked back style. On the other hand, a “tied” hairstyle is any men’s hairstyle that has the hair tied into one or several groupings of hair (e.g. a ponytail or a bun). One of the most famous tied hairstyles for men is the man bun, which is nothing more than a bun on the top of your head, but I can tell you right now that there are many more tied hairstyles aside from the man bun!
With long hairstyles for men, it’s the fingers that are most useful to style the hair. Combs can be of use, but I strongly recommend that you use your fingers for most of your hair styling and leave the comb for those hairstyles that need your hair to be secured in place without tangling. For men with curly hair (including men with long wavy hair and men with long kinky curly hair), it’s very important to use a wide-tooth comb and not one of those regular fine-tooth combs (straight-haired guys are the only dudes who can comb their hair with the regular combs).
As for what hair products to use when styling long hair for men, you can pretty much use any kind of hairstyling product that you want and even the ones that you used to use when you had shorter hair. However, for my money and from my experience as a long haired guy and as a hairdresser, the best hairstyling products for long hair are styling creams, styling mousses, hair gels and leave-in conditioners. Hairstyling products aren’t the topic of this hairstyles guide, but I will be covering these products for long haired men in other guides here at LongHairGuys.net so stay tuned (Update: here’s my long hair products guide).
So, as I will be going through of them in detail, here’s the list of the 27 long hairstyles for men:
- Middle part hairstyle
- Side part hairstyle
- Slicked back hairstyle
- Side fringe hairstyle
- Ponytail hairstyle
- Samurai hairstyle
- Man bun hairstyle
- Man bun undercut hairstyle
- Top knot hairstyle
- Chinese bun hairstyle
- Nautilus bun hairstyle
- Other types of bun hairstyles for men
- Five strand braided bun
- Figure 8 bun hairstyle with hair stick
- Braided figure 8 bun hairstyle
- Ponybun hairstyle
- Ponybun hairstyle with stick
- Cornrows hairstyle
- Single braid hairstyle with 3 strands
- French braid hairstyle
- Twisted braid hairstyle
- Other types of braided hairstyles for men
- Half French plait hairstyle
- Herringbone braid hairstyle
- English braid hairstyle
- Loose Dutch braid
- Vertical braids hairstyle
As you can see above in the list, there are more hairstyles listed within the “bun hairstyles” category and the “braided hairstyles” category, but they’re more complex variants, although I’ve still listed them and covered them in this long hairstyles guide so as to give you the best knowledge on all the hairstyles that are possible for long-haired guys.
Middle part hairstyle
The middle part hairstyle is the epitome of long men’s hairstyles; this is because long hair that has not been styled will tend to naturally part itself at the middle of the head so as to hang down. The middle pat hairstyle is thus a “down” style.
Parting your hair in the middle is very simple and you can use either your fingers or a comb. As for products, a styling cream or some styling mousse will do the job nicely.
Side part hairstyle
The side pat hairstyle for long hair is exactly like the middle part hairstyle above, only that, with the side part, you get to part (i.e. divide) your hair at either of your two temples. It really doesn’t matter which side you choose to part your hair, although according to grooming expert Rogelio Samson, parting your hair on the right temple means in Spanish-speaking countries that you’re gay.
Slicked back hairstyle
The slicked back hair style works exactly the same with a long mane as with a short mane. However, because of the bigger bulk of long hair, you will need to use a strong-holding product to keep your hair slicked back. Even though the hair is combed and slicked towards the back of the head, it still counts as a “down” men’s hairstyle.
For the long slicked back hair style, I recommend that you use a strong-hold hair gel if you have wavy, curly or kinky curly hair. If you have straight hair, then use a strong hold pomade instead, although you too can use a strong-hold hair gel.
To get your long mane slicked back, use your comb first to comb the hair back and then continue to use your comb until your hair is combed back in the shape that you want or instead use your fingers to give some volume and messy look to your slicked back hair.
Side fringe hairstyle
The side fringe hairstyle for men with long hair works (again) the same way as it does for men with shorter hair.
With the side fringe, most men will keep their hair at the minimum length for long hair, which is six inches. This allows for the side fringe to be set and secured easily without having to impregnate the hair with all kinds of funky and messy hairstyling products. However, if you want to sport a longer side fringe hairstyle as a guy, you can tuck the fringe hair behind your ear to secure the fringe in place.
Ponytail hairstyle
The ponytail hairstyle is the most famous type of long hairstyle for men, mainly because it’s the first thing that a male growing his hair long looks forward to finally being able to do!
The ponytail style is both stylish and convenient since it allows you to keep your hair away from your face and secured back with the hair still hanging down from the back of your head. The “ponytail” hairstyle name comes from the hair in the ponytail resembling the tail hair of pony horses.
An elastic hair band is all that is needed for the ponytail hairstyle, so it’s a very simple and easy hairstyle for long-haired men.
Samurai hairstyle
The Samurai hairstyle is a short ponytail tied with the hair on the top of the head. The short ponytail of the Samurai hairstyle sits on the crown of your head (i.e. back of the top of the head), and not anywhere else on the head unlike the regular ponytail hairstyle above. You still need a long length for your hair (i.e. 6 inches) to get a Samurai hairstyle, but the actual ponytail tied will only be about two to four inches long.
The Samurai hairstyle comes from the Samurai warriors who wore the Chonmage hairstyle which was a short ponytail hairstyle. For a Samurai warrior to wear his Chonmage, he first had to earn the privilege to wear it, and only Samurai warriors in feudal Japan were allowed to wear the Chonmage or short ponytail hairstyle on the crown of the head.
Man bun hairstyle
As I mentioned earlier, the man bun is a popular and trendy long hairstyle for men as of today. Well, the man bun has been actually trending since 2013 all the way to 2014, 2015 and what’s to be 2016 and even 2017; I’ve no doubts about its trend-setting future considering how our hair salon has been flooded since 2013 with requests for the right haircuts for the man bun.
Despite the man bun being pretty much the only male hairstyle being discussed in magazines and online, the hairstyle itself is very simple and on par with the ponytail hairstyle. All you need is an elastic hair band to choke all the hair that you want in the bun.
Man bun undercut hairstyle
The man bun undercut hairstyle uses the hair on the top of the head only to make up the bun. The hair on the sides and back of the head is buzzed very short with a hair clipper in an undercut haircut. The hair clipper length used for the man bun undercut haircut varies between a number zero and a number three. Any higher hair-clipper length will break the aesthetics of the man bun undercut.
Below, in this picture of the man bun undercut, the hair on the sides and back of the head is actually shaved in what is called the undershave haircut.
Top knot hairstyle
The top knot hairstyle is a spin-off from the man bun. The top knot is also a bun hairstyle, but the bun is much smaller in the topknot than in the manbun as the topknot uses a much shorter length of hair than the manbun. Likewise, while with your man bun you may or may not have the sides and back of the head buzzed, you do have to have the sides and back of your head buzzed in the top knot hairstyle.
The minimum hair length for the top knot hairstyle is six inches. That’s for the hair on the top of the head, and the maximum length for the top knot hair is eight inches; any longer, and you will move into man-bun territory. Due to the short length of the hair on the top of the head that makes the topknot, it (i.e. the knot) tends to not look as smooth and symmetric as the bun of a manbun.
As for the type of topknot haircut for the sides and back of the head, you can go with different taper haircuts or simply get an undercut. Personally, I always recommend the undercut for our hair salon customers wanting to get their topknot trimmed on the sides and back.
Chinese bun hairstyle
With the Chinese bun hairstyle, you use a hair stick or even a pencil to tie your bun around so that the hair stick serves as the foundation holding the bun in place.
If you’ve ever seen in a movie the classic hot babe dressed formally with a bun suddenly pulling a stick out of her bun and then shaking her long sexy mane to impress everyone around, then that’s the Chinese bun for you (in women!). In fact, the Chinese bun is the perfect hairstyle if you feel like doing the similar head shake to show off your long manly mane in public!
Nautilus bun hairstyle
With the Nautilus bun, you will be doing a double choking of your bun while using a hair stick. It’s not a very-easy hairstyle for beginners, so I recommend that you first master the Chinese bun hairstyle before venturing into the Nautilus bun hairstyle.
Other types of bun hairstyles for men
With hair longer than 25 inches, you really can get creative when it comes to putting your hair into different complex bun styles. I will just leave them below for you as reference and you’re free to ask me for help on how to get these types of man buns.
5 strand braided bun
The bun is made up of five braided strands, so you first have to get the locks braided to get the braided bun.
Figure 8 bun hairstyle with hair stick
With this type of bun hairstyle, you use the hair stick to loop the hair around so as to make the bun.
Braided figure 8 bun hairstyle
This is exactly the same hairstyle as the regular Figure 8 bun styl above, only that the locks of hair are braided so as to make the bun. A hair stick is also used.
Ponybun hairstyle
The ponybun hairstyle is a hairstyle that blends the man bun with the ponytail. In essence, a ponybun is like a half-finished man bun, as the hair in the ponybun is partially choked (as if doing a full bun), which leaves half of the hair being tied loose and dangling akin to the regular ponytail hairstyle.
The ponybun hairstyle name is one that I had been using for many years now and primarily for styling my hair salon’s female customers. However, in early 2014, Jared Leto started wearing the ponybun hairstyle at different events, which skyrocketed the popularity of the ponybun hairstyle among males. Since many of our male customers would ask us how to get that “hairstyle of Jared Leto”, I think it’s best that I give you the actual hairstyle name so that we can standardize the name of this hairstyle instead of calling it the “Jared Leto hairstyle”. Especially since Jared Leto cut his long hair in early 2015!
Just as with the ponytail or manbun, the ponybun only requires an elastic hair band.
Ponybun hairstyle with stick
As the name implies, you will be creating your ponybun with the hair stick as the foundation holding the ponybun together, instead of the elastic hair band used in the above regular ponybun. You may still use a hair band with your hair-stick ponybun if you find that looping the hair around the hair stick is too complicated or time intensive.
Cornrows hairstyle
The cornrows hairstyle is basically hair that has been braided tightly and in thin locks that are close to the scalp, making the cornrows look like they have been sewn into the scalp. Most cornrows hairstyles do not look long, but you actually need at least six inches of hair length (i.e. long hair) to get some aesthetically-pleasing cornrows.
You can even get longer cornrows braided if you have longer hair, and the result can look excellent, provided that you go to a professional hair salon to get your long mane braided into cornrows!
Single braid hairstyle with 3 strands
The single braid hairstyle with three strands is basically a braided ponytail. However, the hair that makes the ponytail is, in fact, sectioned into three locks (i.e. strands) that are then braided together and through the length of the ponytail.
The single braid hairstyle with three strands is a great hairstyle for men with long hair and the best hairstyle in terms of convenience out of all braided men’s hairstyle. You will need at least fifteen inches of hair length to be able to braid your ponytail in this style.
French braid hairstyle
The French braid hairstyle is a phenomenal hairstyle for men. The French braid is similar to the single braid with three strands, only that the French braid starts high on the crown area of the head (i.e. the back of the top of the head). Another name for the French braid is a plait or French plait.
The French braid is not an easy hairstyle, so you have to really get comfortable with braiding hair. Ideally, get someone with long hair to braid your French plait. Women with very long hair are usually the best at braiding plaits and other types of braided hairstyles.
Twisted braid hairstyle
In the twisted braid hairstyle, two locks are used throughout the length of the tied hair (i.e. ponytail) to be braided together. This gives the illusion of the braided tail being twisted and bent!
Other types of braided hairstyles for men
Once you’ve gotten good at braiding hair, you can go wild and braid your hair in all kinds of variants of the French braid or single braid. Just make sure that you don’t pull too hard when braiding your hair as it’s relatively easy to rip hair strands off their follicles.
Half French plait hairstyle
Instead of braiding all your hair into a French plait, you only use the hair on the top of your head to create a half French braid.
Herringbone braid hairstyle
The hair in the Herringbone braid is braided with multiple locks high and tight. It’s a relatively-difficult hairstyle for men and you will need at least twenty-five inches of hair length to braid a nice Herringbone braid!
English braid hairstyle
The English braid hairstyle uses two locks as the main foundation of strands to braid, which gives a very-thick and stout appearance to the single English braid.
Loose Dutch braid
The loose Dutch braid is a French plait that hasn’t had the undersides (i.e. hair on the sides and back of the head) braided tight into the plait. This gives a looser appearance while maintaining the aesthetics of the braided rope (i.e. French plait).
Vertical braids hairstyle
The vertical braids hairstyle incorporates two braids rather than the single braid styles that we’ve gone through above. The vertical braids hairstyle would be as if you grabbed the un-braided hair in the half French plait and you braided all that hair into another French plait, thus effectively having two braids.
Final thoughts on our long hairstyles guide for guys
This guide that you’ve just read is a compilation of all the hairstyles that you could possibly get with your long hair. Starting from six inches of hair length and as you continue to grow your hair long, you will progressively be able to do more and more of these long hair styles. It must be said, however, that one should never rush the hair-growth process; your hair will get to your desire hair length goal eventually, so stay cool and patient, and enjoy your long mane as it grows!
There’s more long-hair content for men on the site, so continue to browse it, starting with our Long Hair Men blog through which we post everything to do with being a long haired-dude in a 21st-century world!
As usual, if you have questions or comments, please post them below.
Guide last updated: 7th May 2016
12 Responses
Jalan
I like this long hair guide! I’ve been looking for a few new styles, and this helps a lot. I don’t have a lot of hair just yet, so I’ll have to do some tweaking, but this will be great for the next few months as I grow my hair longer.
Kirbygrip15
Great site, with long hair you can have a different style every day.
Jan
Love this guide! I’ve been looking to expand my repertoire of different long hair styles.
However, there is one you didn’t mention.
It’s a ponybun/ponytail using just the top part of your hair. The lower one falls down. Similar to the man bun undercut, but not shortening the sides and bottom.
Cheers
Long Hair Guys
I actually purposely skipped on that hairstyle as I viewed it as more of a sub variant of the Samurai hairstyle or the ponytail hairstyle. But seeing that you as a reader and fan of this guide have thought of that hairstyle too, I am more than happy to include it in this guide. Thank you for the comment and I am happy that this guide is of use to you and to the rest of guys reading and learning from it!
Aaron
Greetings from Iowa! My hair is standing at 10 inches of length as of today. I purchased the book by Rogelio Samson called ‘The Men’s Hair Book’ back in January when I had only 2 inches of hair length. I’ve dreamed about having long hair for many years but, long story short, my job didn’t allow long hair for male employees.
Fast forward to January and I decided to quit my job as I hated it. I started researching online about long hair for guys with short hair like me, and I came across this book and Rogelio Samson. I read the book in days and decided to stick to his system as I really wanted to have long hair. The longest that my hair has been in the past was 6 inches of length.
Fast forward again to November. It’s been 10 months growing my hair and I’ve milked close to 8 inches of hair growth, which is fairly impressive considering that most men only get 4 to 5 inches of hair length in 10 months of hair growth.
I have to say that my hair has always grown badly. It grew very slow and wiry. Not any more and that’s by following the advice in the book. Here are the bits that have helped me the most:
– Improve my hair care routine. No hair brushes, no flat irons and no pulling my hair too hard.
– Better grooming routine. I wash my hair every 4 days and my hair has never looked so lustrous and great. Women constantly complement my long hair which I never thought would be possible for a guy. Live and learn, I guess. Although Rogelio Samson already warns you in the book that this will occur to you sooner or later.
– Use only hairstyling products that suit my hair. I have long straight hair, so I use a styling cream, a leave in conditioner, a water pomade and a blow dryer with a diffuser.
– I sometimes do use a deep conditioner, but my hair looks really good already so I hardly use this type of product. I think that I’ve used a deep conditioner on 4 occasions in these 10 months. Some guys may need to use a deep conditioner more frequently, so your mileage will vary.
– I always tie my hair into a braid to go to sleep and use silk pillow covers.
– I improved my diet. This is something that I was planning to do anyway, but quitting my job and embarking on my quest for long hair really pushed me to improve my diet. For foods, I have noticed an improvement on my hair from whole eggs, sardines, salmon, brightly colored fruits, liver and lean cuts of red meat. I will confess that my diet was garbage before doing this. I also lost 15 pounds without even trying so I could not be any happier. My next stop is to follow the fitness advice from Rogelio that he has in his website.
With regards to supplements for my hair, I use zinc, vitamin C, cod liver oil in gel capsules and whey protein.
I got a new job that I love back in February and I was given permission to grow my hair long and wear it in different long hairstyles if my hair is kept well groomed, which it is. It’s a bit sad that I’m having to ask my boss if I can grow my hair long, but that’s how it is in corporate America, my friends. My boss is a dude and he actually has long hair too. Different hair type but we casually talk about men’s hair grooming, which I think is pretty cool to be able to talk that kind of stuff with your boss.
I recently found about this website and I’m so happy to find an online hub for long haired guys. This is an outstanding guide that I’m putting to use as we speak, and you, sir, have a new follower!
Cheers!
Long Hair Guys
I’m glad that you’ve done so well growing your hair long. It’s common for younger guys to give up half way through their hair-growing journey, so kudos to you for sticking through the waiting period. Of course, it helps that you were following the above on “The Men’s Hair Book” by Rogelio Samson since he has detailed the blueprint to growing long healthy hair, but, at the end of the day, it’s your insistence in wanting to join our ranks that has paid off so well.
The amount of hair growth that you’ve experienced in ten months is on the very-fast end of the range of men’s hair growth. Consider yourself lucky that you responded so well to the changes in your hair-grooming/hair-care routines, as males usually only get an extra inch of hair growth per year when maximizing everything concerning their hair growth (and that includes one’s nutritional habits). “The Men’s Hair Book” is indeed a gem and following the advice on that book will lead to faster hair growth (among many other benefits), but, you have some good hair-growth-related genes.
Thank you for your input and for letting others know of what has worked for you when growing your long mane!
Guinea Pig
Hey! What a nice article, with stunning pictures at that!
As a (very) long-haired guy, I used to do a 3-strands braid everyday since my hair reached mid-back. I wear my hair up in a bun at home as it is the easiest kind of bun without any type of fantasy. This article gives me some inspiration to try new styles on myself (it’s a shame to have a thick long mane without playing with it a little more). I’m really into braided styles, but doing it on yourself requires quite the skill and I never achieved a fishtail braid or a French braid with my own hair… One day, maybe. 😉
Anonymous
Hi! Very interesting and informative guide, I’m just curious why you put pictures of women wearing most of the styles.
I’d like to ask you what is your attitude towards and your opinion about accessories like sticks, barrettes, barrettes with sticks, hair clips, hair claws etc. There are now a lot of websites about long-haired men, but no one even mentions these tools. Are they considered completely feminine and not accepted to be worn by guys or is there another reason?
Long Hair Guys
There’s nothing feminine about wearing all kinds of hair accessories as a male, even if said accessories are rare or uncommon. Also, all the pictures you’re seeing are of MEN, not of women. Long hair in men can make them look like women from behind (i.e. when seen from behind). This is specially-so if your body is small or if you have narrow shoulders.
Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise: men can wear whatever hair-styling accessories that they want and be masculine at the same time. As a matter of fact, several of the hair accessories in this guide have been worn for centuries by both men and women alike!
Kirbygrip15
I agree, for work I wear my waist length hair up in a lazy wrap bun secured with a hair band.
I also wear other hair-styling accessories at home and socially. At first when out and about there may be the odd comment but not for long when your hair-style is accepted.
Kirbygrip15
Correction – I should have said my lazy wrap bun is held with a flexi8 clip.
DannyD
Love this guide. I read through the entire thing when I decided to grow my hair long. I considered doing it for years but could never get past awkward phase until I figured out how to slick it back like a professor. Now as of this month it’s been 2 whole years since I started. Haven’t gotten a cut or trim yet and my hair is halfway down my back. I guess it grows fast. Always thought I’d just have a big curly haired mess on my head but it eventually fell and looks great. I wear a pony tail a lot. Sometimes down with a bandana. I’m 35 years old and a professional sculptor and I believe my long hair has actually changed the perception that clients have for me as if I’m trusted more as an artist since I look like a rock star now. I love my long hair and after years of buzzing my head and short spike cuts, I’ll never go back and will continue to grow my hair. It’s going grey here and there but my wife loves it so who cares. If I start to get male pattern baldness I’ll probably want to cut it some day, but it hasn’t happened yet and I think I’ll be good for ten years or more who knows.