Growing Hair Out Men

Written byGrace Gallagher
Published 02/04/2025

Want to grow your hair but don’t have the nerve or know-how to do it? Growing out your hair might seem like a simple process — just stop going to the barbershop.

Overview

Growing Hair Out Men: The Basics

Want to grow your hair but don’t have the nerve or know-how to do it? Growing out your hair might seem like a simple process — just stop going to the barbershop. In reality, knowing how to grow out your hair isn’t always straightforward for men. But there are strategies to help make the process more seamless.

Like many other guys, you might wonder, How long does it take for men’s hair to grow? And how do you grow out your hair in the first place?

We’ll answer these questions below. We’ll also share our best tips to help you grow out your hair while looking good, along with techniques to keep your hair healthy at any length.

Steps to Take

Growing Hair Out Men: First Steps

Here’s what you might want to do first if you’re trying to grow your hair out.

Consider Getting a Haircut First

This may seem counterintuitive, but getting a haircut before you begin the process of growing your hair out can help your hair grow in more gracefully.

Explain to your barber or hairstylist that you’re planning to grow out your hair. They can cut your strands in a way that helps them grow evenly so you don’t wind up with funky layers or grown-out bangs.

A good haircut for growing out hair can also be one of the best haircuts for thinning hair on men.

Have a Style in Mind

Growing your hair out is a good goal, but it helps to get a little more specific.

Look through magazines or online to find images of what you’d like your long hair to look like. This will help you figure out what products to buy and how to trim your hair along the way.

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Tips and Strategies

9 Tips and Strategies for Growing Hair Out Men

Here’s what we recommend doing when you’re in the midst of growing out your hair — and even once it reaches the length you want.

1. Get Your Hair Trimmed Occasionally

Growing your hair out doesn’t have to mean deleting your barber’s phone number. Getting occasional haircuts when the goal is length may seem backward, but small, regular trims help prevent you from getting split ends.

As your hair gets longer, you might add layers so it has more movement and falls less like a curtain.

2. Take Care When Shampooing Your Hair 

When you wash your hair, it’s essential to do it the right way.

Choose a shampoo free of harsh chemicals, and concentrate on cleaning your scalp instead of rubbing shampoo into the length of your hair. This helps control oil without making your hair feel coarse.

When you’re done washing your hair with shampoo, apply conditioner to the tips of your hair. Conditioning the roots can make your hair look and feel greasy sooner than later.

As for how often you wash your hair, well, it depends. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD), the oilier your hair and scalp are, the more vital it is to lather up frequently.

On the other hand, if your scalp feels dry, you may only need to wash your hair every few days or even once a week with a clarifying shampoo.

3. Protect Your Hair From Common Sources of Damage

The longer your hair gets, the more critical it is to protect it from common sources of damage. This includes pool water, sea salt, blow dryers, and other hot styling tools.

Excessive heat (like using the strongest setting on your hair dryer or regularly using straighteners), sun exposure (which can damage the outside of your hair and burn your scalp), and overly harsh hair styling products (which can irritate your skin and harm your hair by pulling on its roots) should be avoided whenever possible.

Another common source of hair damage is chlorine, a chemical often used in swimming pools to prevent bacterial growth.

To keep your hair safe when you swim, wear a swim cap and rinse your hair with water as soon as you get out of the pool. If you swim on a regular basis, consider using a swimmer’s shampoo formulated to remove chlorine from hair.

4. Take Note of the Signs of Male Pattern Baldness

Be aware of the early signs of male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia) if you’re growing your hair out.

Common early signs of hair loss include any noticeable change to your hairline, visible thinning on the top of your scalp, or excessive hair shedding. Hair strands may also become wispy — a sure sign of thinning hair.

While losing 50 to 100 hairs a day is normal, anything beyond that could be a sign you’re starting to go bald. No one is asking you to count how many strands you’re losing a day, but if you’re noticing a lot of hair on your pillow or in the shower drain, it could point to hair loss.

5. If You Notice Hair Loss, Treat It ASAP

If you notice any signs of hair loss, take action as quickly as possible to protect your hair from further thinning.

Male pattern baldness — the most common form of hair loss in men — is partially caused by a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (or DHT for short).

If you’re genetically prone to hair loss, DHT can bind to receptors in your scalp and cause hair follicles to stop producing new hairs.

Though male pattern baldness may start slowly, it can worsen at a surprising pace as DHT takes its toll on your hair follicles. As such, it’s best to treat it as soon as you notice any common signs of baldness developing.

Currently, the most effective options for preventing hair loss are the FDA-approved medications finasteride (the generic version of Propecia®) and minoxidil (Rogaine®).

Finasteride is an oral medication that blocks DHT, while topical minoxidil encourages hair to enter the active growth phase of the hair growth cycle.

6. Think Twice About High-Tension Hairstyles

Are you growing your hair out so you can rock braids, dreadlocks, cornrows, or a man bun?

You might want to reconsider. Why? These hairstyles — and any others that pull on hair roots — can contribute to a form of hair loss called traction alopecia.

Traction alopecia develops when a constant pulling force is placed on the scalp. This can loosen hair from the follicle and, over time, cause scarring that stops the follicle from producing new hairs.

The most effective way to prevent traction alopecia is to stay away from high-tension hairstyles when growing out your hair.

However, if you’re set on wearing your hair a certain way that pulls it back, you can minimize your risk of developing this type of hair loss by keeping it as loose as possible.

7. Be Careful When Coloring Your Hair

Even a modest amount of gray hair can become much easier to see when your hair extends below your chin.

Some guys like a little gray in their hair, and others choose to color theirs when too many grays start popping up.

Though dying your hair isn’t necessarily bad for it, you’ll want to take some precautions if you’re trying to grow it out.

Here’s what we recommend when coloring your hair:

  • Stay “on-shade” with your color. You’ll usually get the best results by choosing a color within three shades of your natural hue.

  • Protect your hair from sun damage. Try applying a leave-in conditioner with zinc oxide, and use a hat to shield your hair from UV radiation, which can fade color-treated hair or make it brittle.

  • In winter, give your hair plenty of time to rest. It’s best to color your hair every eight to 10 weeks during the cold season to prevent damage.

8. Be Gentle With Your Hair

The gentler you are with your hair, the healthier it’ll be and the better it’ll look.

Avoid common haircare mistakes, such as brushing your hair a hundred times a day or pulling on your hair when you style it.

After washing your hair, it’s best to let it air-dry naturally or use a hair dryer on the lowest possible setting. Try to avoid drying your hair roughly with a towel, which can both mess it up and irritate your scalp.

Brush your hair with a light hand, starting with any tangles at the ends, and work your way up. Brushing long hair is important for distributing natural oils, but it should always be done with care.

Finally, if you tie your hair back, use a proper hair tie. Not only are rubber bands an annoyance to remove, but they can also pull on your hair and contribute to breakage.

This goes for all hair types. Whether you have straight hair, frizzy hair, curly hair, wavy hair, coarse hair, or fine hair, use gentle products and tools on your hair.

9. Consider Hair Supplements

Beyond taking care of how you handle, style, and cleanse your hair, it might be worth exploring ways to encourage growth from the inside.

Eating a healthy diet full of nutritious foods certainly won’t hurt. But to speed things along, consider taking hair vitamins or supplements. Our biotin gummies contain — yes — biotin, along with folic acid and other essential nutrients that support healthy growth.

Hair growth supplements are especially beneficial in cases where there’s a true deficiency of a vitamin — you can find out if you’re deficient through a blood test.

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Things to Consider

Growing Hair Out Men: What to Consider

Here are a few more things to remember as you embark on the adventure that is growing your hair long.

There Will Be an Awkward Phase

Call it growing pains, but there’s typically an awkward stage when transitioning from short to long hair for men. This is usually when your bangs are growing out (you may need to pin them back) or your hair is at an odd, neither-long-nor-short phase.

Make a plan for how to handle this (hopefully) short-lived stage, whether it’s to grin and bear it or wear hats or headbands.

You’ll Probably Want to Invest in New Products

Your go-to products for short hair probably won’t jive with your longer hairstyle. Things like gel, pomade, and clay are great for texturizing and adding hold to short haircuts, but they’re less useful for longer hair.

Instead, focus on hair products that detangle, hydrate, add shine, and help prevent frizz, like a leave-in cream or deep-conditioning mask.

You may also want to use thickening shampoo and conditioner — ours are formulated specifically to keep your hair strong, voluminous, and healthy at any length.

Stay Focused on the Goal

This is timeless advice that applies to lots of goals, growing out your hair included. Growing out your hair takes time. How long does it take to grow your hair out? It can vary by person.

According to the AAD, the hair on your head grows about six inches a year. Hair has to be 12 to 14 inches in length to reach your shoulders. So if you’re starting with a super-short buzz cut, for example, you’ll need about two years of consistent growth to have shoulder-length hair — or roughly 18 months for chin-length hair.

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What to Do Next

Growing Hair Out Men: What to Do

Growing out your hair requires plenty of time. However, once you’ve mastered the basics of haircare and hair health, it’s a relatively simple process.

Here’s the bottom line on how to grow long hair for men:

  • Know when to wash and trim your hair. Lather up when it gets greasy, and don’t be afraid to trim it occasionally to prevent split ends.

  • Use the right shampoo. A gentle formula is often best, but it should also be formulated for your hair type. Look for shampoo made without parabens and sulfates, like our thickening shampoo.

  • Avoid things that might cause damage. This includes high heat, chlorine, excessive sun exposure, and tight hairstyles. You can get a heat protectant spray that also offers UV protection.

  • Treat hair loss ASAP. If you notice any common signs of male pattern baldness, take action as soon as possible to get ahead of the problem.

Our science-based hair loss treatments are designed to help men’s hair grow as full and as thick as possible, no matter how genetically prone you may be to male pattern baldness.


6 Sources

  1. American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD). (n.d.). 10 hair-care habits that can damage your hair. https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/hair-scalp-care/hair/habits-that-damage-hair
  2. American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD). (n.d.). Coloring and perming tips for healthier-looking hair. https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/hair-scalp-care/hair/coloring-perming-tips
  3. American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD). (n.d.). Do you have hair loss or hair shedding?. https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/insider/shedding
  4. American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD). (n.d.). Tips for healthy hair. https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/hair-scalp-care/hair/healthy-hair-tips
  5. American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD). (n.d.). What kids should know about how hair grows. https://www.aad.org/public/parents-kids/healthy-habits/parents/kids/hair-grows
  6. Billero V, et al. (2018). Traction alopecia: the root of the problem. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5896661/
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