Top 4 Long Hairstyles for Each Male Hair Type
By: Rogelio
Grow your mane long and rock any of these 4 long hairstyles!
If you’re a long haired dude or if you’re planning on growing your mane long, then I’m here to tell you that you have quite a few hairstyles to choose from. Most guys when growing their hair long seem to think that all that they will be able to do to their lengthy manes will be tying them into boring ponytails; that’s until they discover how malleable and easy to style long hair can really be. In fact, as a dude with curly hair myself, I’d go as far as to say that curly hair is easier to style when it is long than when it is at a short length or at a medium length. Now, growing your curly hair to shoulder length and beyond is another story, but, once you get there, you realize that your hair-growing journey was well worth it.
Regardless of your hair type as a dude and whether you have straight hair, wavy hair, coiled curly hair or kinky curly hair, I will tell you in this very moment that you do indeed have a nice range of hairstyles to choose from once your mane gets too long for your girlfriend’s linking, your wife’s linking or even your mother’s liking. What’s even better is that long hair is quite malleable (as in, it will bend and do whatever you want it to do), hence you can get quite creative with your luscious mane if you’re feeling up for the challenge (yes, I said “luscious”, not “lustrous”, and there’s a good reason for that).
Right off the bat, I can think of at least a couple of dozens of epic long hairstyles that I could do to my (manly) mane right now, and you can even learn about a good number of them in this long hairstyles guide for men that covers a great range of styles that you probably didn’t even know existed! Furthermore, if you browse around Manly Curls, you will also get to read about plenty of different long hairstyles that I’ve suggested and recommended over the years, so, really, I think we can conclude that growing your mane long is too awesome for words and that you will become a sexy beast once your hair graces your shoulders. Well, that’s only if you manage to not fall prey to the inexplicable attraction that stupid hairstyles like the Skullet have in men under the age of 35 (and, yes, I too have fallen prey to them).
So, to celebrate the epicness of being a long-haired dude, I’m going to give you guys one great long hairstyle for each of the 4 male hair types (if still unsure of what these hair types are, then see my hair type guide explaining the 4 hair types for men). The following 4 long hair styles that I’ll be recommending to you are both easy to grow and get, and all that you will need to be able to style them is at least 10 inches of hair length. Likewise, each of these 4 long hairstyles are interchangeable with each of the 4 male hair types, meaning that you can also get the other 3 long hairstyles that aren’t listed for your hair type, so, all in all, you’re looking at 4 hairstyles for long hair that you can get at any time, provided that you have hair of at least 10 inches in length.
Ready to rock that mane? Then let’s kick it!
Ponybun hairstyle for straight hair
You probably haven’t heard of the “ponybun” word before, and, that’s for a good reason. Amidst a sea of man buns and top knots flooding each American and European city, few guys have yet to realize that, by only tying their buns half way through, they can radically change their bun to look different to what the rest of the crowd is wearing.
“Ok, Rogelio”, you may say, “but what on this beautiful planet is a ponybun hairstyle?” you may ask. Right, a ponybun is a hairstyle that has your hair tied in an unclosed bun, hence a tail of hair forms resembling a ponytail that hangs off the bun. And thus the “ponybun” portmanteau meaning a “bun with a ponytail”.
To get a ponybun, you would simply grab your hair so as to tie it into a bun but, when it’s time to choke the bun with the hair band (i.e. close it so no hair is loose inside the bun), you only do so for half of the hair length making up the bun. Ergo, about half of the bun’s length remains outside the bun and thus hangs down as a ponytail. Seriously, it sounds more complicated than it really is, and the ponybun-styling motion is quite intuitive; I was doing ponybuns like a boss years ago even before I decided to put a name to what I was doing intuitively.
Last year in 2014, the ponybun was briefly in the spotlight as the world’s biggest male-diva Jared Leto decided to sport one during the 2014 Golden Globe Awards. At the time, the man bun hairstyle was all the rage (see the next hairstyle below) and, out of nowhere, here came Jared Leto wearing a hairstyle which, until then, only women had worn publicly. However, the ponybun didn’t really hit it mainstream, even though the millions of dudes with man buns in 2014 were unknowingly doing ponybuns when first learning about tying a man bun.
By now, you’re probably wondering what a ponybun hairstyle looks like, so here it is in all its glory. (see photo below)
His Viking ancestors would be proud
You may or may not get an undercut haircut as per the ponybun in the picture above, but one thing is for sure: you will turn heads with a ponybun.
Man bun hairstyle for wavy hair
I’m not a fan of following hairstyle trends and in both my books, The Curly Hair Book and The Men’s Hair Book, I advise you to not jump on them the minute they go mainstream. In the case of the man bun, the hairstyle has been going wild and spreading like the flu virus since 2013 and, even in 2015, the man bun trend is going strong. However, man buns have been worn for centuries by all kinds of dudes from Vikings to Samurai warriors to hippies, so man buns weren’t originally concocted in some hipster Brooklyn loft three years ago, unlike what most dudes seem to believe. Au contraire, long haired folks have been using buns to tie their manes for so long that I was seriously amazed at the popularity of the man bun when the trend hit the spotlight 3 years ago, as I thought that it was common sense that all long haired men tie their locks in buns as “bunning” your long mane is simply a convenient hairstyle.
Anyway, whether you’re one of those guys who obsessively jumps on hairstyle trend after hairstyle trend or whether you’re just a guy with long wavy hair, the man bun is one cool and convenient hairstyle to wear. With a man bun (also known as a “bro bun”, “mun” or “hipster bun”), you are able to group all your hair and lock it tight into a ball of hair. This not only ensures that you’re left with no hair dangling (unless you want to wear a ponybun) but it also removes the bulk of your hair off your face and actually makes your facial features stand out more. What this means is that, if you’re a handsome dude, then the man bun will make you even more handsome; I’m not so sure of what happens if you’re an ugly dude, although the man bun had made me even less uglier, so it’s worth a try regardless of how beautiful and handsome and “all of that” you may be.
To give you a good visual reference in case that you want to sport this style, here’s a picture of a man bun hairstyle cut with an undercut haircut (i.e. a man bun undercut).
As you can see above, the bun is usually placed on the back of the top of your head; this anatomical section of the head is also known as the crown or the vertex area. Alternatively, you can tie your bun lower on the head for a classic bun style (i.e. what dudes with long hair have been doing for centuries) or you can tie the bun further forward on the head for what I call a “pineapple hairstyle”. Either way, just bun your hair and get on with your life as a long haired dude.
Shoulder-length middle part hairstyle for coiled curly hair
I have to say that a middle part with shoulder length hair is an awesome hairstyle for guys with curly hair. But, then, I’m biased as that’s one of my favourite hairstyles and I have long (coiled) curly hair. In any case, just about all long haired dudes whom I’ve met over the years have agreed that a middle part with long hair (and regardless of hair type) is an excellent hairstyle; it’s just that good of a hairstyle.
Despite how the good looks of a middle part shoulder length style may make you all warm and fuzzy inside, it should be noted that coiled curly hair is notoriously known for being a pain in the derriere to part on the middle of the head until it gets to a length of about 8 to 10 inches. The reason for this is that curly hair that has yet to reach 8 inches in length will puff up as well as puff out to the sides, hence any attempt to middle part it will result in the hair coiling back to its naturally puffed-out state.
I really cannot stress this enough to you: you really need to grow your coils long (i.e. at least 8 inches of length) in order to be able to benefit from the malleability of long coiled hair. All of this should not be a surprise to you if you’ve been reading ManlyCurls.com as I’ve always said that any curly dude wanting to grow long hair and have it hang down (and not puff up and out) must get his coiled mane to at least a length of 8 inches. An even-better hair length would be 10 inches if you would rather have your mane hang down naturally instead of having to coat it with leave in conditioners and hair styling creams in order to weigh your hair down (as it will happen with only 8 inches of hair length). Ten inches of hair length is close to a shoulder length (depending on how tall you are), so your coils will start to hang down naturally once they are at about shoulder length.
So, now that we’ve established how long your hair must be to put it into a middle-parted hairstyle, it’s time to show you how it looks.
Not only dudes with long haired have told me that they really like putting their manes in a middle part but many women have also told me that such a hairstyle is the one they like the most in long haired men. Make of that what you will, gents.
Dreadlocks hairstyle for kinky curly hair
Yes, I know, I know; we all know what dreadlocks are and how they aren’t trendy like the man bun and all that, but, truly, for dudes with kinky curly hair, dreadlocks are an excellent hairstyle to get the hair to hang down instead of having it remain all puffed up in an afro hairstyle. I’m not saying that the afro isn’t a good hairstyle for this hair type, but many guys with kinky curly hair have come to me asking me how to make their afros hang down as they want to have dangling locks like their long-haired brethren with the other hair types. As a matter of fact, you would be surprised as to how many curly guys dream of the day that their curls will caress their face and dangle in the wind. Heck, I too was one of them and feeling my curly locks dangle in the wind just felt way too awesome.
The bad news for guys with kinky curly hair is that they will need in excess of 20 inches of hair length to get their tightly-coiled hair to hang down naturally. However, the good news is that dreadlocks are a shortcut to not having to wait a good 4 to 6 years years before being able to gracefully shake your kinky curly mane and say “because I’m worth it”.
The reason for dreadlocks being a shortcut hairstyle to get your kinks and coils to hang down is that dreadlocks aren’t just made up of your own healthy and growing hair strands; dreadlocks are also made up of the shed hair strands that you’ve been shedding ever since you started “locking” your hair (i.e putting your hair into dreadlocks). At the tune of about 100 shed hair strands per day, that’s a lot of excess weight that you’re adding to your mane and which you would otherwise not have (the extra weight) if it weren’t for the dreadlocks. So, dreadlocks get heavy quite fast and therefore you only need about 6 to 8 inches of dread-locked length to get the dreadlocks to hang down. Not bad if we compare 4 years of waiting to a mere one year of waiting time to grow your dreadlocks to 6 inches starting from a buzz cut or short hair.
As I’ve done with the previous hairstyles, here’s a picture depicting some nicely-groomed dreadlocks.
Dreadlocks are the fastest way to get your kinky curls dangling instead of puffing up
It should be said that, just because dreadlocks contain shed hair strands from months ago or even years ago, dreadlocks need not be unhygienic and they actually require quite a lot of grooming and hair care.
Four long hairstyles for the 4 hair types
Having long hair as a guy is quite the experience. Whether you have straight hair or kinky curly hair, you will be learning more and more about your hair every single day as you remain patient, learn from your mistakes and enjoy the journey of becoming a long-haired guy with free-flowing locks. Sure, it make take you a year or four years, but, I can guarantee you in this very moment that it will all be worth it. This coming from a guy who started growing his hair long from a high and tight haircut just to test and experiment with his mane!
Come get your long locks styled at the Mug Shoppe
