The 7 Best Conditioners for Men for More Manageable Hair

This is where most guys are at. As much as we want to push y’all to face masks, serums, and all the other grooming products we’ve given top honors, this is where a lot of men land. And that’s okay. The American Crew one-two punch of shampoo—depending on your needs, shampoo is light cleansing, moisturizing, or anti-dandruff—and conditioner is a solid option for low maintenance hair care. Despite all the high-end hair care we’re about to sell you, if American Crew works for you, it works for you.

This is an editors pick, so we are going to let our editor speak from the heart. Esquire commerce editor and resident Southern boy Luke Guillory is a big fan of Nécessaire and here’s why, in his words:

“This is conditioner I personally use, paired with the same Nécessaire shampoo, and I couldn’t recommend it more. Though my grandpa would call me batshit crazy—couyon is the Louisiana French word he’d use—for spending $60 on shampoo and conditioner, it’s really not that expensive in the grand scheme of things. I condition every time I shower, so this $30 bottle will last me a month or two, but I shampoo once or twice a week, so that bottle lasts months.

And how does it feel on the head? For me, this is the perfect middle-of-the-road shampoo. My hair goes from straight when it’s short to a tad wavy when it’s long. My main concerns are summer humidity causing my shit to frizz up and heavy conditioners weighing my hair down and showing off my thinning top. Nécessaire’s duo cleans everything up without the weight. The hyaluronic acid, vitamin B3, and vitamin B5 are supposed to give you thicker, fuller, and healthier hair. Thicker, I’m not sure about. Fuller and healthier, it’s definitely done.”

Tristan Walker, founder of Bevel, actually started the company in 2013 when he didn’t see hair care and grooming products made specifically for Black men. These days Bevel is widely accessible—bought by Procter & Gamble—and sells everything you’d need related to men’s grooming.

For this conditioner, the price, moisture, and the scent are all top-notch. It’s got a reputation for being a bit thinner than other high-moisture conditioners. Some barbers will tell you that means it’s easier for it to penetrate. Others will say it makes it a bit less potent. Thankfully, it’s priced so that if it’s not the perfect fit for you, you’re not out a fortune.

And for what it’s worth, Bevel’s products can actually work really well even if you don’t have Afro hair. For example, our commerce editor Luke Guillory uses Bevel shave products because his beard hair is thick, coarse, and prone to in-growns, which Bevel is all over stopping. So if you have white hair that’s on the curly side and need more moisture, but not the level of moisture you get from some natural hair care products, Bevel is a good place to start.

Of course, if you have more coily natural hair, you need serious moisture. Without getting too into the science, it’s more work for oil from your scalp to get out to the ends of your hair than it is fine or straight hair. This makes changes in moisture more of an issue.

SheaMoisture is a thick conditioner, but the pump bottle prevents any application issues that might normally cause. The coconut oil and shea butter formula is one of the best solutions for moisture.

For fine hair, it’s tough not to get recommended this bottle of Ouai. Ask a barber or anyone on the Internet and this is going to get pushed on you. That’s because it works.

With fine hair, you probably want to strengthen hair and give it some volume. A routine of this fine-hair conditioner and its partner fine-hair shampoo will give you that. What you get out of the conditioner is softness without the extra weight that’s going to pull your already fine hair down. Another plus is that it’s good at combatting the dryness you’ll get from blow-drying your hair, which you should be doing if you’re really worried about fine hair looking lifeless.

This Olaplex conditionor is about two things: strengthening and moisturizing like nothing else. You get a real sense of that when you put some conditioner in your hands. It’s thick. You’re going to want to only store this guy upside down.

One of the best things about Olaplex Nº5 is that it can really treat the spectrum of men’s hair. It’s thick and moisturizing, and its softening focus is great for curls and even some textured hair. But if you’re a guy with finer hair who uses thickening products, serums, or dyes that can dry you out, Olaplex is great to combat it. If you use a hair dryer for extra volume, Olaplex is great for the breakage that can come with that.

The hero of the Olaplex ingredient list is a patented molecule—seems like a crazy concept, we know—called bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate. Olaplex uses it throughout its lineup, and the claim is that it’s the main thing that fixes breakage. The beauty world is full of these sorts of stories, so you have to take things on recommendation. Good thing we can personally recommend Olaplex, and just about anyone who works with hair will do the same.

If you want a serious thickening regiment, Patricks is the best we’ve found, and the Plus shampoo and conditioner are its top-of-the-line duo. Yes, they are expensive, but Patricks combines a lot of well-known growth-stimulating ingredients into the Plus line. Things like Procapil, Redensyl, Saw palmetto, and more form the basis of a bunch of other hair-growth serums and shampoos. The fact that Patricks has found a formula that combines them is meant to really ratchet up the benefits.

Listen, this is a personal journey. Even if you have one type of hair, your own body chemistry could mean you have vastly different needs from the next guy. I’ll take broad strokes at the hair types.

If you don’t know what you are, ask your barber. They’re the pro.

Straight Hair, Fine Follicles: This means your actual strands of hair are skinny, even if you have a lot of it. (Thin hair is not the same as thinning hair.) You want something that’ll give your follicles a bit of life without weighing them down. Weight is your enemy. It’ll flatten your hair.

Straight Hair, Thick Follicles: Maybe your hair stays straight; maybe it gets some waves as it grows out. Chances are, it’s pretty malleable. You just want standard moisture, then, to push your hair in your direction of choice—move wave, more fullness, reduce hair loss, etc.

Wavy Hair: You’re starting to get to the texture where moisture is a big factor. You either want to enhance your waves or let them naturally do their thing. Explore between curly and straight products.

Curly Hair: Main thing here is getting moisture to your follicles, since curls make it harder for oil from your scalp to make its way to your tips. Beyond that, maybe you’re trying to encourage curls or inhibit them, for which you’ll be using product.

Textured Hair: Beyond curly hair, textured hair might also get called coily, kinky, coarse, etc. These are all terms for when you get into the 4’s of the hair type chart. What you want here is moisture that’ll penetrate tight coils. Typically that’s going to come from heavy ingredients like shea butter.

More than anything in the grooming world, we’ve found, hair is so particular and variable from person to person. Having a “Best Of” list for hair care is Sisyphus pushing his rock up the hill. Everyone’s body and oil production is different, and we’ve had, known, and heard plenty of stories about someone’s trusted barber or stylist suggesting a product that just didn’t work out.

What that means is that even my well-vetted seven conditioners might not be right for you. It’s your own journey. Start here and go until you find something that works. Once you find it, stick with it for as long as it continues to work.