What to do about your thinning hair

Keeping your hair clean and well-maintained will help distract from its thinning patches.

Style tips for the balding guy

You?re not bald. You?re balding. There is a big difference. A guy with a big shiny bald patch may as well shave off his remaining hair, but you want to hold on to the wispy remains that inhabit your crown. Here are the steps you should take once you realise your hair is thinning out.

Address the root cause

Before you start researching haircuts for your new sparse look, look into the cause of your hair thinning. While hair loss is an unavoidable part of ageing for most men, it is possible that there is a cause you can address. Growing your hair back is easier than creatively hiding your hair loss. It is worth a trip to the doctor to rule out thyroid disorders or medication side effects as the cause for your hair loss. You may also be losing hair due to being generally run-down. Try to remove stressors from your life and embrace a healthy diet, and see if your hair starts coming back.

Once you have investigated medical possibilities, and have concluded that thin hair is your new reality, it is time to start taking better care of the hair you have left.

Get a good haircut

Go to the best hairdresser you can find, and treat your locks to an expensive haircut. A good haircut is your best weapon against looking bald. You want a haircut which is textured, and best worn messy. ?It needs to be reasonably short (no more than a few inches), but not so short that your receding hairline becomes obvious. If you are used to having long hair, you will have to give it the chop. Long hair rarely looks good on men, and especially not when the hair is decidedly thinner up top.

Avoid heavy hair products

Thickly applied hair gel looks nasty, regardless of how much hair you have. However, it is much more noticeable on men with thinning hair. Try to get a haircut that does not require products for styling. If you must have some sort of product to hold your hair in place, a light hairspray is a better option than gel.

Wash your hair before it gets oily or too laden down with product. It is not enough to simply get your hair wet in the shower; you also have to use shampoo to strip down all the hair products you have subjected your hair to. There are specialized shampoos and conditioners available for thickening hair, but their effectiveness is dubious.

Use a hair dryer

Borrow your girlfriend?s hair dryer to add some volume to your hair. Pointing the hair dryer upwards, so your hair is dried from below, will give your hair a little extra boost. You may need to use texturizing spray, depending on what works for your hair type.

Those with thinning hair should avoid rigorous towel-drying, so using a hair dryer kills two birds with one stone.