Dudes ‘Do: Ranking the Best Shampoos for Men

Perfect hair requires a lot of work, but pretty darn good hair is a lot easier to attain. Just choosing the right shampoo can pay immediate dividends. Whether you’re trying to repair dry, damaged hair or looking for a reliable everyday cleanser, there’s a shampoo out there for you.

When selecting the best shampoo, we looked for products designed for a wide variety of hair problems. And while there are a lot of great premium products from brands like Brickell and Jack Black, we know that most men want to buy shampoo for under $10. As such, price was a major factor when making our selections. (But we’ll be honest, it wouldn’t be a great list without one from those guys, and boy did we find a good one.)

Here are 16 of the best shampoos for men we could find. Even if you think you’ve found the best men’s shampoo for you, give these a look-through and you might just find an even better option.

1. OGX Nourishing + Coconut Milk Shampoo

BEST OVERALL

OGX’s Coconut Milk Shampoo might not be your typical men’s shampoo, but that shouldn’t stop you from trusting it with your hair. Coconut milk and coconut oil work to strengthen and hydrate your hair, whether frizzy, fine, oily or straight. And it doesn’t hurt that it leaves your hair smelling subtly of coconut. This is one of our all-time favorite shampoos for its natural ingredients and just great overall cleansing. If you don’t need a special-purpose shampoo, like to stop balding or prevent dandruff, and just want a daily shampoo to leave your hair feeling, soft, clean and refreshed, OGX’s Coconut Milk Shampoo is the shampoo for you.

2. Baxter of California Daily Fortifying Shampoo for Men

QUALITY PICK

Baxter of California’s nutrient-rich daily shampoo uses wheat protein and vitamin E to cleanse your scalp and deliver fuller, healthier hair by removing grease and toxins that build up throughout the day. Along with a healthy shine, this shampoo provides a fresh, mild scent of mint, and you can even use the shampoo as a beard wash. But as with all quality products, you do pay a bit more for the pleasure. 

3. Method Men Cedar + Cypress 2-in-1 Shampoo + Conditioner

BEST TWO-IN-ONE SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER

Method Men’s Cedar + Cypress two-in-one shampoo and conditioner uses menthol and essential oils like argan and jojoba oil to leave your hair feeling refreshed and silky smooth. The cedar and cypress scent also makes you feel like you’re taking a shower in a waterfall in a forest. As an added bonus, Method Men’s product page also features a breakdown of all the ingredients in the shampoo, so you can decide if it’s right for you. Spoiler alert: Almost every ingredient is natural and derived from plant sources. And if you really enjoy this two-in-one shampoo, Method Men makes it in multiple different scents, such as juniper and sage or bergamot and lime, so you can find the one best scent for you or buy them all for some variety to your grooming routine.

4. Every Man Jack Sandalwood Daily Shampoo + Conditioner

ALSO CONSIDER TWO-IN-ONE

Our list of the best shampoos for men includes a lot of 2-in-1 shampoos and conditioners, and this is another great combination product for men who don’t want to clutter up their shower. We like pretty much everything about this product, including the rectangular bottle design and the fact that it’s made from recycled plastic. Every Man Jack Sandalwood Daily Shampoo and Conditioner uses naturally-derived ingredients like coconut and shea butter to strengthen and cleanse your hair. You’ll get a full clean from the shampoo while the conditioner moisturizes your hair so it doesn’t dry out. The masculine sandalwood scent will guarantee you’ll want to keep using it, too.

5. American Crew 3-in-1 Tea Tree Shampoo Conditioner and Body Wash

BEST ALL-IN-ONE

Sometimes you don’t want to deal with multiple products to take care of your body. That’s where a product like American Crew’s three-in-one tea tree shampoo, conditioner and body wash comes in. Yup, American Crew’s Classic formula does it all and does it well. It cleanses and invigorates the scalp, restores and detangles hair and adds a shine that lasts until your next shower. The only things we would hold against it are the ingredients. They’re generally not as natural compared to competitors and because this shampoo is a body wash, it may be too aggressive of a wash for some hair situations, like if you’re balding. But if you just need a simple all-in-one washing solution and aren’t too worried about dandruff or losing hair, this shampoo from the self-proclaimed Official Supplier to Men is a sure bet.

6. Old Spice Dry Shampoo for Men

BEST DRY SHAMPOO

That’s right, dry shampoos exist for men, too. What started as a women’s product has crossed over to the men’s grooming world because dry shampoo is so useful in a pinch. If you need to freshen up your hair but don’t have the time or a place to shower, Old Spice Dry Shampoo for Men will freshen up your hair by absorbing excess oils. With that great Old Spice smell with a hint of citrus, no one will be able to tell you skipped out on the shower. Just spray some in your hair, rummage your hands through a bit and you’ll start to feel cleaner hair practically instantaneously.

7. Tea Tree Special Shampoo

BEST TEA TREE SHAMPOO

Tea tree products are practically a subcategory all on their own due to their utility and popularity, and we’ve written about our favorite tea tree shampoos before. Tea tree oil found its way into shampoos due to its natural cleansing properties and the signature tingle it leaves on your hair and scalp. Tea Tree Special Shampoo adds peppermint and lavender into the mix to wake up your scalp and boost that sweet tingle sensation. With this shampoo, you’ll have a clean, refreshed head of hair in no time.

8. HONEYDEW Hair Loss Shampoo

BEST FOR BALDING

Some people bald and some people do not, but the balding among us don’t need to settle for a shampoo that makes the problem worse. That’s where Honeydew’s Hair Loss Shampoo can help. It’s safe for all hair types and contains ingredients that block DHT, the chemical associated with hair loss and balding. Toss in some evening primrose, sesame and rosemary regrowth oils, and this shampoo will help stop the loss in its tracks and promote the growth of new hair.

9. Maple Holistics Pure Argan Oil Shampoo

BEST FOR DRY/DAMAGED HAIR

If you’re fighting the good fight against dry, damaged hair, you need extreme hydration and softening agents in your shampoo. Almost nothing softens hair better than argan oil, the main ingredient in Maple Holistics Pure Argan Oil Shampoo. Argan and other oils in the shampoo hydrate your scalp and hair, which ultimately restores and repairs your hair’s softness and shine. This shampoo is also hypoallergenic and works for all hair types (even color-treated hair), so whatever kind of hair you’ve got, you can hydrate and smooth it with confidence.

10. Head & Shoulders Old Spice Shampoo

BEST FOR DANDRUFF

Head & Shoulders (the leading anti-dandruff shampoo) collaborated with the men’s scent masters at Old Spice to come up with this two-in-one Pure Sport shampoo. Along with eliminating dandruff, this shampoo leaves you with a manly scent engineered by Old Spice. The active ingredient, pyrithione zinc, has clinically proven anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties and is known to help with skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema (as well as many others). So whatever the cause of your dandruff is, this Head & Shoulders Old Spice Shampoo will get to the root of the problem and leave your hair smelling great to boot.

11. Nizoral A-D Anti-Dandruff Shampoo

ALSO CONSIDER DANDRUFF

If you’re not into the scent of Old Spice and just want a more plain anti-dandruff shampoo, Nizoral A-D Anti-Dandruff Shampoo will help address the problem. Nizoral’s shampoo uses a different active ingredient, ketoconazole, than Head & Shoulder’s shampoo, and it’s also clinically proven to fight dandruff, especially dandruff caused by fungus. There is also some evidence that ketoconazole helps to suppress the chemical interaction that leads to baldness. The only downside we found was if you use the shampoo too often it can actually lead to more hair falling out, so just don’t use it every day and you should still see improvements with flaking and itching in as little as one week.

12. Just For Men Control GX Grey Reducing 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner

BEST FOR GREYING HAIR

Hey, there’s no shame in going grey, and honestly grey can look as good if not better than typical hair colors. But every guy has his own goals for his appearance and if you want a shampoo to help fight greying hair, Just For Men has your back with its Control GX Grey Reducing 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner. With daily use, this combo set reduces grey over time so you can avoid changing your entire hair color all of a sudden.

Just For Men recommends using the shampoo every day until you’ve achieved the look you want. Once you’re there, you can go back to a normal shampoo or just use the Grey Reducing shampoo less frequently. And if you’re worried that the chemicals must be damaging for your hair, fear not as the formula uses hemp oil to keep your hair smooth and healthy. For best results when washing, make sure to thoroughly massage the shampoo into your hair and let it sit for about a minute before rinsing. After a little while, you’ll see why it’s one of the best shampoos for men who are starting to grey.

13. Saragan Pure Activated Charcoal Shampoo

BEST CHARCOAL SHAMPOO

Charcoal has natural cleansing properties that make it great for grooming and cleaning. Saragan’s Pure Activated Charcoal Shampoo uses charcoal to clean oily, greasy hair and dirt build-up. But it also incorporates essential oils like argan and jojoba to keep your hair smooth and hydrated. So even though the charcoal is working to soak up the grime you’ve accumulated throughout the day, it won’t leave your hair feeling starchy and dry, and it will leave your hair with a slight, pleasant coconut scent.

14. Renpure Biotin and Collagen Thickening Shampoo

BEST FOR THICKENING

Though Renpure doesn’t market explicitly toward men, we’ve used their products before and they just work to do what they say they do and they use excellent, plant-based ingredients to get the job done. So if you’re looking for a great, no fuss thickening shampoo, we recommend Renpure Biotin and Collagen Thickening Shampoo. At the end of the day, we spend a lot of money to buy a brand when we should really be focused on active ingredients. If something cheap has proven ingredients, there’s no reason to buy anything else. With this low-priced thickening shampoo, you’re getting the right ingredients, such as biotin, collagen and keratin, all of which are proven to work to strengthen and thicken hair. So save yourself some money and go for Renpure’s Biotin and Collagen Shampoo. If you want thicker hair, it just works.

15. R+Co Cactus Texturizing Shampoo

BEST FOR TEXTURIZING

If you want additional density and more textured hair but don’t want to spring for a texturizing spray, you can meet in the middle with R+Co Cactus Texturizing Shampoo. Diatomaceous earth absorbs oil while building texture and grip, and sunflower seed extract and hydrolyzed vegetable protein work to nourish your hair and scalp and strengthen your hair. The end result is grittier hair that’s easier to style and control for that cool, messy look. For best results, R+Co recommends skipping the conditioner because hey, if we want more texture, the smoothing properties of conditioner are going to do just the opposite.

16. Jack Black Black Reserve Body & Hair Cleanser

PREMIUM PICK

If you’re looking for a premium, great-smelling hair and body wash, look no further than Jack Black Black Reserve Body & Hair Cleanser. Not only does this wash have a fantastic, manly scent courtesy of lavender, bergamot, coriander and patchouli, but it’s also packed with moisturizing and soothing ingredients to help keep your hair and body fresh, clean and smooth. Truly, whatever ingredients you like to have to improve your hair and skin moisture, this cleanser has got them. It’s got aloe vera to calm and soothe irritated, dry skin, shea butter to hydrate and moisturize skin and hair, panthenol, which binds extremely well to water for increased hydration, and more. Yup, just about everything in this premium shampoo works to get you clean and keep your hair and body hydrated and moisturized, and it brings the kind of signature manly scent we expect from a company like Jack Black. Like an excellent bourbon or wine, there’s a reason Jack Black calls this the reserve cleanser. They know, and you’ll find out, it’s one of the best shampoos for men out there.

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