Taking care of one’s hair is an incredibly important part of any man’s grooming routine. And, at the risk of sounding obvious, it has to be said that the first step to taking care of your hair is getting yourself some serious shampoo from one of the best shampoo brands for men.
There are an astounding number of options available to a man who wants to start taking better care of his hair. Lots of products make all kinds of claims, from being “ethically-produced” and “micro-plastic free” to being capable of increasing, decreasing, or maintaining hair volume. But what does it all mean? And what products are actually good enough to live up to the hype?
Luckily for you, we have the answers. In this article, we’re going to take a close look at 5 of the best shampoo brands for men and get into the nitty-gritty of what each brings to the table.
Let’s get started.
Key Takeaways
I’m pretty experimental by nature, which in this context means that I love testing out and tinkering with any products to do with my hair. As a result, I’d tried out dozens of different shampoos before I got the assignment to work on this list of the best shampoo brands for men—and I was thrilled with the prospect of trying out even more.
After plenty of thought, I eventually decided to name Geologie as tops among the best shampoo brands for men. They create really high-quality hair care products, just like all the other options on this list, but they go above and beyond because their numerous offerings provide solutions for a whole host of problems.
Struggling with dandruff? They have shampoo for that. The same goes for both strengthening and shampoo-conditioner combos. A couple of other standouts on this list of the best shampoo brands for men are the affordable Dove Men + Care and the simple and straight-up Blu Atlas.
Our Top Picks
Why the brand is great: Geologie takes the top spot in our list of the best shampoo brands for men for a few different reasons. First off, there’s the fact that the brand makes products that are tailored to specific consumers. For example, men who are concerned about thinning hair can try out their strengthening shampoo.
This brand also has an anti-dandruff option for men who struggle with flakes in their hair. Geologie also use top-class ingredients in all their products, which ensures that you’re getting the very best care.
Who is this brand for? As we just went over, Geologie has a lot of different options in their catalog, so lots of men will be able to find a product that suits them.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: The brand doesn’t place as much emphasis on the scent of their shampoos as other brands do, which means that you don’t have a huge amount of choice about what you want your shampoo to smell like.
Why the brand is great: Now that we have so many different options in the men’s grooming space, it can be difficult to remember how revolutionary Dove’s Men + Care brand was when it launched back in 2010. The brand did a lot to popularize the idea that men, as well as women, need great grooming products. And, all these years later, they’re still making awesome products—including a number of shampoos.
Who is this brand for? As has been proven over the years, just about any man can feel great when getting on board with this modern-classic entry, one of the best shampoo brands for men.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: Dove’s Men + Care is a mass market brand, so their shampoos might not contain the quality of natural ingredients that go into the products of the smaller producers on this list.
Why the brand is great: BeardBrand is a well-established brand in—as their name suggests—the beard care space, but you might not know that they also make really great shampoos. Their flagship shampoo, the utility wash, is also a great solution for washing both your beard and your body.
It also comes in four different fragrances, including Bold Fortune (Leather, Whiskey, Saffron, Oud, and Tobacco) and Temple Smoke (Palo Santo, Vanilla, Frankincense, Patchouli).
Who is this brand for? If you have a beard and are ordering products from the brand anyway, then it makes a lot of sense to add some shampoo to your next order.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: BeardBrand is a luxury solution for beard and hair care, meaning that their products are really great but also really pricey.
Why the brand is great: Next up we have another brand that’s famous in the personal grooming space, but not necessarily for their shampoos (more for hair gels and waxes). However, American Crew has put all their knowledge of hair care into producing their line of shampoos. I’ve always gotten great results using their 3-in-1 shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, and I love its strong ginger scent.
Who is this brand for? If you want to just make a really quick and easy order (and perhaps take advantage of your Prime account as well) to get your next bottle of shampoo, the American Crew Amazon shop is very well-stocked.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: Other than one shampoo that’s meant to help control dandruff, American Crew doesn’t have a lot of options for dealing with specific problems like oily or thinning hair.
Why the brand is great: Here we have an outstanding hair care brand that has given its all to produce a single outstanding shampoo—which they simply call “Shampoo.” Blu Atlas’ Shampoo contains a ton of natural products that improve hair health, such as Jojoba Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf, and Saw Palmetto. Both of its scent profiles – classic and coconut apricot – are also really great.
Who is this brand for? If you’re looking for just a standard shampoo but want to find one that is of exceptional quality, then I’d definitely recommend taking a look at this one, a solid contender among the best shampoo brands for men.
Flaws but not deal-breakers: This isn’t quite a flaw, but the brand offers really deep discounts to those who subscribe to regular deliveries of their products. If you want to get a subscription, that’s great—but it’s a little annoying if you’re interested only in making a one-time purchase.
Buying Considerations for The Best Shampoo Brands For Men
Size
I’ve seen a couple of different schools of thought when it comes to the ideal amount of shampoo to buy in one go. Some people will advise you to order a whole bunch at once since shampoo isn’t a perishable item. Stocking up like this will allow you to save on shipping costs and supply you with enough shampoo to last for a while.
You do have to be sure that you really like the shampoo you’re ordering, though, otherwise, you risk getting stuck with a ton of a product that doesn’t work for you.
Others would advise you to look into shampoo brands for men that have subscription options, sending you new, smaller bottles at regular intervals. It’s definitely worth considering, but it does represent a long term commitment to one product.
Scent
You really do have a wealth of options for what kind of scent you want your next shampoo to be in. I don’t really have super specific advice about what kind of scent you should go for, since how a shampoo smells doesn’t really impact how well it cleans hair.
Rather, the scent of shampoo is meant to be something you really like while you’re showering and as it lingers afterward. Go with your gut and your past experiences of what scents you like in your shampoos.
Ingredients
The final buying consideration I want to get into, the ingredients of a shampoo, is a bit tough to write about because it’s such a huge topic. Some shampoo brands for men will boast about how their shampoos contain only natural ingredients, and sometimes that’s true and great, but it’s not great if the shampoo doesn’t work very well.
There are also lots of ingredients that can go into really great shampoos that you wouldn’t call natural. I’d recommend doing your own research into specific compounds and chemicals that shampoo contains if you have concerns, since I can’t come even close to covering all the possibilities here.
How We Chose
Although I had to go through lots and lots of different options when putting together this list of the best shampoo brands for men, the criterion that I judged them by was a simple one: results. If we couldn’t feel 100% confident that a shampoo brand creates products that deliver each and every time they’re used, then it didn’t make it anywhere close to this list.
There’s lots that went into our estimation of the quality of shampoo brands for men, from reading their ingredient labels to personal experience, but the results that a shampoo brand promises were our number one concern.
As always, we remain aware of the following four factors that guide every decision that we make about what to include and what to exclude from our lists.
Company reputation: We gravitated towards men’s hair care brands that have a long track record of producing great shampoos, since it’s definitely true that the best predictor of quality is past quality.
Customer reviews: Another important consideration when building lists about something as important as shampoo brands for men is what customers are saying about their products.
Price: We hate overpaying for average products, and we’re sure you do, too. That’s why all the products on this list offer enough value to justify their price tag.
Transparency: And finally, we always pay attention to how open and honest companies are about the important details, like what’s in their shampoos and what their return/customer complaint policy looks like.
Why Trust Us?
Collectively, the editors of this website have decades of experience writing about male grooming and hair care. We’re constantly putting out articles about men’s grooming and hair care here on FashionBeans (such as our recent roundups of the best pomades and hair clay for men). It’s not immodest to say that we’re well-informed about men’s hair care because, well, it’s just true.
Everyone on the editorial team put together a shortlist of their personal favorite shampoo brands for men. Then, we had an all-hands-on-deck meeting to hash out the final form of this list. I won’t say it was easy—there were a couple of disagreements—but we’re really pleased with what we came up with at the end of the day.
Final Verdict
The editorial team was united behind its pick for the best shampoo brand for men, Geologie. The brand offers a ton of different options that are appropriate for men with different needs from their shampoo product. But whether you’re looking for a shampoo to help reduce thinning or to address oily hair, you can be sure that the shampoo on offer from Geologie will be of the highest quality.
FAQ
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For our money here at FashionBeans, the answer is clearly Geologie. That’s because of their high-quality products that are acceptable for a wide variety of men with different types of hair and different goals for their hair. However, the men’s hair care market has become more and more crowded over the past number of years as more and more men have started to pay more attention to keeping their hair happy and healthy. As a result, there are a ton of different possible answers to this question.
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Nowadays, there are a lot of different brands and companies that produce really high quality shampoos for men. They’re catering to a growing market of men who are putting a lot of emphasis on their personal grooming routines. Some of the leading shampoo brands for men are: Geologie, Dove Men + Care, BeardBrand, American Crew, and Blu Atlas.
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