How to Wear a Beanie Without Ruining Your Hair

Beanie hair: the flattened, cowlick-ed, jacked-up result of wearing a beanie on your daily commute is threatening your grooming reputation and, thus, your entire style acuity. No man with a head of hair is safe from the seasonal affliction. And what's worse is that there seems to be only two solutions, neither of which is particularly helpful: you either keep the beanie on all day, or take it off and let your coworkers/friends/Tinder date take in the disheveled static mess happening up north. Enough men feel helpless in the face of beanie hair that they sacrifice staying warm in favor of not having to deal with it.

But you don't have to be that guy.

We asked three experts of the grooming world to help us help you solve this important problem and here's what they had to say:

The Worst Thing You Can Do Is...

You should avoid putting a beanie over wet or damp hair. Because it will dictate how your hair is positioned when dry (most likely matted to your head or in in a crazy pattern), so make sure you have completely dry hair when putting on the beanie.

Make Your Desk Drawer Your Medicine Cabinet

If possible, styling your hair once you're at work is ideal. I always say men should keep at least two things in their desk drawer at all times: toothbrush/toothpaste and your normal hair product. You never know when you may need to head out to a last minute meeting or get a last minute happy hour invite. If you keep your hair product handy in your office, you can style your hair first thing upon arriving before you even get your coffee.

If you don't have this option, I suggest giving your hair time to dry with product on before you put on the cap. In addition, using a water soluble product will work the best if you need to re-wet and re-set your hair once you arrive to work.

How Your Barber Can Help

It's counterintuitive for cold weather, but keeping your hair short during the winter will help avoid hat hair and beat a lot of the everyday hassle of restyling every time you come in from outdoors. Obviously a buzzcut is going to be easiest. For men willing to go short but who don't want to buzz their hair, I recommend keeping it below a 3 guard on the sides and less than an inch in length on top. If you want to keep long hair, wearing textured hair that's intentionally a little messier will help you avoid looking unintentionally disheveled.

Your Hair Type Has a Lot to Do With It

A loose-fitting beanie will be better for all hair types. The big difference will be in restyling your hair once you take the beanie off. If you have long curly hair, be sure to try to fit all the hair under the beanie if possible, otherwise when you take the beanie off you will have half of your hair matted down with the ends of your hair still fluffy and giving you wings. For straight and coarse hair, a comb will be the easiest way get your hair back in style. For curly hair, use your fingers or a pick to give your hair the right fluff. Just pick it out so it doesn't appear matted to your head.

Beanie Hair Is Going to Happen, But It's How You Deal With It That Matters

To a certain degree you are going to have messy hair when you wear a hat. Knowing that allows you to style your hair in a way that rolls with what the hat will do. So you can’t quite avoid beanie hair, but you can definitely make it look cool.

How You Put on Your Beanie Makes a Big Difference

You need to be aware of how you are putting on your hat and do it in a way that doesn’t create weird cowlicks. That generally means sweep the hair completely back and apply the beanie from your forehead towards the back of your neck. If you still end up with a total disaster, you’ll need to use water to “reset” your hair and begin the process of normalizing it. If you are using a water soluble styling product you’ll want to apply more if needed, whereas with a product that needs to be washed out you won’t need more. Typically pomades and oil based products are not water soluble.

Long Hair Is More Flexible

Outside of closely trimmed hair, the longer your hair the better when it comes to hat hair. When you have short hair the slightest movement of the hat can shift the hair into an awkward location. A longer haircut or a messy cut will give you more flexibility. If your hair is long enough, you can always just put your hair in a man-bun and solve the entire issue.

Get Loose With Your Beanie

The tighter the beanie the more likely you are going to deal with hat hair. A beanie that is a looser fit and looser weave will be more gentle on your hair style.

Invest in Travel Size Grooming Products

Definitely pack some products in your bag, so when you take off your beanie you can style with your styling cream. If your hair usually becomes flat you should pack a dry powder shampoo to add volume back to your hair. To go the extra mile, style with some styling cream and finish with some shine serum to make sure your hair doesn't look so dull.

These Are the Best Haircuts if You Want to Avoid Beanie Hair

Yes, a buzz cut (crew cut), a pompadour, or any cut with a partial or tight fade will have less issues.

If You've Got Thinning Hair

Guys with thinning and fine hair tend to have the worst issues... they should make sure not to use any products until they get to the office as their hair usually flattens faster than someone with curly, thick, or coarse hair. Guys with curly and coarse hair should make sure they have a looser beanie to avoid creasing.

Here's What You Should Never Do

Wearing it for too long...it's important to take it off often when you're indoors unless the all day beanie look is what you're going for.