When it comes to styling products for men, hair cream is one of the most popular options for a stylish, natural look. The best hair cream is made with quality ingredients and offers the right hold, texture and smell for your style. Some of the most popular styling creams are designed to condition your hair while offering a soft hold and a low shine finish, making these products well-suited for medium-length to longer hairstyles that need definition and volume.
Whether you have thick, wavy, curly, short or long hair, there are several high-quality hair creams for men to consider. Some guys will want a light hold hair cream with a matte finish for a flowing textured look, while others may need a strong forming product with a medium shine to help shape a stylish haircut. With so many styling products on the market, it can be a challenge choosing a quality cream.
To help you, we’ve compiled a list of the best hair creams for men. From American Crew to Layrite, explore these top-rated men’s hair styling cream products to find the right hold and shine for your needs.
Contents
- 1 13 Best Hair Styling Creams For Men
- 1.1 American Crew Forming Cream
- 1.2 Smooth Viking Forming Cream
- 1.3 Tea Tree Shaping Cream
- 1.4 Baxter of California Cream Pomade
- 1.5 Layrite Natural Matte Cream
- 1.6 Moroccanoil Hydrating Styling Cream
- 1.7 Redken Brews Cream Pomade
- 1.8 Jack Black Texture Cream
- 1.9 Living Proof No Frizz Nourishing Styling Cream
- 1.10 Bumble and Bumble Grooming Cream
- 1.11 R+Co High Dive Crème
- 1.12 Aveda Pure-Formance Grooming Cream
- 1.13 Malin+Goetz Styling Cream
- 2 How To Choose A Styling Cream
13 Best Hair Styling Creams For Men
American Crew Forming Cream
American Crew Forming Cream is one of the best hair styling creams for men who want to balance hold, shine and texture. If you’re constantly battling frizz and out-of-control hair, this ultra-rich formula will add moisture to help you tame and manage your style. The forming cream has a medium hold with medium shine that lets you style a natural or sleek look.
Its main ingredients are classic hair fixatives mixed with mineral oil that conditions and gives hair a healthy glow. The cream has a faint fragrance that is undetectable when it’s dried. American Crew Forming Cream is great for longer hairstyles that you can style loose or elegant.
- SIMILAR TO HAIR GEL: A moisture-rich cream gel...
- LIKE HAIR GEL FOR MEN: Works well when a textured...
- KEY BENEFIT: medium hold and medium shine....
Smooth Viking Forming Cream
Smooth Viking Forming Cream is a versatile cream for molding any hair type into a unique style. The cream has a strong hold that can withstand the elements and has a shine-free matte finish. This product is loaded with natural ingredients, like argan oil, Abyssinian seed oil, soybean oil, and beeswax that help hair retain moisture.
Your hair and scalp will also benefit from the hydrolyzed quinoa, which strengthens brittle hair, and the green tea extract, which supports new hair growth. The cream is easy to apply and doesn’t flake when dried. The non-scented formula makes it great for guys who are sensitive to smell.
- HIGH HOLD WITH MATTE FINISH FORMING CREAM: A hair...
- REJUVENATE YOUR DAMAGED HAIR: A forming cream with...
- NOURISH YOUR FOLLICLES: A naturally based blend...
Tea Tree Shaping Cream
Tea Tree Shaping Cream is ideal for guys who want to add definition to their curly or wavy hair without a sticky feel. It’s also recommended for short hairstyles such as spikes, crew cuts and messy styles that look better textured with a matte product. This high-hold cream has a matte finish that keeps your hair in place but leaves it moldable throughout the day.
The formula’s tea tree oil works as an antibacterial and antioxidant and heals itchy scalps and rejuvenates dry, lifeless hair. The cream has a refreshing herbal scent of mint, tea tree, and citrus that soothes and relaxes. If you want to feel as good as you look, know that this Paul Mitchell product is paraben-free and cruelty-free.
- Highest Quality Styling available
Baxter of California Cream Pomade
Baxter of California Cream Pomade is one of the most popular and top-rated styling creams on the market, offering the hold and shine of a pomade with the textured natural look of a matte product. This excellent cream pomade comes in a smooth consistency that applies easily and dries to create a soft, natural hold. This styling product will smooth thick, wavy and curly hair to style a refined, classic look that is pliable and touchable.
Baxter of California is known for its high-quality ingredients. Naturally-derived glycerin nourishes frizzy hair and increases manageability, and vegan candelilla wax pumps hair follicles with vitamin A and provides protection from the elements. Baxter of California Cream Pomade is a versatile hair product that will allow you to style all your favorite looks.
- Provides a lightweight hold.
- It is suitable for short to medium hair styles.
- Ideal for tousled looks.
Layrite Natural Matte Cream
Layrite Natural Matte Cream is a high-quality hair styling product, offering men with medium-length to longer haircuts the ability to create cool flowing styles. This lightweight product has a smooth texture that’s easily applied through damp or dry hair. This no-shine cream has a medium hold, and when applied to dry hair, it adds a firmer finish than it does to wet hair. The cream can be reactivated later in the day with water and finger-combed through.
The ingredients are a mixture of clays, waxes, and oils that protect hair and lock moisture in, and because it’s a water-based product, it washes out without a shampoo. The cream does have a dominant vanilla fragrance that most men say is masculine. But it may not be for you if you’re bothered by strong scents.
- Flexible, medium hold keeps your style in place...
- Lightweight formula won't weigh hair down
- Adds shape, definition and never flakes
Moroccanoil Hydrating Styling Cream
Morocacanoil Hydrating Styling Cream is a light hair product made with natural ingredients that will stop frizz and give you a stylish flow. Called a superfood for hair, argan oil moisturizes dry and damaged hair and restores scalp health. The cream is designed for all hair types, but it typically works best on thick, coarse, or wavy hair. The product adds shine and definition with a soft hold. For a firmer hold, use this hydrating cream to tame frizz and flyaway hairs first and then follow up with a pomade, clay or paste.
The natural scent is light and pleasant, deriving fragrance from the argan oil, which smells similar to olive oil. Moroccanoil Hydrating Styling Cream is a go-to product for guys who struggle to keep their hair under control in hot, humid conditions.
- Provides soft hold
- Adds definition and shine
- Eliminates frizz and hydrates hair
Redken Brews Cream Pomade
Redken Brews Cream Pomade is a volumizing styling product that offers control without weighing down hair. It has a medium hold with a low shine and adds texture and definition to any hairstyle. Thin hair will also benefit from the volumizing effect, which adds fullness so it’s easier to style. This clear hair cream doesn’t leave any sticky residue and washes out cleanly.
It’s a long-lasting hair product that will hold your style all day without a shellacked “helmet-head” look and feel. The ingredient formula is a blend of waxes, softeners, olive oil, and a slight fragrance from naturally occurring elements. Redken products are most often recommended by barbers for their high-quality and ability to give a professional finish.
- This wax gives an array of styling choice
- Mild, medium and maximum control products
Jack Black Texture Cream
Jack Black Texture Cream is a best-selling hair product for guys who want a strong hold and a sleek, well-groomed finish that lasts all day. This hair cream is especially effective on coarse, wavy, or dry hair because it has the holding power to keep flyaway and frizzy hairs down. This formula doesn’t just work to make your hair look good. This cream is made with natural ingredients such as olive fruit oil, rosemary extract, silk amino acids, and beetroot which work to nourish, strengthen and hydrate hair.
This product can also stimulate the scalp and hair follicles to promote new growth. Like all Jack Black products, this hair cream is cruelty-free and has no added fragrance. For a flexible hairstyle with an elegant finish, try Jack Black Texture Cream.
Living Proof No Frizz Nourishing Styling Cream
Living Proof No Frizz Nourishing Styling Cream is a high-quality product with a moisturizing formula, offering a natural and flexible finish for thick, wavy and curly hair. Great for minimizing frizz, this lightweight cream should be applied after shampooing, combed through, allowed to dry naturally and then styled. Its patented ingredients cling to hair strands and block humidity so hair stays hydrated and manageable. Men with thin hair love this cream because it doesn’t feel heavy.
All you need is a pea-sized amount to keep your hair smooth and under control. Living Proof cream is free of sulfates, phthalates, and parabens, and their products are never tested on animals. It does have a fragrance that is often described as masculine.
- Developed with patented OFPMA, an anti-frizz...
- Conditions and regulates frizzy, unmanageable hair...
- Maintains optimum moisture levels while...
Bumble and Bumble Grooming Cream
Bumble and Bumble Grooming Cream will bring life and luster back to dry and damaged hair. The product has a light hold for attaining a natural but polished look. With a low shine, this styling cream will leave your hair with a satin finish, offering a hairstyle that suits an elegant night out on the town. The cream conditions coarse, thick hair to a velvety softness, making it touchable and easy to style.
If you’re sensitive to scents, be assured that this hair product has a very light smell and will not overwhelm your senses. As a great option, Bumble and Bumble Grooming Cream has a non-greasy formula that can be applied to damp or dry hair for a long-lasting hold without stiffness.
- Offers natural definition and delicate hold
- Creates A Supple, Satiny Low-Shine Finish
- Ideal For Dry, Thick, Rough And Lack-Of-Texture...
R+Co High Dive Crème
R+Co High Dive Crème is a hydrating balm that will tame and soften dry hair while minimizing frizz and humidity. This cream doesn’t have any holding properties, but because it drenches hair with moisture, hair looks fuller and healthier. The product has a high-shine factor so it’s best for smooth and sleek hairstyles. Made with sodium PCA, sunflower seed extract, vitamin E, and provitamin B5, the formula will deliver deep hydration and infuse nutrients that will restore your hair’s natural shine.
Great for color-treated, processed, sun-damaged or dry hair, this moisturizing cream offers a smooth and textured natural look. R+Co High Dive Crème is a great pick for guys who struggle with cowlicks, flyaways and frizzy hair and need a cream product to keep their style under control and manageable.
- Smooth-textured looks
- Conditions to prevent damage
- Doubles as a leave-in conditioner
Aveda Pure-Formance Grooming Cream
Aveda Pure-Formance Grooming Cream hydrates hair and makes it easier to style. The cream has a medium hold and a natural shine that can be revitalized and restyled any time of day. The reason why this high-end product differs from other hair creams is its list of botanically derived ingredients.
Babassu oil and tamanu oil are rich in fatty acids that penetrate down to the hair follicles and provide necessary nutrients to keep hair healthy. Ursolic acid is an anti-inflammatory and soothes itchy scalps, but it also stimulates blood flow, which, in turn, promotes hair growth. Licorice root and rosemary extracts help prevent dandruff and also enhance new hair growth.
As a high-performance product, the Aveda Cream adds manageability to dry and damaged hair, but its powerhouse formula can add thickness and volume to fine or thinning hair as well.
- Modern styling cream adds pliable medium hold
- Adds control while maintaining a natural look
- Conditioning formula defines and moisturizes
Malin+Goetz Styling Cream
Malin+Goetz Styling Cream is a versatile styling product for guys who want to sport a natural, free-flowing hairstyle. Great for all hair types, this lightweight cream has a light hold, so it’s best for adding definition to curly or wavy hair. Its formula has four different oils that moisturize hair down to the follicles and repair split ends.
The ingredients include Shea butter, which infuses nutritious vitamins A and E to hair and adds moisture and shine. Shea butter is also known for healing skin and scalp irritations and preventing dandruff. The product is scented by its herbal oils, but the prevalent fragrance is sage. Light and easy to wear, the smell fades quickly after application.
Malin+Goetz is committed to creating ecologically sustainable hair products, and so, this styling cream is vegan and cruelty-free.
How To Choose A Styling Cream
Hold
The right styling cream will offer the perfect hold for your desired hairstyle. Cream products are generally light and easy to use with formulas that are not as heavy as gels, pomades and clays. Most hair creams offer a medium hold for a balanced style. These types allow for maximum versatility in shaping a hairstyle from a natural, soft look to a well-groomed and sophisticated appearance.
When it comes to strong hair products, a high-hold styling cream is great for adding texture and definition to short men’s hairstyles. For a flexible and soft style, a low-hold cream is suitable for adding moisture to dry hair, taming frizz and keeping flyaway hairs in place.
Texture
Styling creams are water-based and easy to apply and wash out. The cream’s other ingredients – oils, waxes, botanical extracts – affect its texture. A styling cream can have a thin or thick consistency that resembles hand lotion or a soft paste.
Scent
While most hair products have a scent, there are several quality styling creams that are great if you’re sensitive to fragrances. Some cream products have added fragrances that are chemically derived and cloying, while others are unisex and their scents can be feminine.
When it comes to the best styling creams on the market, we recommend fragrance-free options or products with a light scent that comes from moisturizing oils or botanical extracts.
Ingredients
The best styling creams will have high-quality ingredients that hydrate and nourish hair. Naturally occurring oils – such as argan, olive, sunflower – and Shea butter condition and moisturize dry hair. Some creams will have vitamins A and E or essential fatty acids that add shine and protection from extreme climate conditions.
You’ll want to avoid a styling cream that has petroleum, sulfates, phthalates, and silicone, which can lead to damaged hair and skin irritation. If animal testing is a concern for you, look for a styling products that are certified as cruelty-free.
