So, you’re thinking about that “men’s hair back” style, eh? Sounds straightforward. A bit of product, a comb, and you’re golden, looking like some movie star. That’s what I thought, anyway. Boy, was I wrong.
My first attempts? A complete disaster. I went through a whole catalogue of stuff. First, it was the super-hold gel, the kind that makes your hair feel like a helmet. It looked wet and crunchy. Not cool. Then I heard pomade was the secret. So I got some. Then I found out there’s water-based, oil-based, clay, paste… My bathroom shelf started looking like a science experiment gone wrong. One made my hair greasy as a frying pan, another just gave up after an hour.
And don’t get me started on “training” your hair. My barber at the time, some young guy, told me, “You just gotta train it, man.” Train it? I’m trying to style my hair, not teach a dog new tricks! It felt like I was fighting a losing battle every single morning. My hair just wanted to do its own thing, usually flopping right back into my eyes.
How I Ended Up in This Hairy Mess
You’re probably wondering why I’m getting so worked up over a hairstyle. It’s just hair, right? Well, let me tell you, this whole “hair back” adventure got pretty intense for me. It all kicked off after I quit this job I absolutely hated. You know the type, where they promise you the world but then suck the life out of you for peanuts. I walked out of there feeling drained but also kind of… free. And I decided I needed a total reset, a new look to go with my new, hopefully less soul-destroying, chapter in life.
I saw all these guys, looking sharp and put-together with their hair slicked back or neatly combed back. It looked confident. Powerful. I wanted a piece of that. So, I dived in. I watched countless videos, probably spent a small fortune on different goops and sprays. Each morning, I’d stand in front of the mirror, armed with a comb and a ton of hope. And each morning, my hair would just laugh in my face. One side would stick out weirdly, the other would collapse. I’d spend ages, getting more and more frustrated, sometimes cussing under my breath, only to end up looking like I’d just survived a small explosion.
My wife, bless her, she tried. She’d look at my latest attempt and say, “Oh, that’s… an interesting style today, honey.” Interesting was not the goal! I was getting genuinely stressed out by it. It felt like if I couldn’t even get my damn hair to do what I wanted, what could I control?
The Old Barber’s Wisdom
Finally, I was about to give up. Just shave it all off, maybe. Then, on a whim, I walked into this really old-school barbershop. The kind your grandpa would go to. The barber was this older fella, probably seen every hairstyle come and go twice.
He took one look at my hair, then at the picture I showed him, and just chuckled. He said, “Son, your hair has its own ideas. And you’re using all the wrong stuff for your hair type. You’re fighting it, not working with it.”
No fancy talk, no upselling expensive products. He gave me a slightly different cut, showed me a really simple technique with just one type of fairly cheap pomade. He explained that with my hair’s thickness and a stubborn cowlick I have on the crown, a super slicked-back look was always going to be a daily war. But a more relaxed, combed-back style? Doable.
And you know what? It actually started to work. It wasn’t perfect, not like those magazine pictures, but it was neat, it stayed back for the most part, and it didn’t look like I was wearing a plastic cap. It felt like a huge win.
So, yeah, I can get my hair back now, most days. It’s still a bit of a negotiation, especially with that cowlick. But that whole saga taught me a couple of things. Sometimes, the simplest way is the best way. And sometimes, you just gotta work with what you’ve got instead of trying to force things, whether it’s your hair or, well, other stuff in life. And for God’s sake, ask someone who really knows their stuff instead of just flailing around on your own. All that stress, all that product… for hair. But looking back, it was never just about the hair, was it?
