Confession time: are you satisfied with your hair?

Most guys aren’t, whether they’ll come clean about it or not. Depending on the type of hair you’ve got, styling and conditioning can lead to trouble. Too much conditioner and your hair has the greasy, limp look rocked by Milton in Office Space. Not enough and you’ve got the dead tumbleweed look you see on folk singers of the 1970s.

The brand name shampoos and conditioners you buy in stores are all made for the general population. Like cheesy pop music, they’re meant to be safe for everyone. Huge international companies spend millions of dollars paying scientists to create hair care products that won’t offend or harm anyone. In other words, their stuff is the lowest common denominator.

Now, if you’re not subjecting your ears to cheesy pop music, why should your hair be a victim to the lowest common denominator?

Your hair should ideally be washed and cleaned with hair care products that work with your body’s methods of protecting and nurturing your hair already. Your scalp and hair follicles produce oils that work to lubricate and protect all the hair on your head (that’s why your hair feels oily when you don’t wash it – your body works regardless of whether you clean it or not.). Conventional shampoos and conditioners strip away the body’s natural oils, leaving your hair cleaned but vulnerable to the elements. The chemicals inside these "cleaners" can actually damage your hair, too, so that while the hair looks clean it’s in worse shape than when you started. Dry scalp – that itching, dead skin feeling you get at the roots of your hairs that you hope isn’t dandruff – results from your hair getting strip-mined of its natural defenses.

An upper line shampoo, like those made from Baxter’s of California or Sharp’s, gently cleans the scalp while basically fertilizing the hair follicles and oil producing glands. The result is hair that’s balanced without being stripped of its essential working parts or overfed oil and lubricants that leave you Milton-fied.

The best conditioners build on the foundation laid by a good shampoo, creating flexibility in your hair that makes it easier to manage. Conditioners made by upper line producers like Woody’s use ingredients such as tea oil and other botanical extracts to give your entire head of hair equal strength and texture. Others, like Anthony Logistics and Billy Jealousy, combine many different types of natural ingredients such as jojoba, wheat oil an cocoa butter. Each one is a proven antidote to stress caused by heat, pollution, and normal wear and tear from wind and air conditioning.

Styling gels and conditioners play the same role in hair maintenance and development as shampoos and conditioners. You can follow the same strategies in selecting the best brand, such as Woody’s Mega Firm Gel. These custom-engineered gels contain no alcohol (which is a bad for your hair as for your liver) and even a special sunscreen to keep the UV damage off your scalp. Getting control of your hair and making it last is a big step towards ultimate grooming, and a great means of looking your best.