Laziness Works
This is a ridiculous thing to an adult man who wears Chacos with regularity to write.
However, I have been asked by friends, partners, and nearly every barber for the past 10 years for my routine, with repeatable results...so might as well share.
I have great hair. This is not intentional, but is a wonderful side effect of laziness. You don't have to buy a million products or spend a ton of money. In fact...you will spend less.
How to do it
Stop using shampoo and conditioner. Immediately. #nopoo
Shampoo is fucking terrible for your hair and creates a viscous cycle of depleting and replenishing your hair's natural oils...so like...stop that.
I have used shampoo 1-2x per year on average for the past 13 years. I will never go back. When I was in college I came across a blog post that extolled the benefits of eliminating shampoo and conditioner...and here I am. It worked.
If you have had a life time of using hair poison - this will suck. Go 30 days without shampoo or conditioner. Stay strong. You will feel greasy. After 30 days - wash your hair with diluted baking soda (1 tbsp to 1 cup of water), rinse w/1:2 diluted apple cider vinegar solution and relish the fact that your hair is now amazing.
You are welcome.
Depending on your personal chemistry - you may find it necessary to wash 1-2x per month with above baking soda/ACV shampoo combo.
As mentioned before, I am lazy. It works for me. If you want to go deep, there is (of course) an impassioned community on reddit for you to dig deep on.
Heavy Fish Oil + Collagen Supplementation
Healthy stair starts from the inside. And not in some obscure existential bullshit type of way. Good hair comes from good diet. Given that a perfect diet is hard, let's make it easy on yourself...get a high quality fish oil supplement and consume 2-4 grams of fish oil per day. This is more than you think. But trust me. Also - there are significant health benefits reported at these dosages. To be clear, this would be 4-8x of your standard 500mg capsules. It's a lot.
Collagen is what skin companies don't want you to learn about so they can keep selling you baby foreskins at astronomical prices. You aren't getting enough in your diet and it will have significant impact on the quality of your hair, skin, and nails...let alone help keep those joints healthy! Take once per day. I like to use a little hot water to mix it up and slam it...but put it in your coffee/shakes/whatever.
Stop using so many fucking products
I feel this is easier said than done, but you will get far better results through simply reducing the shit are putting on your hair everyday. Eat better, use light amounts of healthy, clean oils, and let it ride.
Don't overthink it.
Stop having shitty hair.
I guarantee that this works in 30 days or less, or your money back, or something.
Thanks for attending my TED talk.