16 Vintage Ads Of Hair Products For Men In The 1970s

The 1970s were glorious for men’s hair. Not subtle. Not quiet. Not “just a little trim around the ears, please.” This was the decade when sideburns expanded like ambitious real estate projects, Afros became statements of pride and style, blow-dried volume gained swagger, and the mustache started acting like it paid rent. Naturally, the ads kept up. Vintage hair product ads for men in the 1970s sold more than grooming goo in a bottle or a can. They sold confidence, masculinity, cool, rebellion, polish, and the deeply American dream of looking amazing with very little effort.

What makes these old ads so fascinating is that they capture a culture in motion. Some campaigns still pushed the old clean-cut ideal: neat hair, firm hold, zero nonsense, probably a man in a blazer looking as if he had strong opinions about cuff links. Others embraced the decade’s looser energy, promising natural movement, touchable texture, athlete-approved control, or Black pride expressed through hair worn boldly and beautifully. In other words, 1970s men’s hair product ads were part mirror, part megaphone. They reflected the times, then shouted at those times through a cloud of hairspray.

Why 1970s Men’s Hair Ads Still Matter

These ads matter because they show how grooming changed from a small routine into identity theater. Earlier men’s grooming ads often leaned heavily on discipline and office-ready neatness. By the 1970s, the message widened. Men could still be polished, sure, but now they could also be athletic, sexy, funky, fashionable, or defiantly themselves. That shift is why the decade produced such a weirdly entertaining parade of ad styles: slick jars, sporty sprays, anti-dandruff hero shots, gradual gray coverage, and products aimed at Black men whose hair had long been underserved or misunderstood by mainstream beauty marketing.

So here are 16 vintage ad styles, campaigns, and product personalities that defined the scene. Think of this as a guided tour through the bathroom cabinets, barbershops, magazine spreads, and television spots of 1970s America.

16 Vintage Ads Of Hair Products For Men In The 1970s

1. Brylcreem and the Last Stand of Glossy Control

Brylcreem entered the 1970s like a veteran movie star who refused to leave the party. It had long been associated with shiny, disciplined hair, and that image still appealed to men who wanted their part straight, their comb handy, and their dignity fully moisturized. In vintage ads, Brylcreem represented the old-school promise that a man could look tidy, adult, and absolutely unruffled. Even as trends loosened up, Brylcreem kept selling the dream of smooth control. If the decade flirted with chaos, Brylcreem was the product muttering, “Let’s all calm down and use a little grooming cream.”

2. Brylcreem’s Dry-Look Makeover

But the 1970s did not reward brands that stood perfectly still. As men’s hair grew longer, fuller, and less lacquered, classic grooming brands had to adapt. That is why Brylcreem’s later messaging became more compatible with the era’s drier, more natural-looking styles. The vibe changed from “helmet but make it handsome” to “controlled, but not suspiciously shellacked.” This shift is fascinating because it shows a legacy brand trying to stay relevant in a decade obsessed with movement, volume, and hair that looked styled rather than merely subdued.

3. Vitalis and the Great Generational Breakup

One of the smartest transitions into the era came from Vitalis. A late-1960s ad headline, “You don’t have your father’s head,” perfectly foreshadowed the early 1970s mood. Men wanted different hair from the previous generation, and advertisers knew it. That line worked because it did not just sell tonic. It sold distance from Dad. It sold youth, looseness, and a little healthy disrespect for the old rules. Vintage Vitalis ads often played right on that line between traditional grooming and younger self-expression, which made them especially good at surfing the cultural wave instead of getting smacked by it.

4. Vitalis Dry Control and the Athlete Endorsement Era

By the 1970s, men’s hair ads were leaning harder into sports credibility. Suddenly grooming was not just about looking neat for date night or work. It was about performance, energy, and masculine legitimacy. Vitalis Dry Control ads featuring basketball star Pete Maravich are a great example. The pitch was simple and clever: if an athlete known for flash, movement, and flair trusted the product, then it must be manly enough for regular guys too. It was grooming with a jump shot. And honestly, that is very 1970s advertising behavior.

5. Consort and the Rise of Hairspray for Men

If you want one product that screams, “Yes, men absolutely used hairspray and did not want to talk about it too much,” it is Consort. This brand understood that a lot of guys wanted hold without the feeling that they were borrowing something from their sister’s vanity. Its 1970 ad record promoting an unscented formula is especially telling. Unscented was not just a feature. It was a reassurance. The product could help you manage your hair without announcing itself with a floral fog bank. Consort knew the male grooming market wanted control, but preferably with plausible deniability.

6. Consort Shampoo and the Professional Barbershop Angle

Another clever move from Consort was its push into barbershop credibility. A 1971 ad record announcing “Consort introduces the profitable shampoo” was not merely speaking to consumers. It was speaking to the trade. That matters because 1970s grooming culture still depended heavily on barbers and stylists as tastemakers. If a product looked professional enough for the chair, it carried extra authority at home. These ads remind us that men’s hair care was becoming a more specialized category, with brands trying to own every step of the routine, from wash to finish.

7. Consort Men’s Hair Fashions and the Full Commitment to Style

Perhaps the funniest and most revealing Consort-era move was a 1971 ad entry called “Consort men’s hair fashions.” Just pause and appreciate that phrase. Men’s hair fashions. Not hair maintenance. Not grooming basics. Fashions. That tells you everything you need to know about the decade. Hair was no longer a side detail. It was a headline. The ad world had accepted that men were not simply keeping their hair under control; they were styling it on purpose. The 1970s turned the male head into a billboard for personal identity, and Consort showed up with a spray can and confidence.

8. Alberto VO5 and the Hollywood Conditioner Fantasy

Alberto VO5 carried a polished aura into the decade thanks to its roots as a conditioning hairdressing created to offset the harsh conditions of Hollywood sound stages. That origin story was catnip for advertising. It let the brand position itself as glamorous but useful, technical but stylish. In a decade when men wanted hair with shine, health, and movie-star texture, VO5 sounded like a cheat code. The brand’s appeal was especially strong for guys who wanted grooming to feel sophisticated without becoming fussy. It was not only about hold; it was about healthy-looking hair that suggested you owned more than one blazer.

9. VO5 Shampoo and the Expansion of Men’s Hair Care

The 1970s were not just about styling products. Shampoo became part of the identity story too. Retail listings from the era show VO5 shampoo right there in the men’s grooming mix, which makes sense. Once hair became more expressive, the wash stage mattered more. Men with longer styles, blow-dried volume, layered cuts, or textured looks needed products that promised clean hair without flattening the vibe. VO5 helped normalize the idea that men could care about hair condition, softness, and manageability without giving up their masculine credentials. The bathroom shelf was becoming a little more crowded, and a little more honest.

10. Head & Shoulders and the Anti-Dandruff Anxiety Machine

No decade-specific look at men’s hair ads is complete without dandruff panic. Head & Shoulders thrived because it addressed one of the most effective advertising fears ever invented: what if people see flakes on your jacket and immediately assume your life is falling apart? The brand’s long-standing anti-dandruff identity fit perfectly with a culture that cared deeply about first impressions. In vintage ads, this category often leaned into subtle embarrassment. The promise was not just a clean scalp. It was social rescue. Smooth suit, nice smile, no flakes. Sometimes the most dramatic 1970s grooming ad was the one saving your dark blazer.

11. Head & Shoulders and the “New Formula, New Fragrance” Upgrade

By the mid-1970s, even practical hair products were getting a style refresh. Retail and commercial records from the era show Head & Shoulders promoting a new formula and new fragrance while still emphasizing dandruff control. That is classic 1970s marketing logic: yes, solve the problem, but also make the solution feel modern. The era loved novelty. New fragrance made a medicated product sound less clinical and more lifestyle-friendly. It was the grooming equivalent of putting a disco ball in the pharmacy aisle. Same mission, shinier shoes.

12. Grecian Formula and the Gentle War on Gray

Then there was Grecian Formula, the patron saint of men who wanted to look “rested” without admitting to hair color. Its ads sold gradual change rather than dramatic transformation. That subtlety mattered. For many men, especially in the 1970s, vanity had to be packaged as common sense. Grecian Formula promised control over aging without the social risk of obviously dyed hair. The whole product concept was a masterpiece of masculine advertising: not beauty, just maintenance; not insecurity, just smart grooming; not coloring, just easing time into a less visible chair.

13. Afro Sheen and the Beauty of Black Pride

Afro Sheen was far more than a hair product. It belonged to a broader cultural movement that linked style, dignity, and Black self-definition. Johnson Products built Afro Sheen during a period when the Afro became a powerful expression of pride and identity, and that gave the brand’s advertising a different kind of energy. These ads were not merely saying, “Buy this to look tidy.” They were saying, “Your natural hair deserves care, shine, and celebration.” In the landscape of 1970s men’s grooming ads, that made Afro Sheen feel bigger, richer, and far more culturally meaningful than the average can on the shelf.

14. Ultra Sheen and the Business of Serving Black Men

Alongside Afro Sheen, Johnson Products’ Ultra Sheen reflected an important truth about the market: Black men were not an afterthought, even if mainstream advertising often acted that way. Johnson Products had roots in serving African American male hair care needs, and its success helped prove that this audience was substantial, loyal, and culturally influential. The ads tied grooming to confidence and polish, but they also represented something larger in American business history. When a company built around Black hair care achieved public-market success, the ad pages carried more than commerce. They carried proof.

15. Soul Train Cool by Association

Afro Sheen and Johnson Products also benefited from something that most hair brands would have sold their executive parking spots to achieve: cultural cool. The company’s sponsorship of Soul Train connected its products with music, dance, movement, and unmistakable style. In 1970s America, that was golden. Even if an ad did not literally show the dance floor, the association was already there. Grooming became part of an atmosphere: rhythm, confidence, swagger, and immaculate hair under studio lights. That is the kind of brand halo marketers dream about and historians love to point at later with envy.

16. The Real Product Was Confidence

Underneath all the jars, sprays, tonics, shampoos, and color formulas, most of these ads were selling the same thing: confidence. The exact style changed depending on the audience. For some men it meant sleek control. For others it meant natural texture, athlete-approved hold, flake-free shoulders, younger-looking hair, or hair that aligned with pride and cultural identity. But the emotional pitch stayed remarkably consistent. Use this product, the ads said, and your hair will stop being a problem and start being part of your story. That message powered a huge amount of 1970s grooming advertising, and frankly, modern grooming brands are still borrowing from the playbook.

What These Ads Tell Us About the 1970s

The biggest lesson from these vintage men’s hair product ads is that 1970s masculinity was more flexible than people sometimes assume. Yes, the decade had plenty of macho posturing. But it also made room for men to care openly about texture, shine, scent, fashion, image, and aging. Ads that once would have sounded almost apologetic became more direct and more stylish. Men could blow-dry, condition, spray, color, and anti-flake their way through the week while still being marketed as rugged, athletic, professional, or effortlessly cool.

That is why these ads remain so entertaining. They are full of contradictions in the best possible way. Tough but moisturized. Natural but carefully managed. Casual but very obviously styled. Independent, yet deeply concerned about what strangers think of your shoulders. Vintage men’s hair ads from the 1970s reveal a culture that was expanding its definition of what male grooming could be. And they do it with marvelous sincerity. Nobody in those ads thought they were being ironic. The sideburns were serious. The volume was serious. The promise of improved romantic prospects through proper hair management? Extremely serious.

Experiences and Memories Related to 1970s Men’s Hair Product Ads

What really gives these 1970s men’s hair product ads their staying power is the way they still feel familiar, even to people who never lived through the decade. Maybe it is the body language. Maybe it is the studio lighting. Maybe it is the universal human hope that a single bottle can fix not only your hair, but also your mood, your social life, and possibly your standing in the world. That part never goes out of style. The 1970s simply did it with wider collars and more dramatic sideburns.

For people who grew up around fathers, uncles, older brothers, or neighborhood barbers in that era, these products often come wrapped in memory. A medicine cabinet with a metal can of hairspray. A jar of cream with the lid slightly sticky. A glass bottle of tonic that smelled sharp, clean, and unmistakably adult. The ritual mattered. Hair was combed before church, before dates, before job interviews, before family photos, before going out on a Friday night in a shirt with enough polyester to start a small electrical storm. Grooming was routine, but it was also performance. A man getting ready in the mirror was rehearsing the version of himself he wanted the world to meet.

Barbershops were part of that experience too. They were showrooms, advice centers, comedy clubs, and neighborhood bulletin boards all at once. Products moved from ad page to counter to customer through trust. A guy might see something in a magazine, but he often believed it only after hearing a barber say, “Yeah, this one actually works.” That is one reason the ads aimed so hard at both professionals and consumers. The brands knew that style was social. Hair was never just about the person in the mirror. It was about the people who noticed, complimented, judged, or copied the look afterward.

There is also something charming about the optimism in those ads. They believed hair could communicate everything: youth, authority, rebellion, reliability, sex appeal, sophistication, even cultural pride. A modern viewer might laugh at some of the phrasing or at the very serious men posing beside very shiny hair. But the emotional logic is still easy to recognize. Everyone wants to feel put together. Everyone wants the outside to match the inside, or at least improve the odds. The 1970s hair ad just said it louder, with more aerosol.

And then there is the nostalgia factor, which is powerful even when the style itself was objectively ridiculous. A feathered cut, a mustache with major ambitions, an Afro picked to perfection, or a carefully managed wave under fluorescent bathroom light can instantly pull people back into old houses, old songs, old family stories, and old versions of themselves. The ads survive because they are little time capsules of aspiration. They remind us that grooming is never only about hair. It is about mood, era, identity, class, race, age, and the eternal hope that this time, finally, the comb will cooperate.

In that sense, 1970s men’s hair product ads are not just fun design relics. They are portraits of what men were told they could be, and what many of them wanted to try becoming. Some wanted to look sharper. Some wanted to look younger. Some wanted to look freer. Some wanted hair that reflected changing cultural values rather than older rules. Whether the promise came in the form of Brylcreem, Vitalis, Consort, VO5, Head & Shoulders, Afro Sheen, Ultra Sheen, or Grecian Formula, the real pitch was always transformation. Maybe not total transformation. Just enough to walk out the door feeling like your hair, for once, was on your side.

Conclusion

Vintage men’s hair product ads from the 1970s are funny, stylish, revealing, and much smarter than they first appear. They documented a decade when male grooming became more expressive, more segmented, and more culturally loaded. From slick legacy creams to athlete-backed sprays, from dandruff-control confidence to Black hair care brands tied to pride and visibility, these ads show how closely hair and identity were linked. They also prove a timeless truth: if advertisers think your hair can make you cooler, younger, sexier, or more successful, they will absolutely print that claim in bold type and hand it to a man with magnificent sideburns.