Reddit mentions of FINGER LOVE Handmade Carved 3-Prong Wooden Hairpin vintage Chopsticks Chinese Decorative Accessory Hair Stick Rosewood

It's okay. It's really nice to see a dude with long hair who doesn't leave it dirty and greasy, lol! Not a dig at you. I'm just so tired of seeing dudes like, grow out hair and then not fucking wash it. Why?

The sideburns are a little messy, but that's covered in other comments. The nape of your neck has a lot of baby hairs, but they're all in a really uniform length... Do you cut them that way? It could be breakage from the hair band, so you might want to switch to a hair stick or a comb like this or this to prevent that if your hair tends to break. If you cut it that way... stop it.

The frizz and flyaways could be from static or dryness. There's some non static combs. You can go high grade or low grade. For dryness, you can try a leave in conditioner, but I don't know what dudes put in their hair, so I don't have any real recommendations.

Have you tried large hair sticks or large combs. My hair is super thick too and I pull it in a lose ponytail at my crown and then pin it in a bun because apparently I'm not the only person who worries about my hairline lol.

I've bought these and had good luck.

I've always used U shaped bobby pins. The other kind almost always cause me trouble. They look like this. Rather than pinching the hair into place, it works more like a hair stick and uses gentle leverage to keep locks where they belong. Even before I started CGM, I found they disrupted my curl pattern less and reduce breakage or pulled hairs.

There are also screw pins which are a lot more gentle. They look like this. I haven't tried them yet, but they serve a similar purpose of using gentle leverage and friction to hold hair in place rather than gripping like regular bobby pins do.

Regardless of what you use to get your hair out of your face, there's still the matter of the hair being stretched. To minimize stress on my upper layers, I don't put my hair up the same way twice in a row. One day I'll wear a wide cloth headband. The next, I'll gently gather it into a clip. Another day, I'll wear a handmade wood or bone comb. Mine looks a little like this, but smaller. I also like the ones that are U shaped like the bobby pins. In fact, I like the 2 prong combs better than the pins. I buy a lot of handmade items like that made out of wood, bone, and leather such as the hair stick barrettes. The point is to change it up to keep the same hair from being stretched in the same way every day.

The worst thing I did was putting it up while it was still damp or wet. Even root clipping for extra body during my regular styling routine has given me trouble. I have to take the clips out before my hair dries completely at the roots because my hair shrinks as it dries and starts to pull. If the hair is bound while it is wet, it can dry stretched to it's maximum which can cause permanent damage, especially if done daily. Even if your hair is completely dry, make sure you're not puling it too tight.

So basically, play with your hair and allow yourself to have some variety. And wear it down as often as you can. I'll often throw it in a claw clip to buy groceries, but take it out as soon as I get in the car to go home. My new favorite way to get it out of my face is a wide cloth headband, though. Someone gave me a couple of what they call neck gators last year, and I've come to appreciate them a lot more since I started CG for getting hair out of my face.