Your layering game can be impeccable, your sneakers box fresh and your outerwear on-point, but it will all be for naught if your hair won’t behave.

Of course, simply wandering into the barbers with a tear-out of David Beckham won’t fix a double crown that leaves you looking like you styled your hair by sticking your finger in a socket.

Instead, you need to deploy the right tools to whip the wildest manes into line. To find out what you’re fighting against, and the best fix, we tapped London’s best barbers to guide you through the follicular fog.

The Problem: Cowlicks

The cow’s contribution to your look should be as a jacket, not a hair stylist. These swirls of hair grow against the direction you want to style it in, creating the whorls that cow’s tongues imprint on their calves, and which stick up when everything else lies flat.

Though most common at the crown, they can appear anywhere to taunt your hair wax’s claimed effectiveness.

The Fix: Go With The Flow

Slicking on hair products won’t help, so know when to beat a tactical treat. “Choose the right hairstyle to embrace the natural direction of your hair,” says Ruffians creative director Denis Robinson. If your cowlick sticks up from the back of your head, a switched-on groomsman will cut it short, then sweep the hair in that direction.

“It all depends where your cowlick is,” says Robinson. “If it’s at the crown, ask your barber to keep more length there to help weigh it down. If it’s the front that’s unruly, a longer fringe has the same taming effect. If you’re more Vin Diesel than Poldark, a buzz cut is equally effective.”

The Problem: Unruly Side Parting

You spent the weekend bingeing on 1920s period dramas, and now you’re convinced a Great Gatsby side parting is just the dapper touch needed for your new smart-casual ensemble.