diff --git a/news/4433.feature b/news/4433.feature
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..29b16a168f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/4433.feature
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Global options are not shown for subcommands unless explicitly requested with
+`--verbose`.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pip/basecommand.py b/pip/basecommand.py
index 510b032381e..266d3d71542 100644
--- a/pip/basecommand.py
+++ b/pip/basecommand.py
@@ -59,11 +59,11 @@ def __init__(self, isolated=False):
         self.cmd_opts = optparse.OptionGroup(self.parser, optgroup_name)
 
         # Add the general options
-        gen_opts = cmdoptions.make_option_group(
+        self.gen_opts = cmdoptions.make_option_group(
             cmdoptions.general_group,
             self.parser,
         )
-        self.parser.add_option_group(gen_opts)
+        self.parser.add_option_group(self.gen_opts)
 
     def _build_session(self, options, retries=None, timeout=None):
         session = PipSession(
@@ -105,6 +105,26 @@ def parse_args(self, args):
         # factored out for testability
         return self.parser.parse_args(args)
 
+    def print_help(self, verbose=False):
+        """
+        Process 'help <command>' and '<command> --help' to hide global
+        options unless --verbose flag is specified.
+
+        'pip --help' is handled separately by pip.__init__.parseopt()
+        """
+        if verbose:
+            self.parser.print_help()
+        else:
+            # remove General Options group and restore after print
+            saveepy = self.parser.epilog
+            saveogr = self.parser.option_groups  # it is a list
+            self.parser.epilog = "\nAdd '-v' flag to show general "\
+                                 "options.\n"
+            self.parser.option_groups.remove(self.gen_opts)
+            self.parser.print_help()
+            self.parser.epilog = saveepy
+            self.parser.option_groups = saveogr
+
     def main(self, args):
         options, args = self.parse_args(args)
 
@@ -126,6 +146,10 @@ def main(self, args):
         if options.log:
             root_level = "DEBUG"
 
+        if options.help:
+            self.print_help(options.verbose)
+            sys.exit(0)
+
         logging.config.dictConfig({
             "version": 1,
             "disable_existing_loggers": False,
diff --git a/pip/cmdoptions.py b/pip/cmdoptions.py
index 3f9db5ba5ad..1c06535d9d5 100644
--- a/pip/cmdoptions.py
+++ b/pip/cmdoptions.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def getname(n):
     Option,
     '-h', '--help',
     dest='help',
-    action='help',
+    action='store_true',
     help='Show help.')
 
 isolated_mode = partial(
diff --git a/pip/commands/help.py b/pip/commands/help.py
index e897427d892..98352151ef9 100644
--- a/pip/commands/help.py
+++ b/pip/commands/help.py
@@ -31,6 +31,6 @@ def run(self, options, args):
             raise CommandError(' - '.join(msg))
 
         command = commands_dict[cmd_name]()
-        command.parser.print_help()
+        command.print_help()
 
         return SUCCESS