M49, I tend to go a bit long between haircuts which is on me, but I seem to have a really hard time explaining that I want short hair, like 20mm / 3/4"
I usually ask for a #2 clipper on the back and sides, (which works fine), then take as much as they off the top so I can still brush it straight up, preferably too short to grab onto.
Basically a cigar butt with eyes, shut up it works for me.
Even indicating with thumb and finger, this somehow gets interpreted as just barely trimming the tips off and painstakingly shaping the surface, barely affecting the overall quantity of hair.
How’s that for length?
What no, get in there with fire and the sword, wreak devastation, I want all of this gone.
:carefully trims another quarter inch off:
It’s not just one guy, not just one place, so I am obviously using wrong and misleading words.
How do I ask for the thing I want?
Basically a cigar butt with eyes, shut up it works for me.
I was not planning to comment (i am no better) but even if I was, this line pretty much disabled me for straight 5 minutes.
I’m a ROFLcopter now…
Are you going to a sports clip or a great clips type establishment? Where you get a new hairdresser every time? That can be part of the problem.
I would constantly get hit or miss cuts until I found a guy who rented a chair in an independent hair cut place. Always going to Joe for my haircuts means he’s more in tune to what I need/want done and the consistency has been well worth the slight uptick in cost.
Maybe it’s that you’re asking for a style that’s “unfashionable” or atypical for someone with your look so the hairdresser is second-guessing you know what you’re asking for. I bet a lot of the time they try instructions as vague as “make it shorter and look good”. They’ll err on the side of leaving it s bit long knowing they can always take a bit more off and sneak up to the desired length when it’s beyond what the normal style is.
Just get it to the length you want, then ask the hairdresser what it’s called/how to describe it and take a couple of pictures as well and you should be set for next time.
Back in the day you would have asked for a flattop.
You could always save a picture to your phone and then ask them to do that. They’ll probably still ask if the length is alright but it’s up to you to instruct them from there.
I always had this issue too, any time I decided to go short. Conversely if I just wanted to clean it up while growing my hair out, they’d usually go too short.
Highly recommend looking up a guide from a hair cutting chain. From the sounds of it you want a crewcut ~20mm 3/4", “blend the sides” so that it transitions well, they might ask what size to buzz the side, you can just say “shorter than the top”. Crew cut will give you the longest time between haircuts as well, take notes of the actual length or clip size so you can be more precise next time. https://www.greatclips.com/lookbook/crew-haircut
I’ll also drop this in case it helps:
Cool thanks, and I think I even have the correct column for my shape!
It is tough. Apparently some of my haircutters think I look best like ….
This tracks, except which world does the author of this graphic live in where triangles are shaped that way?
Lol, right? That’s an egg, or better yet, one of the Oblongs.
Gives a new meaning to egghead, eh?
you can just say “shorter than the top”.
does this mean anything, though?
I mean, could someone even possibly say “longer than the top” and be taken seriously?
(And no, no no, stop right there----don’t even think of reminding me that mullets exist.)
You can also have a seamless transition, multiple varieties of the fade or a tapered cut. High end barbers also shave art into side of the head. Lots of different options, but generally people do fades.
maybe I’m too much of an engineering brain, but I just want to cry when they put fingers in my hair and ask “about this long”?
Like, I know it’s not a rocket science but come on, that’s like 800% error bar.
Once, a lady had enough emotional intelligence to explain herself whether she meant “cut above the finger” or “leave below the finger”. I will never go to any other hairdresser (luckily she’s much younger than me so we could actually pull it off). I ain’t got time for these axe throwers.
π=5 for most hairdressers
Of all the things you could want your haircut to be, it’s precise?
forget the hair, but the questions must be precise and well-formed :D
seriously (ish), if the hairdresser holds my hair 2cm away from the skin and asks if this length is ok, and their finger is like 2cm thick, i don’t know if they mean 2 or 4.
Ah okay, I follow now!
I never figured out the secret and just cut my own hair now.
There is no true answer to the Tao of hair. I gave up and went around to hair dressers and said "Do whatever you like " until I found the one who made me look good. Now my hair looks amazing like 95% of the time and the remaining 5% is the occasional “just trying a thing” that becomes a temporary conversion piece.
I realized I do not actually know what I want. To believe such was mearly ego. I am going to people who have better trained aesthetic sensibilities, why should I, someone who has no sensibility direct them? I am but a canvas, a scruffy Tabula Rasa.
The DIY though is undoubtedly more cost effective…
Get the same hairdresser every time, explain it once. The next time you can say “same thing as last time”. Maybe some small corrections here and there, but I never have to explain my wishes anymore.
Just keep going to the same guy, he’ll eventually remember you and what it takes to make you happy
Even better, find a picture of what you want, keep it on your phone, and show it to your barber
Or take a photo of your own haircut when it’s done the way you want. Or even if it’s not the way you want, so you can show the barber and tell them that you don’t want that, and how you want it to be different.
Quicker to do it yourself, or find a friend or family member who will listen. I cut my own hair and my son’s.
Back when I liked my hair short, I would use a Wahl clipper with no attachment on the back and sides, and the largest attachment on top. Just adjust that per your needs.
The only barber that was ever able to cut my insane hair passed away after an unsuccessful liver transplant and it was at that point I purchased my own professional clippers.
Having bad haircuts my whole life until I found her is literally a point of trauma that I’ve not recovered from and I’m 49 years old now.
i used to just say the millimeters i want and tell them to only use clippers. no blades. no scissors.
but i switched to one length overall and since covid i got my own clipper and do it myself. if the clipper is good it takes like 5 minutes.
it takes 5 minutes
And doesn’t require a trip out. And eliminates the ongoing cost of haircuts.
Stop explaining shit. Show them a fucking picture. They’re artists more than engineers, they’re visual/spatial people. Find a picture online of what you want. Once you’ve gotten a really good, absolutely chefs’ kiss prefect cut, take a picture each of all four sides and the top, then start showing barbers those instead.
I usually clarify that it’s been a very long time and I want it all gone.
