Men's hairstyles

Choose by hair first, then time, then face

Most men's haircuts are chosen from a photograph and regretted within a fortnight, because the man in the photograph had different hair. Three questions do the real choosing, and they go in this order.

What your hair does on its own. Straight, wavy, curly or coily, thick or fine, and whether it is thinning anywhere. This decides more than anything else, because a cut that fights your hair will lose every morning. A quiff needs hair that holds height. Curtains need hair that falls from a parting. Coily hair will do neither without a fight, and fine hair at length goes flat. The hairstyles by hair type page sorts every style here by what it needs.

How much time you will genuinely give it. Two kinds of time, and people only think about one. There is the morning, where a buzz cut takes nothing, a slick back takes a comb and product, a quiff takes a hair dryer. And there is the barber, where a skin fade looks grown out in two weeks, a scissor-cut short back and sides lasts six. Be honest about both.

Face shape, last. It matters less than most guides suggest, and mainly for styles that add height or width. Height at the front lengthens a face, which helps a round one and does a long one no favours. Width at the sides does the opposite. Beyond that, choose on hair and time.

The five families

Nineteen styles sounds like a lot. Almost all of them are variations on five ideas, and knowing which family you are in tells you more about the upkeep than the name does.

Tapers and fades. Short sides that blend down towards the neck, with the top left at any length. A taper only shortens the edges around the ears and neckline. A fade takes the whole side down, sometimes to skin. The height it starts at changes everything, from a low taper fade that is barely there to a skin fade or a burst fade that is the whole point of the cut. The taper fade and types of fade pages explain the differences. Push the top into a ridge down the middle over faded sides and you have a faux hawk. Expect the barber every two to four weeks.

Buzz and crew cuts. Clippers all over, or nearly. A buzz cut is one length everywhere, and the grade is the whole decision. A crew cut leaves a little more on top and grades the sides shorter. The flat top stands that top up and cuts it level. Nothing in the morning, a trim every three or four weeks, and nowhere to hide. The buzz cut lengths page has every grade.

Crops. A short textured top pushed forward, over short or faded sides. The French crop has a blunt fringe; the textured crop is choppier, and a longer, looser fringe is where both end up if you let the front grow. Both take two minutes with a bit of matte product, and both hide a thinning hairline better than almost anything else, which is why they turn up throughout the haircuts for balding men page.

Longer styles. Anything where the hair is long enough to fall, part or be combed back. Curtains, the modern mullet and the slick back all live here. They need months of growing, fewer barber visits once you arrive, and more of your own time each morning. The medium and long hairstyles page covers getting there without the awkward stage.

Classic cuts. The ones every British barber has done ten thousand times. Short back and sides, the plain taper haircut, the side part, the pompadour, the quiff and the undercut. Scissors more than clippers, a little product, and they grow out gracefully, which is why they never quite go away. The classic haircuts page puts them side by side.

How to talk to a UK barber

Barbers here speak in clipper grades. The grade is the guard on the clippers, and each one leaves a set length of hair.

A skin fade goes below a grade 0, finished with a foil shaver or a razor. Anything above a grade 8 is cut with scissors.

Beyond the grade, a good request has three parts: the length of the sides, where any fade or taper starts, and how much to leave on top in centimetres. Then bring a photo of someone with hair like yours, taken from the side as well as the front. The profile shows the fade height and the shape of the top, which is what the barber needs.

If you wear a beard, say so in the same breath. The sideburns are where the haircut and the beard meet, and a barber who knows about both can blend one into the other. The beard styles directory is the place to choose the other half of the look.

Frequently asked questions