Sides Of Hair Shorter Than You Wanted? Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered why you ask for a number 1 on the back and sides but it looks shorter than you saw on the guide or in the picture? Is this the fault of your barber or is there something wrong?

Well, in truth, this is mostly due to the thickness and color of your hair. Both of these play a big part in the shortness of your hair, not just the guard on the clipper.

If you have a light or fine hair, your hair will look quite shorter than someone with dark or thick hair, even if the clipper guard on the back and sides were of the same length. The reason for this is that light and fine hair will make it appear with scalp showing than with dark and thick hair, as it will not have as much color and density.

Worried about it coming out shorter?

The best thing you can do when you aren’t sure how your hair might look is to ask your barber to start a few guards higher than you plan to go. If you plan to go down to a #0.5 then a #1.5 or a #2 is what you should go for at first.

Ensure you tell your barber that this is what you want to have done as you don’t want to annoy them by allowing them to finish their clean fade before requesting they go a little shorter

If you let your barber know this, then they can do a test area on one side to enable you to see the length more clearly, and if it’s too long, you can ask them to go down to the next shortest guard.

This is a sure way to ensure that you leave the barbershop not complaining about the haircut being too short and waiting weeks for it to grow out until you are happy with the length on the sides.

You must be aware that this will be much easier when an appointment is booked in and you have gotten a guaranteed amount of time with your barber. If your barbershop is walk-in only then barbers will often be pushed for time, you should understand this and be empathetic to your barber’s situation. But all of this depends on the shop, so discuss this with your barber and see what they say.