I’m male 16, living in Iran for clarification. (English is not my first language so sorry for any mistakes)
I have always struggled with my hair style and look, as I always cut my hair very short and uniform all around because of strict school dress code and policies.
But as I’m getting older I’m starting to want to improve myself and have better mental and physical health.
I’ve become self-conscious of face and looks after the pandemic specifically because I feel left out of many things compared to my peers. One of which is my hair style and cut.
I’m not sure how should I cut, style and maintain my hair. As I mentioned previously I always cut it short and uniform and I showered every 2-3 days, so I’d like to know how to maintain the hair.
But most importantly I don’t know what to tell my barber?
Sorry for the rant and long post.
Not specific to your situation, just a process I recently went through. White female, thick, wavy, unruly hair. For decades, most haircut, style places were white people focused. Most white women have fine, straight hair. These places just didn’t know what to do with me.
Few months back, did research. 2a to 2c hair. Reading stuff online, many people with same hair were black women, sharing tips. So I went to a salon, all black staff and customers. Said, I’m having trouble figuring out what to do with my hair, anyone feel OK educating me?
Nice older black woman said with a smile, come over here white girl, let’s see what we can do. Glad I took a risk. Best haircut, style, ever. She turned me on to a lot of good hair products.
I have the coarse wavy hair too. It is one typical European hair type, not uncommon but when I went to barber school we only learned to handle straight hair and what I think of as Black hair, afros, relaxers, fades. Nothing in between, we were just taught to straighten and then heat curl wavy hair, what the fuck?
Anyway - I haven’t cut hair professionally in decades but go to a Cuban hair salon now and she cuts and leaves it wet, the ‘curly hair special’, lol. I go home, style it and send her a picture.
Just wanted to point out that no, most white women don’t have naturally pin straight hair, they straighten it. And yes, it is an education failure in hair school.
If you don’t know what to tell your barber, the easiest way is to show your barber a picture of the haircut you want.
The difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut? 2 weeks.
It’s a dumb joke but your hair grows out, so even a haircut that looks bad initially, after a couple of days it looks natural again.
There’s also websites where you can upload an image of your face and try different hairstyles. That way you can “try on” virtually before committing to something in real life.
I think the best haircuts are the low-effort ones that work with your face type and head shape. But you generally just have to try a couple till you find one you like. Since you’re young, I would also try with longer hair since you might not get that chance later in life!
Good luck!
If you trust your barber’s work quality, you can always straight up ask him for input. I told mine I don’t want to deal with styling my hair every day, but would still look fine if shaped. He asked a couple questions on my preferences - clipped and/or faded sides and back, length, integrating the beard or not, etc. Then off he went. I keep going back despite him being a bit more expensive than all options around cause I just don’t have to worry if I’ll like it.
For someone who willingly begins their post with a disclaimer stating their English may not be the best, you have fantastic English imho!
(I would say better than most native speakers I’ve run into. Lol.)
Have you considered learning to cut your own hair? I’ve been doing it for years and it’s saved a ton of time + money. I’ve cut my girlfriend’s hair a couple times too.
Otherwise, look at pictures of hair styles you like and when you pick your favorite, show it to your barber. If they mess up, try a different barber next time.
Get to know your facial shape and have a cut depending on your shape Fade goes for almost all faceshapes
Bring a fashion magazine to your barber and point to the style you like. Celebrity photos might help too.
I’m very anxious of how I would look and don’t know which style would fit me.
If it doesn’t fit you, you can either adjust it immediately if there’s still enough hair left, or it will grow in a couple of weeks if there’s not.
Couple of weeks of looking silly sounds like torture for a person with already low self esteem :)
But I will try your advice if I didn’t find anything better.
Personally, I would try to realize others might respect you more for confident behavior like trying new hairstyles instead of ridicule you if the hairstyle isn’t the best for a few weeks.
Never thought of it that way. I try to never judge people based off appearance, but I know people around me do.
If you know someone with good hair, ask where they get theirs done. And try not to worry.
Short hair is for lazy People.
Nah, long hair is for lazy people. You may forget that when you have short hair bedhead is your constant every day enemy.
Nope. People get short hair cuts so they don’t have to take care of it and can just get up and go. You swallowed the Corpo propaganda. Bed head is even more a thing with long hair.
cries in hairloss
Had it cut before and now it is all gone. It knew when it wasn’t wanted.
Short hair has high maintenance because you have to cut it so often to keep it short. Long hair has styling maintenance but that can just be pulling it into a ponytail. I get my hair cut 2x a year, it’s medium length. Husband gets his cut every two weeks to keep it short.
You’ve got to spend considerably longer cleaning and conditioning long hair and while, yes, you can put it in a pony tail, you have to first brush it out. Short hair is for lazy People. Getting it cut isn’t that big a deal even if it is every two weeks as they just run a razor over it.
Depends on the hair. I’ve not owned a brush in years (curly hair) and since not brushing it stopped tangling, counterintuitive but it works. I detangle it in the shower with a wide tooth comb or fingers while shampooing (if shampooing) or conditioning, and at this length (shoulder length) it’s very quick. Twice a week or so. When super long, yes. Lots of work once a week and two days to get dry. But there is also the chance of being able to just wake up and shake my head, hair falls into place. Probably 3x a week at this length, but never ever when shorter than this.
If OP has the typical middle eastern hair, it’s thick individual hairs like mine and short may just look bulky & awkward unless it’s really really short, or long enough for gravity to work & curls to appear.
But I do agree that short hair, in a tight fade, is a classy look that suits many face types so a good bet if unsure what would look good.
I have long hair. It is not an issue for me and is actually a significant part of why I keep it long. But when I had short hair as a younger guy it definitely was. My word against yours it shall be.
Nope. You are simply repeating the talking points of short hair corpos.
