Boys hair cuts...

[k3am]

Someone please tell me how to convey what I want. 

My ultimate goal is to avoid recreating this (several years old but.. we've also had it happen several times again since.)



Basically just want it short on the sides, longer on the top. He basically wants the cut below, but if he doesn't style it, he looks like a limo driver.. I've tried showing them this specific picture and saying we don't want this, I've tried multiple salons/barbershops. I'm assuming it's a combination of me not knowing the right terminology (the hair lingo language barrier) and an actual language barrier. Help me improve my hair lingo. 



Side note, even DH doesn't know how to ask for a haircut, do he's no help. It took him years before he found his current barbershop.. I got a random text from him asking if he wanted "sexy hair". He said yes, and that woman has been giving him "sexy hair" ever since. Sadly, she doesn't take kids. 

[sproctopus]

Have you tried showing them a photo? Also, the 2nd image is heavily styled compared to the first. While the top seems cut shorter in your first photo, you could achieve a similar style to the 2nd with styling and products.

What your looking for is a fade with length on top. But a skilled barber should be able to create that from that photo.

[k3am]

sproctopus, we've shown them the photo. It's actually on the wall in one of the salons. He styles it daily for school and it looks fine, but weekends, he channels Jim Carey.

[meanie]

You want a 1 to 3 fade (1 at the bottom, 2 in the middle, 3 at the top) on the sides, scissor cut on top leaving the front center a little longer. His hair is very straight so the top needs to be much shorter than what they did. I would also find someone new because he should have never left looking like that! You should be able to show that picture and not have to explain, it's a really common cut.

Not a hairdresser, just gave a loooot of COVID times haircuts.

[sproctopus]

I think that's just sort of how it goes with that cut though. If it's not styled, it's going to look that way. You could ask if with the length on top they taper the front so that it comes to a point/longest in the middle. But without product of some sort (pomade/texturizer/gel), it will tend to look a little doofy.

[momin2013]

I think the problem is partly that it’s not always styled, and partly his hair type. DS has had a similar cut, and when not styled it basically would stick up all over because his hair is pretty coarse.

I think you need to show a pic, but also be sure to mention that it also needs to look decent when not styled. I agree with PP that it likely needs to be shorter on top.

[sparty04]

My DS has almost this same haircut and I understand what you're saying with the unstyled hair. They've been leaving it longer on top than I would prefer but I think it helps it not look so straight when it's down.

Gorilla snot has been great if you need a gel recommendation. It's dirt cheap at Target.

[mcppalmbeach]

I laughed so hard at this I almost peed! I have the same problem and dh always critiques their haircuts when I get them done and he does absolutely no better. We are awful at this! Doesn’t matter if it’s a nice barber, great clips or a salon.

[mcppalmbeach]

We also end up with a bowl beetles cut even when I specifically say I don’t want that. My ds1 has extremely thick straight hair so he’s the worst. I think the problem with bangs like that is if you don’t style them they do just hang and do nothing.

[k3am]

Fingers crossed. I gave the barber the 1-3 fade, scissor cut the top, slightly longer in the middle front instructions. Didn’t bother showing the picture since I’m starting to think that’s might be where I’m going wrong.

I wish he’d let the top be longer, but he doesn’t care about what I want.

[devonpow]

We have this issue with DS2 and his super straight hair - the only thing that works us using product in it.

[k3am]

Questionable results. Won’t let me take a pic. Good thing school pictures are on Friday 🤭

[sdlaura]

I have 3 boys and we have the same problem. But I agree with others that the bad cut on the top is likely very close to what the bottom one looks like unstyled. I tell the hairdresser ‘so, I know it looks good with gel, but on a day to day basis, I don’t use hair products and it falls straight down. So I need you to feather it enough that it doesn’t look bad when it falls straight down, please.’ And I comb it straight down to show them.

[kitty]

I’ve had semi-luck with asking for “wispy” bangs but that dumb and dumber look still happens every now and then lol.

[7costanza]

I usually say “2 fingers on top” to get the right length. They do two fingers horizontally or stacked, so it ends up about an inch? I hate this stuff too and usually make my kids point to a picture on the wall of the barbershop. That’s definitely led to some questionable results too, lol.

[liverandonions]

A gentleman’s cut

[liverandonions]

Eta deleted photos


These were taken about two weeks apart, top had a little bit of Gorilla Snot gel in it

[jorja]

Your example picture is essentially my kid’s haircut. My husband takes him, so I asked him what he says…

“A one on the sides and the back, with a mid fade. Soft part on the left that he combs over” I think that last part is specific to how we part his hair, but otherwise, I couldn’t tell you anything about it. I was so happy to hand off that task.

[dreamcrisp1]

We have the same issue!!

“Please don’t cut their hair straight down.”

Cuts hair straight down.

🤯🤯🤯🤯

Why. Why. Why. At this point I may as well cut it myself?! Can’t be worse and it’s so expensive!

[ProfessorArtNerd]

One- I am literally crying. I have had the same problem with David’s hair. I asked for the front to be point-cut (cut vertically with the tips of the scissors) to break up the line.

[shinyhappy]

Mar 25, 2024 19:33:01 GMT -5 devonpow said:

We have this issue with DS2 and his super straight hair - the only thing that works us using product in it.

Same. I think it’s just the hair type.

[felicity]

Mar 26, 2024 7:18:57 GMT -5 shinyhappy said:

Mar 25, 2024 19:33:01 GMT -5 devonpow said:

We have this issue with DS2 and his super straight hair - the only thing that works us using product in it.

Same. I think it’s just the hair type.

I think this is probably true for us too. DS has a combo of super straight and super thick hair. Every little imperfection in a haircut is so obvious if it's not styled. 

[shauni27]

man alive, this is the same struggle we have every.single.time both H and S get their hair cut, lol.

[sonrisa]

My youngest went for a hair it with dad and came back with that look. Lol. Apparently that is exactly what they had wanted. Usually I go and they come out looking like photo #2.

Luckily, within a week of normal washing and brushing the effect was gone.

[lessel]

Omg my kid got his haircut this weekend and it looked exactly like the photo you posted. I took a feather razor to the front of it to add some texture and avoid the heavy/harsh bowl cut line. It wasn't obvious when the stylist did the cut that it would look this way because she put product in and gave it a side part. But product doesn't last in his hair... it's super-fine, tends toward looking fuzzy, and always ends up hanging straight down across his forehead vs. staying to one side. I think we might do something where we leave the top longer and start to undercut the sides or something.

[VillainV]

We have the same struggle. We call it the “Howard Wolowitz.” I think part of the problem is that his hair grows forward? Like that’s how it naturally lays, so getting it to do anything else is nearly impossible.