Cut Hair to Keep it Neat

Q: I wear my hair short. Every how many weeks must I cut my hair to keep it neat?

A: Good question. A lot of people make the mistake of assuming that when they get a short haircut they can stick to their old haircut schedule. Suddenly, their new haircut is starting to look ratty and they can’t understand why their hair is growing “so fast”. The fact is the hair hasn’t changed its growth rate; it’s simply the perspective of having shorter hair.

For example: Jane gets her shoulder-length bob transformed into a gamine-cropped pixie cut. The longest hair on her head is now her 3 inch fringe area. Previously, Jane would have her hair cut every 8 weeks, which kept her hair looking healthy. Now, however, at the end of 8 weeks, Jane’s hair has gained 1/3rd of its starting length, and has long-since started looking ragged.

The average person’s hair grows at a rate of ½-inch per month, which is roughly ¼-inch every 2 weeks. If your hair’s current length is an average of 2 inches, then your hair would double in length in approximately 4 months. After 2 weeks, it would have gained approximately 1/8th of its length. Since you want a trim to remove between ¼-inch to ½-inch of hair at most, timing the haircuts to every 3-4 weeks would allow you keep the hair trimmed without having the trims be noticeable.

A good rule of thumb is to schedule a trim for your hair before it gains 15-20% of its current length. That means that for hair that is 2 inches long, every 2-3 weeks is good, while hair that is five inches long could wait as much as 8 weeks. These trims should be more frequent if you experience problems with split ends and breakage. Otherwise, keep the hair clean and conditioned, and carefully combed or brushed to keep it healthy.

© Greatestlook.com
Photo: Look Studio/Shutterstockk

See also:

Hair care

Split ends