This hair and beard guide will give you ideas on haircuts or shaves that you might like. It includes common samples and styles, as well as common hair cutting terminology. This will ultimately make it easier to describe how you want to look so that you can communicate with your barber better.
Indeed, precision and skill is one thing when it comes to giving you all your masculine follicular glory, but clear communication is key to help you get what you want out of your haircut and shave.
How To Communicate With Your Barber
The following easy steps will help you to communicate clearly with your barber so that you are both on the same page from the beginning to the end of your haircut.
Describe, clarify and re-describe until a consensus is made.
Quite often customers come into a barber shop and ask for one thing, yet they mean something different. Did you know that a “taper” actually does not go above the ears? If you want it go above the ears it’s called a “fade”. Yet both words are often used interchangeably. This and other terminology is described in more detail below, but the point here is that it’s important to have open communication and allow your barber the opportunity to make clarifications.
Some barbers will simply take what you say and not try to find out what you mean. Then when the haircut is complete it could leave you unsatisfied even though the barber did exactly what you asked for. However, a good barber like the barbers at Marco Polo’s Barber Shop will spend a good 5 minutes just clarifying what it is you are actually asking for.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but it won’t guarantee that you’ll look the same.
Referring to a picture is one of the most common methods that people use to describe what kind of haircut they want. This is especially helpful since there are only a few styles and descriptions with names that are universally accepted everywhere. Everything else can have multiple names or be described in a way that can be interpreted differently by different people. So when you have the picture in front of you, you can just say, “here, like that”.
Yet, it’s important to keep in mind that just because you have the picture which you and your barber can both reference, it doesn’t mean that your haircut or shave will ultimately look the same when it is finished. The picture won’t take into account your head shape, your hair type or hair growth pattern. If any of these are different from the model in the picture then your hair cut will look different even if the barber does it exactly as described.
Learning Simple Terminology Makes It Easier To Describe What You Want
When cutting hair, you generally have the top, crown, sides, sideburns, arch and nape. The crown is the area where the top of the head begins to curve downward towards the nape. The arch is the area immediately above the ears. The nape is where the back of the head meets the neck.
Taper Vs Fade: A “taper” generally describes a “nape finish” which means it only includes the nape area or neckline. Some barbers will include the sideburns when tapering, but by definition it does not include the area above the ears, or the “arch” above the ears. A fade is blending from the buzz upward toward the longer top, and includes the arch. So if you ask for a high fade with a 2, the barber will buzz the nape, arch and sides with a 2 guard high up on the side and then blend it with the hair on top which is longer.
A “nape finish” is how the hair is cut at the bottom of the hairline on the back or the nape. It could be “squared“, “rounded” or “tapered“.
A taper is a gradual cut from shortest at the bottom to longest at about the height of the ears.
A fade is also a gradual cut that blends the buzzline with the longer hair higher up.
The height of the fade can be described as low, medium or high. All head sizes are different so it’s hard to say exactly how tall each level is, but the barber kind of gauges it between the top of the ear and top of the head. It may curve downward slightly in the back unless you specifically ask for a “bowl cut” or “crew cut” (see below).
The length of the hair for tapers and fades are usually described by the particular guard that the barber uses on the hair cutter. A “skin” length means skin is showing, so it could be the hair cutter without a guard or clean shaven with a razor. Metal guards range in size from 1/2 to 3. Plastic guards range from 3 to 8.
A short fade could range from skin to a 2 metal or a 3 metal or 3 plastic. A long fade could range from 3 to 4 plastic or longer.
Surgical Lines are shaved lines that appears within a buzzed or faded area. These could even spell names or be made to look like various images.
A pomp or pompadour is when the top front hair is combed upward and forms a round bump.
A quiff is when the pomp is bigger or extends farther backward.
A fringe is when the front hair or bangs are left hanging down.
You can describe some styles by the direction of how it is combed, such as combover, combed back or slicked back with or without a side part.
When describing how you want a shave, you can describe the areas as the upper lip or mustache area, the chin, sideburns and neck. This would be the front of your neck below the jaw, as opposed to the back of your neck, which is the nape.
A beard can have rough or sharp edges. Rough is the more natural style since hair growth patterns usually include a few stragglers growing higher up on the cheeks and farther down on the neck. A sharper look is when those stragglers are shaved so that the edge of the beard is clean and straight.
The style guide below has graphics and descriptions of common styles including a combover with or without a part, a gentleman’s cut, and others. The beard guide is also below that and includes common types of mustaches and beards.
Common Hair Styles
SHAVED BALD
Top shaved to skin. Depending on their balding pattern some men may choose to have a skin-shaved bald top with buzzed sides and nape.
BUZZ CUT
A buzz cut is any short cut on sides and top. Generally the electric hair trimmers are used for the entire cut on sides and top with the length determined by the plastic or metal guards.
CREW CUT
High fade on sides, short hair on top, sometimes with a pomp, sometimes has a side part. There are many variations.
WAVES
More often found in African or African American hair styles, the hair is thick with small curls but when cut really short it becomes more wavy.
FLAT TOP
The hair on the top of the head is standing upright and cut to form a flat-appearing deck. This deck may be level, or it may be upward or downward sloping.
HIGH TOP
African Americans or those with thick or curly hair may be able to have very tall flat tops and include additional styling, such as a step-down.
BOWL CUT
a straight cut fringe with the sides and back cut at the same length, but everything below is shaved or buzzed, (looks like an upside down bowl)
In the 90s a bowl cut was simple and often allowed to fill out in volume. The modern bowl cut often includes an undercut and a messy or punkish style to it. A Caesar Cut and French Crop are similar to a bowl cut with a straight cut fringe.
UNDERCUT
An undercut can be any cut where long hair is left to hang over buzzed hair. It is common with bowl cuts, Caesar Cuts, French Crops and many long hair or hair curtain styles.
MOHAWK
A mohawk is a narrow strip of hair extending from the top front to either the crown or the nape with the entire surrounding area buzzed or shaved.
FAUX HAWK
A faux hawk is similar to a Mohawk in that it is styled upward and comes to a point at the center, but the surrounding hair could be faded or longer compared to the buzzed or shaved sides of a Mohawk.
CAESAR CUT
A Caesar Cut is any short fringe cut. It’s named after the Roman Emperor who supposedly did it to hide his receding hairline.
FRENCH CROP
A French Crop is often interchangeable with a “Caesar Cut” but it technically has a longer fringe in the front and more styling around the sides, it could be combined with buzzed sides or undercut.
GENTLEMAN HAIRCUT
The classic gentleman cut has faded sides (but not to skin). The top has a side part, the larger side is combed over or slicked back, it may or may not have a pomp. The smaller side is slicked back or combed down depending on hair length.
SIDE PART
A part is when hair of any length on the top is divided. Hair can be parted in the middle, on the side, or on the low side. The part itself can be buzzed for emphasis. In messier hair styles it can be hidden by a strand of hair combed forward. A low side part with a high side buzz makes the part non-existent.
COMB OVER
A comb-over is any time hair is combed from one side to the other. It may start from a side part or low side part.
SLICKED BACK
A slick back is when hair is combed from the front to the back. It may or may not include a side part.
BLOWOUT, WIND-BLOWN
A blowout or wind-blown hair is any long, upward styled hair. It may include a large quiff that extends from front to back or one full side.
TWISTS
More often found in African or African American hair styles, twists are like mini dreadlocks.
HAIR CURTAIN
A hair curtain is any time the top hair is grown long and left hanging down but made up of more than a simple strip of hair, i.e. it forms a curtain. In men it often includes an undercut.
MAN BUN, TOP KNOT
A man bun or top knot is when a man has grown long hair and bundles it up into a bun at the top or top of the crown.
DREADLOCKS
Dreadlocks are more often found on African Americans than other ethnicities, made possible by really thick, curly hair. It’s when the hair is long and twisty.
PIXIE CUT (FOR WOMEN)
A pixie cut is any short hair cut for women. Quite often they are very similar to many of the hair styles for men but the styling can be more exaggerated. They may or may not have long fringes, faded sides or spiky, punkish styling.
Common Beards & Mustaches
Mustache Styles
CLEAN SHAVED
Clean shaved is a fully shaved face with no mustache or beard. You can also ask for just certain areas to be clean shaved such as just the chin, upper lip, sideburns, etc. which is how many of the facial hair styles below are created.
ENGLISH MOUSTACHE
An English Mustache ( or “moustache”), is a narrow mustache often with a patch just on each side of the midline with whiskers grown long and horizontally outward.
DALI MUSTACHE
A Dali Mustache begins with a patch of hair on each side of the midline with the whiskers grown long and curved upward to form large crescents.
FU MANCHU MUSTACHE
A Fu Manchu Mustache is often seen on Chinese elders, starting with two patches of hair on each side of the midline, the whiskers are grown long and left to hang down around the sides of the lips. It is often confused with a horseshoe mustache, and it can be thicker than the graphic, but the main difference is hair is only grown from the top lip.
PENCIL MUSTACHE
A pencil mustache is a thin mustache on the upper lip, most often it is closer to the mouth than the nose. It resembles a mustache as if it was drawn by a pencil tip.
TOOTHBRUSH MUSTACHE
A patch on the upper lip that is the same width as the nose or slightly wider, (“boxed width” instead of the full width of the lips).
In American pop culture the most recognizable figure with this mustache was Charlie Chaplin. It became widely unpopular for decades due to the fact that it was also donned by Adolf Hitler.
LAMPSHADE MUSTACHE
A full upper lip mustache that either grows naturally or styled to be the same shape as a lampshade.
CHEVRON MUSTACHE
A chevron is basically any two lines drawn at an angle or V shape. A Chevron Mustache forms an upside down V.
HANDLEBAR MUSTACHE
A Handlebar Mustache has thick patches on both sides of the midline with whiskers grown long enough to curl on each side. The mascots for Monopoly and Pringles should instantly come to mind.
IMPERIAL MUSTACHE
An Imperial Mustache is similar to a Handlebar Mustache, yet it is thicker with more exaggerated curls on the ends. A Handlebar Mustache might have crescent-shaped bars but the Imperial will have full circle curls.
HORSESHOE MUSTACHE
A Horseshoe mustache is a full mustache with vertical extensions from the corners of the lips down to the jawline. It resembles an upside-down horseshoe.
MEXICAN MUSTACHE
A “Mexican Mustache” is a good example of how a name can be interpreted different ways. Sometimes it’s a type of handlebar mustache, other times it might be closer to a horseshoe mustache, but they generally slope down around the sides of the lips and they are much thicker than other mustaches.
HUNGARIAN MUSTACHE
A Hungarian Mustache is an extra large Handlebar Mustache.
WALRUS MUSTACHE
A Walrus Mustache is a thick, large mustache where the hair is allowed to grow over the mouth. It resembles the whiskers of a walrus.
Sideburns
SIDEBURNS
Sideburns are the hair that grows right in front of the ears and it could be seen as the bridge that connects the hair with the beard. Sideburns can also extend down the jaw and lower cheeks for various styles.
MUTTON CHOPS
Mutton Chops are when the sideburns extend from the height of the ears to any area below the ears over the lower cheeks and jawline. They could go all the way down to the mid chin, but they technically do not connect, otherwise it would be called a beard.
FRIENDLY MUTTON CHOPS
Friendly Mutton Chops are when Mutton Chops on both sides are connected by a mustache but the chin and neck are shaved.
SIDEWHISKERS
Side Whiskers are when Mutton Chops are allowed to grow well below the jawline.
Chin Beards
SOUL PATCH
The soul patch is a patch of hair immediately below the lower lip. Sometimes a patch of of hair on the tip of the chin is also called a soul patch. It is generally about the size the size of a nickel.
CHIN STRIP (GOAT PATCH)
A Chin Strip is a strip of hair that extends from the lower lip to the chin or even below the chin. It’s often used interchangeably with a Goatee since it resembles the beard of a goat when grown long, but generally a Chin Strip is more narrow than a Goatee.
GOATEE
Technically a “Goatee” is just a wide chin strip without the mustache. Depending on their growth pattern some men may grow an anchor-shaped goatee, others may have a fuller version.
It got it’s name by resembling the beard of a goat.
CIRCLE BEARD (GOATEE & MUSTACHE)
A Circle Beard is both a goatee and a mustache, yet some may refer to this as simply a “goatee”.
VAN DYKE
A Van Dyke Beard is a chin beard and mustache which do not connect. Traditionally it is a pointed soul patch and handlebar mustache. This is distinct from a Circle Beard “Goatee” where the chin beard and mustache connect. They are shaved separate in a Van Dyke.
BALBO
A Balbo is a type of Van Dyke Beard since the chin beard and mustache do not connect, but the chin beard is very wide–wider than most goatees.
Named after the Italian military leader Italo Balbo.
CHINSTRAP BEARD
A Chinstrap Beard resembles the strap of a helmet. It generally has short hair length and allowed to grow where the strap of a helmet would cover.
CHIN CURTAIN
A Chin Curtain is any beard that extends from ear to ear but does not include a mustache. It can be any hair length although the word “curtain” implies long or full hair length.
SHENANDOAH
A Shenandoah Beard is a chin curtain with long whiskers. It is common among the Amish but certainly not limited to the Amish community.
Neck Beard & Full Beards
NECK BEARD
A Neck Beard is any beard where the hair is allowed to grow only below the jawline. Everything above the jawline is shaved. In other words, hair is only grown from the neck.
DESIGNER STUBBLE OR "5 O'CLOCK SHADOW"
Designer Stubble or the 5 O’clock Shadow is either a buzzed beard with rough edges or an unshaven beard that appears around 5 pm on men that grow beard hair quickly.
FULL BEARD
A full beard includes all areas of facial hair such as the sideburns, chin and mustache area. Lower areas of the neck may be shaved for cleaner look and for comfort.
NED KELLY BEARD
A Ned Kelly Beard consists of a full, luxuriant beard and a mustache, and is typically accompanied by short, styled hair.