Byrdie
8 Easy Ways to Switch Things Up If You're Bored With Your Haircut
Even if your hairstyle has served you well for a few years, there comes a time when you want something new and fresh to coincide with how you yourself are changing. Those long locks might not match your more buttoned-up vibe of late, so it could be time to buzz it all down. Or vice versa: Perhaps you ditched the office forever and want your hair to reflect some lack of uniform. Or maybe, when looking to switch up the men's haircut, you prefer to keep your current length, but beyond that, you can’t figure out how to make things look and feel fresh.
How can you approach a new hairstyle to get that brand-newness we all crave every couple of years? Let us count the ways. Below are some style-switch-up tips from a pair of experts: Hung Nguyen, Regional Barber manager at Fellow Barber NYC, and Greg Ruggeri, stylist and trichologist, as well as the owner of Salon Ruggeri in NYC. Try any combination or execution of these tips, and maybe even run them by your barber or stylist. You’ll be sure to come up with something suitable for the new you.
MEET THE EXPERT
- Hung Nguyen is the Regional Barber manager at Fellow Barber NYC.
Flatter Your Head Shape
If you’re stuck on an old, awkward style—or if you’re wondering what the best new one will be—then first, you should consider your head shape and whether or not a specific style works well with it. Nguyen assesses each of his clients’ heads when he’s giving them a cut or a fade and acts accordingly. “Not all head shapes are suited for a high and tight, and not all head shapes are suited for a low drop fade,” he says, “High and tight fades are great for guys who are wider at the parietal ridge of the head.” (It’s the widest part of your head, on the upper sides.) “Doing this slims out that area, giving more of a square shape. It also keeps the haircut's shape from flaring out when it grows out in a few weeks. Mid fades, and low fades are ideal for guys who are narrower at the parietal ridge because it builds weight in that area to give the haircut a square shape.”
In the same vein, if you have a long, narrow head shape, you should consider wearing a wider style in the sides, not further to elongate yourself. If you have a round or square face, something that emphasizes height (or length), as opposed to width on the sides, is ideal.