How to describe the haircut you actually want

Every bad haircut story starts the same way: two people who thought they agreed. The barber heard 'short'; you meant 'shorter than this, longer than the army.' Here's how the regulars who always leave happy actually talk to their barber.

Bring a photo. Yes, really.

A photo beats five minutes of description every time. It doesn't have to be a celebrity — a picture of your own hair after a cut you loved is the single most useful thing you can hand a barber. Screenshot the good ones. Build a folder.

Learn five words

• 01Fade height — low, mid or high: where the short part starts climbing your head.
• 02Guard number — the clipper length on the sides. If you know your number, say it.
• 03Texture — do you want the top choppy and matte, or smooth and combed?
• 04Neckline — blocked (square), rounded, or tapered (faded into the skin).
• 05Length on top — in fingers, inches or 'off the ears / off the eyebrows.'

No idea what you want? Say that.

'I don't know, but I hate how it sits at the sides' is a genuinely great brief. Every cut at the Lounge starts with a consultation because the diagnosis is the barber's job — your job is just to be honest about what bugs you.

“Tell me what you don't want. I can work with that all day.”

And once you've found the cut: photograph it that evening, from the front and the side. That photo is your reorder button.