#LockdownZim Day 24: A Hairstyle Terminology Guide For Guys To Use To Get A Good Cut • #enthuse Magazine

It’s a culturally recognised principle that getting the haircut you want is imperative to feeling confident and stylish. Unfortunately, many guys don’t know how to talk to their barbers, let alone how to ask for a haircut because hair terminology and names can be complicated. Growing up, I recall being infatuated with the different hairstyles Wesley Snipes had in his “Blade” horror movies, but I wouldn’t describe any of them to a barber who, say, had zero context of who The Blade was.

Resultantly, I grew up getting the basic same damn haircuts that I could articulate to a common barber person. As you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I still do to this day. I’m stuck in a rut and have become comfortable with the same look. If asked why I have the same look on, I often stick to the old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” For all that, a friend told me a little while back that if I have had the same haircut for a decade, it is “broke,” so to speak, and it’s time to change.

“Ever wonder why women change their hairstyles so often? It’s simple: they know that changing up the ‘do is a fairly easy and inexpensive way to change up their look,” he said.

Even though sometimes I impudently stand my ground on the silly stuff I love, I kinda agreed with my homie. But now, one problem still lingers…how am I going to communicate to the barber the buttsized weird hairstyle I’ve been dreaming of getting once the COVID-19 lockdown is over?

I’m not alone on this and according to a virtual survey I did with some bored AI bots, I concluded that most guys are struggling to articulate efficiently the types of hairstyles they want to their barbers. In fact, many folks have been getting haircuts whose names they do not understand. Whew! And yet, it’s important for men to know what to tell a barber and how to characterise the hairstyle they want to get. This is crucial. Once you understand how to talk to the barber and how to ask for what you want is when you can get exactly or something close to what you want (I mean some barber skills are so shaky that they should only be allowed to cut kids and old people).

To help guys like myself out there, we have compiled a hairstyle terminology guide you can use next time you visit the barbershop. Whether you’re asking for a burst fade mohawk, taper fade, comb over, quiff, pompadour, buzz cut, caesar haircut, or Afro fades to curls and twists, here are the terms to use to get a good cut.