Classic Hairstyles for Men

An Illustrated Guide to Men's Hair Styles, Hair Care, and Hair Products

by
Antonio Centeno and Geoffrey Cubbage

Copyright 2013 by Real Men Real Style

illustrations by
Anthony Tan

License Statement

This ebook is licensed for personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold
or given away to other people.

Free Audiobook Version Available!

Hear the audio at: http://realmenrealstyle.com/hairstyle-audio/
Password for access: hairstyle (all lower case)
Table of Contents

Introduction
The Basic Elements
The Attitude
Maintenance Needs
Specific Hairstyles
How to Tell Your Barber What You Want
Facial Hair
Conclusion
To hear this guide as an audiobook, visit
http://realmenrealstyle.com/hairstyle-audio/ and use the password
"hairstyle" (all lower case).
Introduction
Hair. Guide. Men.
Not three words that often appear together. Men tend to be a footnote at best
in books and articles about good-looking hair. Unless you're attending
beauty school you're not likely to find a useful, detailed guide out there.
But now there is one. Written by men and for men, this is meant to give you
all the information you need for good-looking hair every day. We've kept it
short and simple so you can read, learn, and be done, armed with everything
you need to keep the capstone of your personal style looking sharp.
1. THE BASIC ELEMENTS
When a person looks at you, what do they see? Your clothes, your face --
and your hair.
The "appearance" of your hair breaks down into a couple of different
components. You've got more control over some of them than others. The
part can be changed in seconds, the length in minutes, and the color in
hours (changing the length in seconds is also possible, but not
recommended unless you've just enlisted and are off to see the highly-
efficient Army barbers).
Put together, these five elements make up the total "look" of your hair that
an outside observer sees:
COLOR
The color of your hair is one of the two most immediately obvious elements
(length is the other). Anyone who glances at you can make the color out.
How Is Hair Color Created?
Not all heads of hair achieve their color the same way. The same pale blond,
for example, could be achieved by
a) thick strands of hair with a naturally light pigment
b) much finer strands of hair with a darker or more reddish pigment
c) naturally darker hair sun-bleached to a lighter blond
or, of course,
d) artificial dyes
All four of those are four different colors of actual hairs, but at a distance
they all have the same pale yellow color.
So what color is your actual hair? To find that out you'll have to get up
close and personal with a mirror and spend some time checking out the
individual hairs. They may not even be uniform -- most people are darker
near the roots, and some people's hair can vary dramatically from root to
tip. You may also have a head of mixed hairs, particularly in the case of
men who are starting to gray.
That means that most people's hair is a blending effect. That's useful for
discerning dressers to know, since very starkly contrasted clothes look
better with single-shade hair colors, while a more blended outfit that
transitions smoothly from one color to the next goes better with hair made
from blended colors.
But What Color Is Best?
The one that goes best with your complexion.
It sounds like a cop-out answer, but it's true. Your hair should complement
your skin and eyes. A lot of the time this happens naturally. Guys are
fortunately more resistant than girls, in general, to the temptation to dye
their hair blond no matter what they actually look like, but you still see
some horrorshows out there from time to time.
Contrast matters. If the rest of your complexion (eyes, skin, body hair, etc.)
is high contrast -- like a pale-skinned man with dark eyes and hairs -- you
don't want to throw that off by dying the top of your head pale. Similarly,
low-contrast men -- think dark-skinned men with black hairs -- look jarring
with hair that doesn't come close to matching the rest of their complexion.
Should Men Ever Dye?
A few generations ago the answer would have largely been "no." Hair dye
was seen as purely a cosmetic change for women. These days, everything
from bright green mohawks to lightly-dyed tips are common on men,
especially younger men.
Men who work in any kind of office job should obviously be cautious with
non-natural colors like red or green. Those are unlikely to go over well in
the boardroom.
But a bit of artistic streaking or dying at the tips? Those things are largely
acceptable these days. Men should keep contrast in mind, as always; light
tips on dark hair will look much better on a high-contrast man than a low-
contrast man. Some very conservative settings may still view it as
unnecessary or frivolous, so be cautious of wearing the look in financial,
legal, and other very traditional circles.
Cosmetic hair dyes will mostly fall into two categories: at-home
applications, which generally (but not always) dye the whole head the same
shade, and professional salon dyes, which can achieve any number of varied
effects like dyed tips, two-tone splits, layered colors, and more.
If your goal is to make a bold statement, or to blanket gray hairs out of
existence, home dyes can work. There are hundreds of brands available, of
varying quality. For a neater, more professional-looking result, however, a
man should usually visit a salon -- one that caters specifically to men, if
possible. You don't want a hair stylist who's only done dyes for women
doing your colors.
As to the dying of gray hairs, it's an individual choice. Some men swear by
it. But the single-color blanket dyes used to hide them are often painfully
obvious -- the sort of thing where anyone can look at you and say "yeah,
okay, he's dying his hair to hide the gray." It's not a very dignified look. It
puts people in mind of television broadcasters from the early 1980s.
If you're naturally ungraying, fantastic, but if not, put some thought into
wearing your well-earned silver with pride, rather than blanketing it in dye.
This is especially true for men whose hair is also thinning -- nothing is
more painfully obvious than thinning hair with a bald spot that's been dyed
a bright, youthful color.
LENGTH
Apart from color, the most obvious trait of any haircut is its length. It's also
the one that comes with the most social expectations and judgments
attached.
The Basic Lengths
You can break hair down into three basic style families: short cuts, medium
cuts, and long cuts.
Short hair can stand up on its own. Buzzcuts are short, as,
obviously, are shaved heads. Slightly longer hairs worn spiked with
product still look to observers like short cuts, though they may appear
more like medium hair cuts when they lie flat.
Medium cuts encompass most traditional side-parts and other
business styles. The hair is out of the eyes and mostly off the back of
the neck, but it might be long enough to lie across the top of the head
or tuck behind the ear.
Long cuts fall into the eyes, over the ears, or past the back of the
neck. This could include anything from an unkempt mullet to a neat
ponytail to a massively spiked mohawk that falls to the sides of the
face when it's let down.
Long Hair on Men: Yes or No?
The meaning of long hair can vary dramatically from culture to culture.
White, middle- and upper-class urban Americans usually consider it a
gesture of mild rebellion against social norms.
That said, it's worth remembering that white, middle- and upper-class
Americans are a minority of the population. If you're looking to advance in
conservative businesses like corporate law and finance, you probably need
to avoid long hair styles.
But a man in a more counter-culture industry like software engineering
might not find a well-kept ponytail disadvantageous at all. And a punk
rocker may actually have more trouble landing gigs with a traditional
business haircut.
So there is no firm yes or no for most men. But the majority of men in
America will have an easier time in most mainstream interactions with a
shorter haircut. Hair past the top of the neck might generate negative
reactions from some people, while hair that stops at the neck is never going
to offend anyone.
The "Safety Zone"
Conventional hair length for men is easy to define. A safe default for any
barber, from a $5 student cut to a salon, is to ask for a cut within the
following boundaries:
1. Off the back of the neck
2. Above the point where the ear separates from the side of the head
 3. Above the eyebrows when brushed straight down in front
That range encompasses most "traditional" hair styles for men who want to
keep it within the safety zone.
Going Bald and Hair Length
"Male-pattern baldness" gets its name for a reason: there's a pattern. Hair
loss starts at the top and front of the scalp and spreads from there.
That means it's possible to have quite long hair while still going bald. This
is pretty much always a bad idea.
Long hair let straight down with a bald spot in the center gets into the
"crypt keeper" look. Long hair on the sides combed over the bald spot isn't
fooling anyone (and makes you look desperate). Keep it short when it starts
to bald, or just get a jump on the game by shaving the head entirely.
Cueballs have been sexy for years now.
THICKNESS
How thick your hair is depends on three factors: the thickness of the
individual hairs, how many hairs there are per square millimeter of scalp,
and how clean the hairs are. Thick hair isn't inherently good or bad, but it
does affect both the appearance and the maintenance needs of your hair.
Thickness and Appearance
How thick your hair is primarily affects how it moves. Someone with very
thick hair is less likely to have their look stirred up and tousled by the wind
than someone with light, fine hairs.
This makes men with fine hairs good candidates for "layered" cuts that can
stand up to a bit of tousling. These cuts need at least a little bit of length to
work, but done well they end up looking very styled and deliberate even
when they're mussed. Fine-haired men may want to avoid long hairstyles,
however -- once it gets down past the back of the neck, it's going to do a lot
of blowing around, even indoors.
Men with thicker hair, on the other hand, can wear their hair longer if they
want to, but also have to do a lot more maintenance to keep the hair looking
"lively." Thick hair can clump and hang limp, which doesn't look good on
anyone. Men with particularly thick hair will need either a short cut like a
buzz where there's no chance of tangling or a more extensive shampooing
and conditioning regimen.
Cleanliness and Thickness
All our healthy hairs produce a natural coating of oil. Over time the coating
thickens and traps particles of dirt, so hair that hasn't been washed in a
while is thickened artificially with a coat of oil and microscopic detritus.
Men with thick hair need to keep themselves regularly shampooed. This
keeps the hair from turning limp and clumping, as well as avoiding an
unsightly sheen.
Fine-haired men, on the other hand, produce less oil overall, and may need
to alternate shampooing every other day or even less to avoid drying the
hair out and looking straw-like.
STRAIGHTNESS
Hair ranges from long, smooth strands that look like unspooled thread to
coils as tight as metal springs.
The thicker your hair is, the quicker its silhouette grows. A man with very
straight hair can grow his out without adding much bulk to his head, while a
man with curly hair starts working toward a fro very quickly.
This is worth keeping in mind because you want your hairstyle to be
proportional with the rest of your body. A short, slender man looks
unbalanced with a thick head of hair poofing out in all directions. A big,
athletic man might be able to wear the same hair without concern.
PART
The part is the point at which your hair splits to lie in one direction or the
other. Not all hair styles have a part -- whether there is one visible or not is
part of the style.
Hair parts are a powerful visual tool. At their most basic they give a subtle
visual cue to your handedness -- right-handed men tend to part their hair
with the longer half pointed toward their right hand, and vice-versa for left
handed men. A central part adds symmetry to the face below it.
Styles without parts can be neat, messy, or somewhere in between. It's not a
vital part of a hairstyle, just a visual aspect that you have easy control of at
any given moment.
2. THE ATTITUDE
The five elements we discussed above combine to make a single image of
what we call your "hairstyle."
That image presents a personality, a culture, and an attitude. It can say
everything from "surfer dude" to "military man" to as restrained and neutral
a non-statement as possible.
The following choices are some of the biggest ways to shape the attitude
your hair presents:
CONSISTENT VS. VARIED
A consistent hairstyle is basically the same length and shape all the way
throughout. It demonstrates restraint, control, and order.
A varied hairstyle, in contrast, has multiple lengths, thicknesses, colors, or
other elements that don't match all the way throughout. It asserts more
individuality, uniqueness, and in many cases rebellion or non-conformity.
Examples of Consistent Haircuts
Buzz cuts, shaved heads, and unstyled ponytails (where the bangs are
grown out and pulled back along with the rest of the hair) are all consistent
cuts when they are a single, solid color.
Examples of Varied Haircuts
Styles where half the head is cut close and the other half is grown out are
varied, as are mullets (short in the front and long in the back).
Dye can also be used to make a consistent haircut more varied, such as a
short spiked top cut with bleached or darkened tips.
The In-Between Styles
A lot of men's haircuts try for a healthy medium. The traditional business
side-part has a consistent vertical length (it all stops at about the same
height on the face/neck), but the asymmetrical part makes one side longer
than the other.
"Layered" cuts also tend to be roughly the same vertical length but made up
of different-length hairs. The effect is neat but more complicated than a
simple buzz cut.
NEAT VS. MESSY
Stylists sometimes talk about haircuts as having "lines." Think of it in
exactly those terms -- if someone were drawing your hair, what would the
outline look like?
A very neat haircut has clean, smooth lines. You can trace a distinct outline
without any trouble (speed-caricature artists love neat haircuts).
Messier styles aren't necessarily unkempt, but they do have more uneven
outlines. Looking good with a "messy" style can actually take more work
than looking good with a neat one, but the finished effect will be more
relaxed. It's a popular way to look carefree and easy-going. Of course, a
sloppy haircut that hasn't been properly combed or styled will also have a
messy outline, and the effect will be much less flattering.
SCULPTED VS. NATURAL
Depending on the texture of your hair, it may take product to achieve a neat
style. How much product you use, and what type, will affect how "sculpted"
the hair looks.
A sculpted hairdo doesn't move. Product fixes it in place so that the lines
don't change. A natural haircut is free to move as breezes or touches affect
it, and has less fixed lines around the outside.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantage of a sculpted look is that it maintains itself throughout the
day. The disadvantage is that its immediately noticeable when the product
starts to fail -- it doesn't take a lot of hairs out of place to ruin a sculpted
look. A slicked-back pomade is great right up until the bangs start flopping
forward, and then you've got a haircut that needs serious repair ASAP.
Un-sculpted 'dos are nice because they don't have a time limit. Apart from
maybe a light grooming cream they're kept in place by the natural shape of
the haircut and the weight of the hair rather than product. The downside is
that they're more prone to mussing -- a stiff breeze can turn a nice-looking
side-part into a tangled haystack if there's no product to hold it in place.
What It Says
A guy with a clearly sculpted look is a guy who cares about his appearance
and wants other people to know it. It's like wearing expensive Italian loafers
with silver buckles or a designer suit with a visible trademark -- the point is
to be noticed.
Natural hairdos are supposed to look effortless. They aren't necessarily, but
the goal is to say "laid-back" to observers, whether it's true or not. If you're
trying to look like an effortless kind of guy for whom things come naturally,
an un-sculpted 'do is the one for you.
HAIR AND CLOTHING
What you wear your hair with affects the attitude it projects. A guy in a
buzz cut wearing a T-shirt and shorts is a jock; a guy in a buzz cut and a
three-piece suit is probably a businessman to be reckoned with.
The important thing is not to create accidental contradictions. That means
avoiding things like loose, shoulder-length rock-star hair paired with a
business suit. The neater your hair is, the neater your clothing should be
too, and vice-versa -- slicking your hair back with pomade is overkill if
you're just going to the store in sweats and flip-flops.
3. MAINTENANCE NEEDS
Hair needs proper treatment to stay healthy. Most guys' routines consist of
shampooing, toweling off, and combing, full stop (or less). For some
haircuts that's enough. For others, it's not.
SHAMPOO
Shampoo actually has a pretty complex job. It needs to remove the dirt-
encrusted oil that covers your hairs without also stripping the hair of fresh
oils.
Daily shampooing is not necessary for most men. Unless you have
exceptionally oily hair or are exposed to a large amount of dusty particles,
daily shampooing will end up stripping off healthy oils and forcing your
hair to overproduce its natural oil. The result is increasingly oily hair that
looks greasy long before it's actually dirty.
Men with oily hair should rinse regularly but shampoo infrequently. Over
time the hair will adjust and begin to produce less oils.
CONDITIONER
Hair conditioner is a product specifically designed to thicken individual
hairs. It usually contains both moisturizing agents and oils. The
combination softens and thickens the hairs, making them feel smoother and
helping them adhere naturally when brushed in the same direction.
Marketers will try to sell conditioners "for" every type of hair. This is
largely misleading -- conditioner is useful for men whose hairs are naturally
light, dry, or otherwise prone to scattering. Thick-haired men whose hairs
naturally stick to one another don't have much use for conditioner.
Conditioner may be more necessary in dry climates. In humid climates, it
can make hair feel limp and damp all day long.
HAIR WAX
Wax is one of the oldest products for men's hair. It has been around since
before the Roman empire, and hasn't actually changed much in composition
since then.
Waxes are useful in that they both stiffen and moisturize the hair. This is
easier on the hair than sprays which harden and dry it, which can result in
more long-term damage to the hair.
The disadvantage of styling waxes is that they resist washing -- it can take
several rinses and stiff scrubbing to get wax out of styled hair.
POMADE
Pomade is a synthetic grease used to make hair slicker, smoother, and
shinier. The look is distinctive and clearly artificial. In America it's often
associated with the 1940s and 1950s, when stiffly-pomaded side parts
became the iconic businessman's hairstyle.
Pomade is usually a combination of a wax and a fatty oil. The wax provides
the stiffness while the oil moisturizes the hair and holds it together, as well
as lending a glossy sheen to the surface.
The disadvantage of pomade is that the two substances evaporate and
absorb at different rates. The oils tend to soak into the hair or evaporate into
the atmosphere faster than the wax, resulting in hair that starts to clump
together in long, stiff sheets rather than smooth curves. Re-applying
pomade before this drying happens can help, but once it takes place the
only effective solution is to wash the pomade out thoroughly (often a
process of multiple rinses) and then apply a new dab to the cleaned hair.
HAIR SPRAY
Canned hair spray is one of the stiffest "fixers" for a hairdo. It coats the
outside of the hair with a fast-drying polymer that binds to itself, resulting
in hardened "bundles" of hair. This creates a very fixed and sculpted look
that resists tousling, but may feel stiff or "crunchy" to the touch.
For men, hair spray works best on short, spiky looks. Longer hair styles are
better-served by pomades or waxes, which will give less of a "helmet-head"
feel.
Some hair sprays need specific solvents to wash out, but most will come out
in warm water. Wash hairspray out with plain water before shampooing so
that the shampoo can take care of the dirt trapped on the actual hairs under
the spray.
HAIR CLAY
A relatively recent arrival on the hair product scene is hair clays, which use
powdered mineral products to provide stiffness instead of fats or waxes.
They tend to be on the more expensive side, but provide a stiff hold like a
pomade without the visible glossiness of one. This makes them extremely
useful for men who like an artfully tousled look that appears unplanned and
natural.
A little hair clay goes a long way. Overusing it can create visible streaking
and make the hair harden. It rinses out easily in warm water.
COMBING
Last but not least, combing is a healthy process as well as a grooming one.
Combs help clear away dead hairs to let new ones grow in, as well as
brushing off the largest detritus from your hair.
Even if you prefer not to wear a visible part, keep a comb in your pocket or
at least in your bathroom. Men with longer hair may need to upgrade to a
hairbrush, but for most middle- and short-length haircuts a simple pocket
comb is usually enough.
4. SPECIFIC HAIRSTYLES
Want to know how to put all of that together?
Remember, each hairstyle is basically a combination of three factors:
The kind of hair you have naturally
The way your stylist has shaped it (the "attitude")
The products and processes you use to take care of it at home
To see how those all come together, here's a list of some of the more
common hairstyles. Most of these have more than one name, so you may
have heard them called different things depending on where you live and
how your stylist was trained.
SHORT CUTS
Shaved Head
Self-explanatory, really -- everything is shaved clean, leaving a bare scalp.
It's simple, but requires regular upkeep if you haven't gone completely bald
naturally.
These days a shaved head is considered a reasonable option for men who
are beginning to bald in places and want to even it all out, but it still has a
youth and rebellion association for many people. Combined with any
visible tattoos it's definitely an aggressive style.
Burr
An even-length cut buzzed down to about 1/8" or less. Most barbers will
bring the back of the neckline up pretty high when they do a burr cut, so
that there's not a lot of stubble reaching down the back of the neck.
A common cut for military men, athletes, and other guys who don't want to
deal with styling or with sweaty tangles. It's socially very neutral -- you can
wear it with just about any style in just about any situation, though it's less
common among the suit-and-tie crowd.

Butch
Another buzz cut (where the hair is trimmed down to an even length all
over with electric clippers), but longer than the burr. Generally about an
even 1/4" length. Sometimes the sides are tapered or faded out around the
ears, but if the effect becomes dramatic it's more of a "fade" or a "high and
tight" style (see below).
Like the burr, this is a low-maintenance default for men that don't like to
think about their hair. It's a little less aggressively macho/sporting than the
short burr.

Crew Cut
A buzz cut with some sculpting to it: the sides are usually tapered, and the
top is tapered so that it's longer in front and shorter in back. The edges are
usually rounded, giving it a little less boxy of a look than a butch or burr.
Crew cuts are a popular youth and college style, typical on frat boys and
student athletes. Older men with receding hairlines may also wear them,
using the curve of the haircut to even out things around their bald spot.
Fade
A broad term, but generally refers to longer hair on top of the head buzzed
gradually shorter as it comes down the side of the head. The taper usually
starts around the ears and fades down to bare skin around the neckline.
Fades have been popular styles for men with curly hair for decades, with
different lengths up top coming in and out of fashion. At the longest, the
front can be curled up into a small pompadour (see below).
Fades give the low-maintenance of a basic buzz cut but look a little more
deliberate. They're good for men who don't want to think about their hair
much but who want a bit of style to their cut beyond the most basic,
utilitarian shape.
Different barbers probably have different ideas of where to start the fade
and how long to leave it up top, so be sure to be specific in your request.
High and Tight
A traditional military style, a "high and tight" is basically an extreme fade.
The sides are shaved close all the way up the side of the head, leaving the
hair a little longer for just the inch or two across the top of the skull. The
top is usually between 1/8" and 1/4" long, with the rest of the head shaved
closer than 1/8".
If the sides are shaved off entirely, leaving just a strip up top like a very
short mohawk, it's sometimes called a "high and tight recon" or just a
"recon."
Outside of the military, it's sometimes worn as a low-maintenance look with
a little style to it, especially by young men. High-and-tight cuts are
uncommon in more formal business settings.
Flat Top
A flat top is an aggressive buzz that trims the hair to an even height rather
than an even length. That means it's a little longer on the sides than the very
top of the head, with everything combed straight up (and usually stiffened
with product).
The result is, as the name implies, a flat horizontal plane all the way across
the top of the head. Some styles will round it out a bit around the edges,
while others go for as sharp and boxy a shape as possible.
Flat tops are a fairly casual style. You'll see them on entertainers and
celebrities from time to time, as well as athletes.
MEDIUM-LENGTH CUTS
Bowl Cut
An even-length style where the hair is left long on the top of the head, and
then cut off at the same height all the way around the head, generally at
about eye-level. The result is a "bowl" of hair on top of the head, falling to
the same height all the way around.
Because the style is so easy to do (simply cut at the same height all the way
around the head), it's associated with home haircuts, and often with small
children who got their bowl cuts from their mothers. It does appear on
adults (Moe from the Three Stooges is an obvious example), but is
generally considered unstylish.
Brush Cut
Another descriptively-named style: the hair on top of the head is cut short
and kept standing straight up like the bristles on a brush. It generally
involves product, although men with tightly curled hairs can create a bumpy
brush cut that stands on its own. The sides are generally faded out down
around the ears.
Brush cuts are popular with young men, and can range from fairly natural-
looking to quite stiffly artificial. Dyed tips have come in and out of fashion
with the brush cut and other upward-pointing styles like it.

Caesar Cut
A variation on the bowl cut with shorter bangs, worn straight forward and
brushed down onto the forehead, but cut sort enough that they do not fall
into the eyes. Modeled on depictions of Julius Caesar, who wore his bangs
pointed downward on his forehead.
Men with straight hair can wear this style easily, but wavy-haired men will
need product to hold the bangs flat on the forehead. It's a convenient style
that's easy to neaten with just your fingers -- comb the bangs forward and
let everything else fall into an even bowl cut and you're done.
Business Cut
A "business cut" is a pretty broad term, but generally implies hair that is
long enough to lay flat (or as flat as it naturally can) and is parted to one
side or the other. It is usually tapered or curved at the back, and trimmed out
of the eyes, off the back of the neck, and above the ears.
The business cut is the go-to for a lot of professional men. How it looks can
depend a lot on the shape of your head, the body of your hair, and what
product you use in it. As long as you keep it neat it's acceptable pretty much
anywhere -- the biggest risk with it is looking generic, not looking
inappropriate.
Ivy League
A shorter variation of the business cut, parted to one side or the other and
generally worn with gel or a similar fixative. It's meant to stay neat and flat.
The classic companion to a "prep" look.
Pompadour
Any style with the bangs brushed up and back and held in place with
product. Low-key versions can be a basic "duck bill" or brushed-up tips,
while extreme versions of the style look more like an Elvis 'do.
The more elaborate the curl in the front, the more it becomes a fashion
statement. If you're just putting a little prow on your butch cut your
pompadour is probably all right for most jobs as well as the club scene, but
if you've got a full wave curling back from your forehead it's not going to
look good with business dress.

Taper Cut
Essentially a fade cut with longer hair all around: the hair on top of the head
is long enough to lie flat under its own weight, and gets trimmed gradually
thinner as you move down the sides of the head. It's like a business or Ivy
League cut without the sharp cutoff -- the hair goes on down below the ears
and onto the nape of the neck, buzzed short rather than shaved off entirely.

Layered Cut
A more styled way to wear your hair, and one that generally requires
product: the hair is cut at varying lengths as it comes down the side of the
head, creating an asymmetrical "mussed" look.
The advantage of a good layered cut is that you can do a lot with it.
Combing it into a neat part and holding it in place with product gives you a
neatened-up appearance, and then when you want to unwind you can just
muss the whole thing up with your fingers and suddenly have a brand-new
look.
Layered cuts can come in a variety of lengths and parts. As a general class,
they're popular and practical for men who want to look like they've spent a
little money on their appearance.
Fauxhawk
There are a variety of spellings for "fauxhawk," which is a portmanteau of
"faux" (meaning "fake") and "mohawk" -- a "fake mohawk," in other
words.
In a fauxhawk (as in a mohawk; see below), the sides of the head are
shaved clean, leaving only a strip an inch or two wide on top of the head.
The hairs are brushed upward and angled inward so that they make a
peaked ridge along the top of the scalp.
Fauxhawks are shorter than full mohawks, though there is no exact
deliniation between the two. In general, a fauxhawk will be an inch or two
high at the most, and usually has a more rounded shape. Some have a little
pompadour curl at the front as well, combining the two styles.
They are social styles, and not likely to be looked kindly upon in
conservative workplaces.
LONG CUTS
Beach Cut
The original surfer-dude look: grown long in both the front and the back, all
pushed straight back so that the hair crests up from the forehead and then
falls away toward the back of the head. Most guys require product (or
regular dips in the ocean) to keep the long bangs from falling forward over
the face.
Length can vary. Beach cuts usually reach at least to the back of the neck,
and can go all the way down the back. It's an informal style, but done with
the right product and good clothes accompanying it you can look stylishly
windswept. Get lazy and let it start falling down around your face and you'll
just look like a high school stoner, though, so exercise caution.
Wave Cut
Also sometimes called a curl cut, this is a common choice for men with
wavy hair who want to wear theirs long and still look a little dressy. The
back and sides are grown long (usually just above shoulder length) and the
bangs parted to fall on one side of the head or the other. The result is a
wavy front and side, with curls at the back of the neck.
Whenever long hair on men comes into fashion (it constantly see-saws back
and forth), you see this on the cover of a lot of celebrity and Hollywood
magazines. A little product and good hygiene keep it looking like a
deliberate style, and not like you were too lazy to get a haircut.

Ponytail
The no-thought default for long hair: both the front and back are long, and
everything is gathered at the back of the head by an elastic band or other
fastener. The "tail" then falls straight back.
The ponytail requires good dress sense if you want it to look like anything
other than a lazy man's path of least resistance. You can't wear it with blue
jeans and a T-shirt and expect to be taken very seriously, unless you're in a
country-rock band.
Straight and Long
Also called a "shower cut" and a variety of regional terms, this is the beach
cut without the backwards sweep, and with very straight hair. It doesn't
work well for men with any natural wave or curl, unless they're willing to
straighten their hair every day.
In this style, the long hair simply falls around the face in an even length. It
falls both in front of and behind the shoulders. Wear it when you want to
look like the cover of a romance novel -- but probably not to work.
Straight and long is usually center-parted or not parted at all, but it can be
swept to one side or the other for a slightly more stylized, asymmetrical
look.
Front Bangs
The bangs are grown out and brushed downward, falling in front of the
eyes. This can be paired with any number of lengths and parts, but the effect
is always a little sheltering. Lately it's had an association with emo music,
goth culture, and other moody youth fashions.

Dreadlocks
Traditionally an African-American hairstyle, dreadlocks can actually be
grown by most people -- it just takes more or less effort depending on your
hair. The long, matted coils are generally assumed to be a casual style, but
several high-profile black celebrities have been wearing dreads with top-
end business wear, bringing them more into the mainstream.
Keeping dreads healthy is a fairly involved process. Be prepared to do some
careful maintenance if you decide to go for this style.

Bon Jovi
Named for the rock star, this is the "Big Hair" look of the 1980s: long,
unparted, and teased into piles of curls with product. It's an over-the-top
look (literally) that only goes well with elaborate fashion or with counter-
culture trappings.
Tease your hair into a Bon Jovi for a rock concert if you want to, but you'll
look pretty silly running errands or going to work with one.

Mohawk
Another one that's better at concerts than worn day-to-day: the sides of the
head are shaved and the hair in the middle is greased straight up, either into
a single pointed ridge or into a series of spikes.
Long mohawks are often dyed for extra effect.
5. HOW TO TELL YOUR BARBER WHAT
YOU WANT
"GIGO" is ancient slang as far as computer culture goes. It's been around
since the days of punchcard-fed equations. But it's still relevant: "Garbage
In, Garbage Out."
In other words, you get what you ask for. Exactly what you ask for. Ask for
the wrong thing, and you don't get what you wanted.
It works with barbers just like it does with computers. The poor guy (or
girl) can only base your haircut off of what you tell him (or her).
Here's what you need to do to make your desires clear:
GIVE AN EXAMPLE
Does it feel a little embarrassing to pull a magazine clipping of a celebrity
out and say "can you do my hair like his?"
Yeah, probably. That feels a little too teenaged-girly for most of us. But you
know what? It works.
If you're dying to have your hair look just like Don Draper's on Mad Men,
take a deep breath and tell your barber so. If you can, have a picture on
hand, just in case he hasn't seen the show (or so that you know you're both
thinking of the same season's look).
Smartphones have made it even easier -- download a couple shots of the
look you want, and let your barber flip through them.
Of course, it may not be possible. If you have tightly-curled red hair, no
amount of trimming and product is going to make you look like Don
Draper. And your barber will tell you that.
But giving a concrete example is probably the single best thing you can do
to make sure you and your barber are on the same page. Do it, if you
possibly can, and try to do it with a visual aid as well as a verbal
description.
CLEARLY DEFINE THE OUTLINE
Lay the haircut you want out clearly. If you want the hair all the way up off
your ears, the phrase "above the ears, please" needs to leave your mouth at
some point. Ditto "out of the eyes," "off the neck," and so on.
That defines where you actually want the hair to stop -- where you want the
cut to stop and bare skin to begin. If you want a fade instead, that's another
word that needs to leave your mouth. "Fading out below the ears," etc., tell
the barber where you want the cut to end and the graduated buzz to begin.
You need to do this even if you've given the barber a specific style. Tell one
barber that you want a "crew cut," with no other details, and you'll get a
different shape than you will with another barber.
DESCRIBE THE TEXTURE
One thing that the name of a style doesn't tell the barber is how you want
the surface of your hair shaped. This is especially important for longer
styles.
A barber can use different tools for different looks -- if he goes at your hair
with the electric trimmers, it's going to be shorter, spikier, and more
uniform than if he works entirely with scissors, and a straight razor will
give you a choppier, more layered look that thins the hair out overall.
Key things to describe are how even you want the hair and how thick you
want it. Tell the barber if you want to loose some volume, and tell him if
you want a choppy, layered look versus a smooth, even look.
GET SPECIFIC
The last step is one you don't have to do. But if you like being in control of
your look, and you've gone some research, there are a couple specific points
where you can tell your barber or stylist what options you prefer.
Neckline
Neckline is the shape of the bottom edge of the haircut in back. It's also
sometimes called the nape, although that's more properly a term for the
back of the neck itself.
A blocked neckline squares off solidly across the bottom. It's
usually done with scissors followed up with trimmers. It's easy, but
starts to look raggedy fast, so be prepared to do some trimming at
home or to make some follow-up visits to keep it neat.

A rounded neckline has a gentle arch shape at the bottom. It's

longest right in the middle of the neck, and sweeps up a bit to the
sides. It's a little less chunky-looking that the blocked style, but
otherwise about the same.

A tapered neckline uses the trimmers to fade the neckline out

gradually. Instead of a clear line, either straight or bowed, you get a
gradient. It's a little more time-consuming to do in the first place (and
takes more skill), but it grows out more evenly than the other styles.
It's a good option for shorter cuts that are already ending high on the
neck.
Arches
The arches are the spaces between your haircut and your ears. In any style
that falls below the ear, they're by necessity an arch shape, hooking over the
ear -- hence the name.
High arches is a specific request that leaves a little more bare skin
between your hairline and your ear. It makes your ears stand out a bit
more -- useful if you feel that you have small ears, or that you need
your head to look wider in general.

Natural arches hug the ears. How much hair there is down around
the ear will depend on the style of haircut you're getting. Unless your
ears are getting completely swallowed by your hair, this is probably
the best way to go.

Tapered arches fade out around the ear, just like a tapered neckline
fades out on the back of the neck. It's the appropriate choice for cuts
that have a taper on the sides elsewhere as well -- a tapering cut
coming down the side of your head looks strange if it hits the arch
and suddenly turns into a clean line.
Sideburns
The sideburns are the tufts of hair that come down from behind your ears to
join your facial hair (if you have any). Most cuts look better with the burns
kept short, but if you have a beard that comes all the way up your cheeks it
may look more natural to grow the sideburns out until they join it.
If you don't want your barber to thin your sideburns down fairly short, you
should tell him -- the default is usually to trim them down.
FACIAL HAIR
A full guide to facial hair could be its own standalone work (and at some
point it probably will be -- stay tuned!)
But to touch briefly on its relation to hair styles: much like your outfits, you
want your facial hair to at least loosely reflect the same level of formality as
your hairstyle.
A huge bushy beard flying out in every direction is going to look silly with
a business suit. For that matter, so will long, spiraling forks in a double
goatee -- even though it requires lots of product, care, and styling, the look
still isn't a business one.
Men who want to grow elaborate and unique facial hair styles will already
probably have a good idea of what they're going for. For the rest of us, here
are some of the most common facial hair styles, and a few short suggestions
on how to wear them:
Clean Shaven
This is the default for a lot of men in the business world.
Although it requires daily maintenance (for most of us), going clean-shaven
is overall a fairly low-effort beard option. As long as you have five minutes
to run a razor over your face, you can achieve a uniform look day in and
day out.
Some conservative workplaces may require clean shaves. Others may not
explicitly ban facial hair, but will still have a mostly-shaven culture.
If this is your facial hair style of choice, invest in a simple razor that can
stand up to lots of use. A basic metal safety razor is often a good option --
the blades are much cheaper than cartridges for plastic razors, and give just
as good of a shave if you change them regularly.
Clean shaves go well with just about any hairstyle, including the longer
ones. It's a neutral template. The only thing that might potentially look a
little odd would be an extremely bushy and unkempt hairstyle falling all
around your face with a smooth, well-kept shave. At that point you might as
well let the beard go fuzzy too.
Soul Patch
A soul patch is the next-closest thing to a clean shave: just a small patch of
hair centered under the lower lip.
Lengths can vary slightly, but for the most part soul patches are kept as a
dot or teardrop shape, stopping well above the point of the chin.
This is a sporty, young man's style. It's been popular among a wide range of
cultures, from California surfers to professional athletes. Because of its
leisurely associations, it's not the best style for a business setting.
A soul patch is pretty easy to keep in shape with just a basic safety razor,
but some men prefer a small-tipped electric for the added control. The
bushier the patch, the less defined its edges will become, meaning that a
very close-trimmed soul patch needs more careful outlining than a thick
one.
Mustaches
It's a broad term, but for practical purposes we'll lump in any style that has
hair only on the upper lip as a "mustache."
Different thicknesses and lengths of mustache come into and out of style all
the time. Right now there's a bit of a craze among younger men for
"vintage" styles that require careful trimming and waxing; no doubt in
another few years that will morph into a return to bushy, 1970s-style
'staches or something else entirely.
Feel free to chase fashions or follow your own preference as much as you
like here. Particularly elaborate styles that require delicate waxing are too
fancy to be business-appropriate in conservative settings, while thicker
styles need to be trimmed fairly close for conventional workplaces.
Most mustaches will have something of an aging effect. They're widely
seen as an older man's style, apart from very experimental (or scruffy) ones,
so you can expect to add a few years with a conventional mustache.
Chin Beards
Not to be confused with a chin strap, which runs all the way around the
face, a basic chin beard is exactly that: hair that covers the curve of the
chin, but stops before it comes up the cheekbones.
Like mustaches, this can come in a lot of different lengths and flavors. A
thin goatee is a chin beard; so is a thick spade beard trimmed square at the
end.
Many chin beard styles include hair grown upward on either side of the
mouth, framing the lower lip (some will also include a soul patch or stripe
in the center, coming down from the lower lip).
This is often a good family of styles for men who want to wear facial hair
but also need to keep it professional. Leaving the upper lip and cheeks bare
and keeping the hair on the chin under control gives a conservative, refined
look to the face that can pair well with business attire and settings.
An electric razor may help keep a chin beard at an even length, especially if
you want it trimmed very close. At slightly longer lengths you can usually
achieve the needed evening with careful passes of a safety or straight razor.
Chin and Lip Beards
Combine a mustache and a chin beard and you've got, well, a chin and lip
beard. It makes a full circle around the lips, enclosing them in hair.
Some styles will curl the mustache upward, so that it doesn't fully join with
the rest of the beard (like a "van Dyke" beard), but most are a simple
horseshoe shape around the lips that joins with a curve of hair along the
chin.
The overall look when worn naturally (without wax or other products) is
rugged, simple, and timelessly manly. You might not be able to get away
with it in very conservative business settings, but most places will accept it
so long as it's neatly trimmed.
It is, however, easy for a beard of this size to start getting out of hand, and
you can move into lumberjack territory very quickly if you're not careful.
Keep it trimmed, either with an electric razor or small scissors, or by
passing a safety razor a few inches from the skin.
Sideburns
For most men, sideburns are part of a haircut. But they can be grown out to
the point that they become facial hair in their own right.
Long sideburns are a casual look, and something of a dated one (although
you never know what's going to come back into style unexpectedly).
They're fine for leisure activities and young men who aren't in conservative
jobs, but pairing them with a suit or even a good blazer will definitely seem
odd.
The length of your sideburns can vary from something that's trimmed quite
close to the haircut (more conservative) to most of the way down the planes
of the cheeks (less conservative). They can also be trimmed to a small,
narrow line or allowed to grow until they make a wide strip, generally an
inch or two wide on most men's cheeks.
Chinstraps
Wrap a set of sideburns all the way around, so that there's a continuous line
of beard from one side of the haircut under the chin and up to the other side
of the haircut, and you've got a chinstrap.
Like sideburns without the chin beard, it's more of a youth and casual style
than anything an older man or a businessman might wear.
Keeping a chinstrap an even thickness all the way around can be a pain. It
may be worth investing in a specialized razor with a smaller head, whether
electric or manual, so that you can work in more detail.

Full Beard
Put all your options together -- sideburns, chin beards, and mustaches -- and
you get the full beard. This has hair on the cheeks, the chin, and the lips.
A full beard needs to be trimmed short and kept very neat around the edges
if it's to be presentable with anything besides a lumberjack's plaid flannel
shirt. At this point you'll almost certainly need an electric razor to keep the
length even, with no stray curls popping out.
The length of a full beard can vary, but to keep it neat you're best off
shaving everything underneath the point of the chin, avoiding any
"neckbeard" growth. If you start letting that grow out, you'll need the tip of
the beard to come down quite a ways to hide it (or blend into it).
Expect to spend some time every morning with a full beard, if you want to
keep it from looking like facial hair that you've just let grow wild.
CONCLUSION
And that's all there is to it. Know your hair -- its texture, color, and
thickness -- and know what you want your haircut to say about you. Then
pick a style that suits your taste and your maintenance needs.
It doesn't get any easier than that!
If you want to listen to this guide on the go, visit
http://realmenrealstyle.com/hairstyle-audio/ for a free audiobook version!
The password is "hairstyle" (all lower case), which will give you full access
to the entire audio content. Enjoy!