How to grow out your hair: the cut to ask for at every stage

It depends on where you start, where you're going and how fast your own hair grows. Fitcut's grow-out numbers assume about 1.25 cm (½ in) a month. That's Fitcut's own estimate, not a medical figure.

For comparison, Cleveland Clinic puts average growth at 4 to 6 inches a year ^[1], so Fitcut's estimate sits at the fast end of that range. If your hair grows more slowly, stretch every stage below.

The months in the ladders come from the catalog: the gap between the top end of one cut's length range and the next cut's, divided by the growth estimate and rounded up. They are rough on purpose. What matters more is that every rung is a finished haircut, so there's no stage where you're only waiting.

The men's ladder runs from a buzz cut to a man bun in eight cuts. Read it top to bottom; the months column is the time from the rung above.

What changes at each visit:

• Buzz to crew: let the top grow while the barber keeps the sides tapered, and ask for the top graduated shorter from front to crown. See the crew cut.
• Crew to textured crop: the top is now long enough to point-cut for texture, with a choppy fringe. See the textured crop.
• Textured crop to classic taper: swap the skin fade for a scissor-over-comb taper so the sides can thicken up, and sweep the top to one side. See the classic taper.
• Classic taper to mod cut: let the sides cover the top half of the ears and grow a heavy fringe to the brows. See the mod cut.
• Mod cut to curtains: move to a centre part, with the fringe falling to the temples. See curtains.
• Curtains to flow: stop cutting the sides short; tuck them behind the ears and keep a clean, tapered nape. See the flow.
• Flow to man bun: dust the ends only and keep long layers for shape. This is the longest wait on the ladder. See the man bun.

The women's ladder runs from a classic pixie to long layers in five cuts. The jumps into a bob and into long layers take the longest.

On this ladder, “length on top” means something different for the chin bob, the lob and long layers: for those three it's the overall length from the crown to the ends.

• Pixie to bixie: grow the top and sides until your ears are half covered, keep the nape tapered and wear a long, side-swept fringe. See the bixie cut.
• Bixie to chin bob: let the back catch up with the front, then cut everything to one length at the jaw or chin. See the blunt bob.
• Bob to lob: grow to the collarbone and keep the ends blunt, or add light long layers. See the lob.
• Lob to long layers: once you're past the shoulders, layers start from the chin down, with a U or soft V at the back. See long layers.

Starting from a buzz instead? The usual first goal is a soft pixie, and the pixie cut page covers who that shape suits.

The awkward stage is usually the sides and the back growing out of shape before the top has caught up. A few habits keep it under control:

• Keep booking. A tidy neckline and clean edges around the ears make an in-between length look deliberate.
• Ask for shape, not length: “Nothing off the top, just clean up the edges and the back.”
• Use the ladder cuts as short-term goals, so each visit ends with a style that has a name.
• Bridge with a fringe. Curtain fringes and face-framing pieces give a growing front somewhere to go.
• Expect a little product to help in the middle; the catalog lists a light product for every middle rung on both ladders.

Curly hair needs one extra rule: judge the length dry. Curls spring up as they dry, so a cut that looks right wet can finish shorter than planned. Ask for extra length to be left for shrinkage.

Less often than before, but don't stop. Each rung has its own interval in the catalog: a crew cut wants a tidy-up every 3–4 weeks, a classic taper every 4–6 weeks, and a flow can go 8–12 weeks. On the women's side, the bixie needs a visit every 5–7 weeks and the lob every 8–10 weeks.

At those visits the job is shaping, not shortening. Stylists will tell you a trim can't speed growth, because hair grows from the root, not the ends.

What trims can do is protect the length you have: Cleveland Clinic's hair-growth guide says regular trims keep hair from breaking and getting even shorter ^[1].

Yes. Longer tops need a full front to read well, so Fitcut marks long cuts down, then hides them, as the hairline moves past their limit. The table shows the longest top that still reads well at each Norwood stage, by the catalog's rule of thumb.

On the men's ladder that limit bites early: in the catalog the curtains hold up through Norwood 1, and the flow through Norwood 1. If your temples are moving back, a shorter rung may be the place to stop. The receding hairline guide maps cuts to each stage, and haircuts for thinning hair covers a widening part, which also limits long layers.

A grow-out plan can't tell you why a hairline or a part is changing. If it's moving quickly, see a dermatologist.

• A receding or thinning front: past the limits above, a long top makes the contrast between thin and full areas more visible, not less.
• Fine, low-density hair aiming for a flow or a man bun: the catalog lists both for medium to high density, so long, heavy lengths can look sparse.
• Tight curls and coils: from the classic taper to the flow, the men's rungs are built for straight to wavy hair and reach 3A at most, so a 3B or 4C head needs a different route. The curly hair guide for men and the coily hair guide list the cuts that hold.
• Little patience for styling: the curtains list 5 min a day and the man bun 5–10 min a day, against 2 min a day for the crew cut. If the longer rungs ask more than you'll give, stop at the crew cut, or stay with the buzz cut, which needs no daily styling.
• Helmets, hard hats or a daily swim: long lengths need tying back, so a shorter rung is easier to live with.

Read this out, or show it on your phone. Swap in the rung you're at and the one you're heading for.

I'm growing my hair out toward a [target cut, e.g. flow or lob].
For now I'd like it to look like a [current rung] until my next visit.
Please don't take any length off the top.
Clean up the neckline and around the ears, and shape the back so it doesn't look shaggy.
Leave the sides [a little longer than last time / scissor-cut instead of clippered].
If my hair is curly, please judge the length dry.
When should I come back?

Your Fitcut results note roughly how many months it takes to grow into a recommended cut that's longer than your hair is now, at the same growth estimate, so you can pick a target that's months away rather than years. Run the free analysis to see it, or measure your proportions first with the face shape detector. If you see a stylist rather than a barber, the stylist guide has the length words to use.