If you’ve got long hair or mid-length mens hair in Melbourne, you already know the risk.
You’ve walked into the shop you weren’t really sure about…the one Steven from work goes to and bangs on about. They said they can cut long hair. They couldn’t. You’ve been butchered. SHUT UP STEVEN!
A bad short haircut is annoying. A bad longer haircut is a proper disaster. One wrong move and suddenly you’re looking at yourself like you’ve lost a court case and the kids to your fringe.
Longer hair can look mad when it’s done properly. But when it gets butchered, it goes south quickly.
This is where a lot of shops get found out.
Some people see longer hair and panic. They either cut it like short hair with extra steps, or hear “just tidy it up” and still start taking chunks out of it like they’re clearing storm damage.
You wanted shape. You got helmet.
You wanted texture. You got school captain.
You wanted to keep the length. Now you’re one nervous snip away from a bob.
That last one alone is enough to drive anyone mad.
Longer hair doesn’t need bravery. It needs judgement.
How To Explain What You Want
If you’ve got longer hair, “just a trim” means nothing unless both of you are picturing the same thing.
Best thing you can do is bring photos. Explain lengths. Hell, bring a damn ruler if you have to.
Not even just full haircut photos either. If there’s one bit you like, the fringe, the weight around the ears, the back, the way it sits when it’s tucked away, show that.
We can usually figure out a lot just by sussing how you actually wear it.
Do you push it off your face?
Tuck it behind your ears?
Tie it up?
Leave it loose and messy?
Not wash it for four and a half weeks? Please don’t leave it that long.
That stuff matters. A haircut can look good for five minutes in the mirror and still be useless the second you try to wear it like a normal person.
Why Longer Hair Gets Fucked
Usually it’s one of a few things.
People don’t listen.
Too much weight gets taken out.
The sides get cut too short.
The shape gets flattened.
Or the whole thing slowly drifts into bob territory.
Longer hair gets ruined when someone cuts for control instead of shape.
If the only goal is making it neat, it usually ends up with all the life taken out of it. One length works for some people, but definitely not everyone.
Mid Length Can Be Intentional
Mid length hair doesn’t have to be that awkward stage before a better haircut happens.
It can be the haircut.
Mod cuts, shags, grown out textured shapes, all of that can look deliberate without looking overdone. And if you’ve got a bit of wave in your hair already, even better. That does half the work for you and for us.
If you’re wearing something in that zone, you’re usually looking at 4 to 6 weeks before the next cut if you want it to keep its shape.
At four weeks, it usually hasn’t changed much.
At six weeks, it’s starting to look a bit ratty, lad.
Longer Hair Grow Out Times
If you’re not trying to grow it longer, four weeks usually won’t look wildly different.
You’ve generally got until about 7 to 8 weeks before it starts looking like it probably needs a tidy up.
Unless you’re actually, actively growing it, with more intention than someone in the crystal shop up the road, there’s not much reason to push it past 10 weeks.
After that, you’re not maintaining the haircut. You’re just watching it slowly fall apart like cheap outdoor furniture or the corded headphones you left in your bag 10 years ago.
Longer hair isn’t the problem. Bad haircuts are.
It should still look like you, just a better version. It should work with how you actually wear it, and it shouldn’t fall apart the second it starts growing out.
At Buddy’s Barbershop in Carlton, we cut the full spread, from fades and mullets through to mid length and longer hair that needs a bit more thought than just “take a bit off.”
So if your hair’s getting to that point where it’s not fully cooked yet, but definitely heading there, sort it out before it does.
Book in or walk in. We got you.