How often should you get your haircut?

As a barber and owner of Chrismagic Barbershop, I can't tell you how many times clients ask me this question.  I actually take it as a compliment:  they are so happy with their haircut when I'm finished that they want to know how to best maintain the look that I just gave them.  And as a barber who makes their living from haircuts, I think you should get a haircut as often as possible!

     But in all seriousness, there are some general rules you can follow to determine (roughly) how often you need to get a haircut.  As a general rule, the length of your hair will determine how often you need to get a haircut to maintain your style.  The shorter you keep your hair, the more you need to get a haircut to keep it looking fresh.

     Hair generally grows at a rate of half an inch per month.  So, when the hair is shorter, it doesn't take very long for the cut to begin to look messy. If, for example, you get a 1-guard cut on the side, this means that in just a week, the shortest part of your hair is twice as long as it was when you first got it cut.  On the flip side, if your hair is long on the sides, you really wouldn't notice much of a difference after a week.

     So how often should I get my hair cut? Here would be my recommendation:  if your hair is less than half an inch on the sides, a visit to your barber every two weeks is recommended (or every week if you can afford it).  So, for all you guys getting bald fades, zero fades, half fades and one-guards, a visit to your barber every week or two weeks is ideal.  For those with longer hair, a good rule of thumb would be to match the length on the sides to the number of weeks between haircuts (if your hair on the sides is 4 inches long, a visit to your barber every 4 weeks is ideal, if your hair is 8 inches long, a visit to your barber every 8 weeks is ideal etc. etc..).