Why your haircut doesn’t always look exactly like you expected it to

iStockDon’t bring in a picture of someone else’s hair when you get your haircut.

You walk in, you greet your barber, and you sit down. The barber asks what you want done today.

You reach into your pocket to pull out a picture of a man with hair that looks nothing like yours. The barber groans, but, being a professional, he does the best he can with the instructions given.

Both of you leave unhappy. But this could have been avoided.

Unfortunately, finding a haircut online and showing it to your barber isn’t the best way to ask for the cut you want, and if you do that, you’re always going to end up with an approximation of what the barber can do with your hair. It’s important to remember that the hair of the guy in the photograph and your hair could be different in any number of ways.

These differences can include:

• Length: You may not be giving your barber a lot of room to work with if your hair is shorter than or around the same length as the man in the photo.
• Texture: Thick or thin is one of the defining features of a person’s hair, and you’re never going to be able to get a thick person’s hair if you have thin hair — and vice versa.
• Type: If you have straight hair, and the model in the photo has wavy hair, it’ll just never look the same.
• Hairline: Your hairline is due entirely to genetics, and it will have a huge impact on the way the front of your haircut looks.
• Color: This one’s pretty obvious.

But there is a simple solution: instead of someone else’s hair, bring a picture of yourself with a haircut you really liked.

Then, the barber will be able to replicate the haircut on you without concern to any differences in hair texture or type. And you’ll both be happy.