How Often Do You Really Need to Cut Your Hair?

Knowing when to cut your hair depends on, well, your hair. While there are guidelines regarding optimal timelines for chopping locks, knowing where you fall within those timelines depends on the length and type of your hair, as well as what your goals for your hair are.

On average, hair grows about a half inch per month. Although some hair will grow faster or slower than others', there are general guidelines regarding how often to get a trim. Of course, when you cut your hair within the various spectrums depends on the rate at which your hair grows.

And let's go ahead and debunk the myth that trimming more often will make your hair grow faster. The only reason hair might appear shorter if you don't trim it is because of breakage. If hair is allowed to go for too long without a trim, the ends will suffer from damage and break off. But that means trimming is only helpful for length if it's removing potentially damaged sections of hair. If you trim healthy locks, you're only losing length. If you want your hair to grow longer, all you have to do is slightly extend how often your hair is trimmed, while making sure it is still often enough to keep splitting ends at bay.

And if you really want salon trips to be at a minimum, make sure to avoid and prevent any damage that could befall your hair. Heat styling, dyeing, and these other sneaky things can all cause extra damage that will lead to faster breakage. But regardless of your hair type or what you do to it, here are the general guidelines to follow regarding how often to cut your hair:

Short Hair

How often to cut short hair really depends most on whether you want to keep your hair short or not. If you want to maintain your length, opt for a trim every four to six weeks, since any growth on short hair is more noticeable than on long hair. If you're ready to grow your hair out, you can wait longer — up to four-six months before your first trim, and then every six-twelve weeks after that.

Medium-Long Hair

The longer your hair is, the older and therefore more fragile it is. Try to get a trim every six-eight weeks to maintain length. If you still want your hair longer though, try to trim every eight-ten weeks.

Natural Hair

Natural hair tends to grow a bit more slowly. Trimming every three-four months will help maintain length, while trimming every four-six months will allow it to grow in length.

Chemically Treated Hair

Like long hair, chemically treated hair is fragile, except even more so. To keep hair from getting to the point of breakage, try to trim every four-eight weeks. If the goal is to grow it out, aim for every eight weeks.

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