How to Grow Your Hair Out: A Men's Timeline, Stage by Stage

Almost nobody fails at growing their hair out because their hair stopped growing. They fail in month four, in front of a mirror, on a morning when the sides have started to flick and the top will not lie in any direction. That is the moment men book a haircut they did not want and start the whole thing again.

So this is the map. What actually happens month by month, what your hair needs at each stage, and where the barber fits in, because growing it out is not the absence of haircuts. It is a different kind of haircut, spaced further apart.

How fast does men's hair actually grow?

Scalp hair grows roughly 0.35 mm a day, and the growth phase of each follicle runs for years, which is why length is a question of patience rather than luck. Over a month that lands somewhere between 1 and 1.5 cm for most men. We plan around 1.25 cm, which is 15 cm in a year. The StatPearls review of hair physiology has the underlying numbers if you want them.

Two things follow from that, and both of them are uncomfortable. Going from a number two all over to hair you can tie back is close to a two year project. And nothing you buy speeds it up. Shampoos, oils and supplements can keep the hair you already have in better condition, which means fewer split ends and less breakage, so more of what grows actually stays on your head. That is worth doing. It is not the same as growing faster.

Work out your own timeline

Rather than guess, put your own numbers in. Tell it where your hair is now, the style you are aiming at, and how fast your hair tends to grow. It gives you a month, the number of shape-up trims to budget for, and the window where it is going to be hardest.

One number in there surprises people, and it is not the date. It is the trim count. Growing your hair out costs money, just less often, and every one of those visits is what stops the middle of the process looking like neglect.

The five stages of growing your hair out

Length is not a smooth ride. It arrives in stages, and each one has its own problem to solve.

Weeks 0 to 8: still a haircut

Your hair is between 0 and 3 cm and it still holds the shape it was cut into. This is the easy part and it lulls people. The mistake here is booking your usual cut out of habit, because a normal appointment quietly removes the two centimetres you just spent two months earning.

What to do: say out loud, at the start of the appointment, that you are growing it out. Then let us clean the neckline and around the ears and leave the top completely alone.

Months 2 to 4: the sides start winning

Around 3 to 6 cm your sides catch up with your top and the whole thing goes round. Hair above the ears has nowhere to go but out, so it stacks into a shelf and your head reads wider than it is. This is when men decide long hair does not suit them, when what does not suit them is a temporary shelf.

What to do: this is the one place a barber should still remove hair. Weight comes out of the sides, above the ears, without shortening them. The length stays, the volume goes, and the shape flattens back down.

Months 4 to 7: the awkward stretch

Between roughly 6 and 11 cm, hair is too long to sit where it was put and too short to be pulled by its own weight. It flicks at the ends, it parts in places you did not choose, and it looks different every morning depending on how you slept. Every man who has ever grown his hair out has been here.

What to do: change what you are asking of it. Stop trying to hold a shape and start working with the direction it wants to fall. Damp hair, a grooming tonic, a comb, and pushed back or to one side rather than up. A cap on the bad days is not a defeat.

Months 7 to 12: it starts to fall

Somewhere past 11 cm, weight takes over. The hair stops standing away from your head and starts hanging from it, and almost overnight it looks deliberate again. Curtains, a middle part, a proper push back: this is where those become real options rather than aspirations.

What to do: your first genuinely shaping cut. Not length off, but layers put in so the top does not sit like a helmet, and the perimeter tidied so the ends stop looking frayed.

Month 12 and beyond: length you can style

At 15 cm and up you have a hairstyle rather than a phase. Now the work moves from surviving to maintaining, which means ends every couple of months and a conditioner you actually use.

Why you still book a barber while growing it out

This is the part that sounds like a shop trying to sell you appointments, so here is the honest version of it.

Hair does not grow evenly. The crown outruns the front, the sides outrun the back, and the hairline around your ears and neck keeps growing regardless of what the top is doing. Left completely alone for a year, you do not get long hair, you get an outline with no shape and split ends at the bottom of every strand you were trying to keep.

A shape-up trim during a grow-out does three things and none of them involve losing length: it cleans the neckline and around the ears, it takes weight out of the sides so nothing flicks, and it removes the ends that have started to split before the split travels up the shaft. Every 8 to 10 weeks is the rhythm. That is The Good Classic Haircut at CHF 59, and if you tell us it is a grow-out we cut it as one. Full pricing sits on our haircut prices page.

If you want the general rules for how often to sit in the chair, we covered those in how often should you get a haircut. This post is the exception to them.

What to say in the chair

The single most useful sentence is the one most men never say. Try these instead of "just a trim", which we will hear as "take some off".

• "I am growing it out, so nothing off the top." Say it first, before the cape goes on. It changes every decision that follows.
• "Take the weight out of the sides, but keep the length." This is the request that solves the shelf. It is thinning and texturising, not shortening.
• "Clean the neck and around the ears only." The two places that look untidy first and cost you nothing to fix.
• "Here is where I am heading." A photo of the target style, not of your hair today. We cut differently for curtains than for a slick back, even at the same length.
• "When should I come back?" Ask us to book the next one before you leave. Grow-outs die in the gaps between good intentions.

Getting through the middle without hating it

Product does not fix a grow-out, but the right kind makes the awkward months livable. The rule is control without weight. Heavy pomades and stiff clays were built for short hair and they turn mid-length hair greasy and flat, which is the exact look you are trying to avoid.

Work on damp hair, not dry. A tonic or a light cream distributed through towel dry hair sets the direction while the hair is still deciding what to do, then it dries into that shape. Applying anything to bone dry mid-length hair just coats it.

Wash less than you think. Mid-length hair carries its own weight down, and stripping it every day removes the oils that keep the ends flexible. Two or three washes a week with a conditioner on the ends every time is enough for most men. If your hair is coarse or curly, the unmanageable hair guide goes deeper, and the styling product comparison covers what each texture is actually for.

One Zürich specific note. Between November and March, dry indoor heating and a wet commute do more damage to mid-length hair than to short hair, because there is simply more of it exposed for longer. Our winter routine post has the details.

Will long hair even suit you?

Honest answer: length suits more men than think it does, but it does not suit every hair type equally, and the difference shows up in the middle stages rather than at the end.

Thick straight hair grows out heavy and behaves early, so the awkward stretch is short. Fine hair grows out fast but goes flat at the crown, so it needs layers sooner and a lighter product. Wavy and curly hair has the best long-term result and the worst middle, because the curl pattern only starts to form once there is enough weight to pull it down. If you are thinning at the crown, longer hair on top is usually not your friend, since length draws the eye across the scalp instead of over it.

Our hair type guide breaks this down properly, and if you are deciding between growing it and going the other direction, the fade guide covers the short end of the scale.

FAQ

How long does it take to grow your hair out as a man?
About 1.25 cm a month, so roughly 15 cm a year. From a short back and sides at 2 to 3 cm, a textured crop takes around 4 months, curtains around 8 months, a proper slick back or side flow around 12 months, and shoulder length closer to 20 months.

When is the awkward stage when growing your hair out?
Usually between months 4 and 7, when the hair is roughly 6 to 11 cm. It is too long to hold the shape it was cut into and too short for its own weight to pull it down. It ends once there is enough length for gravity to take over.

Should I get my hair cut while growing it out?
Yes, every 8 to 10 weeks, but a different cut. No length comes off the top. The barber cleans the neckline and the area around the ears, removes weight from the sides so nothing flicks out, and takes off split ends. Skipping this is why most grow-outs look unkempt rather than long.

Can I make my hair grow faster?
No product reliably speeds up the growth rate, which is set by your follicles. What you can change is how much of that growth survives: fewer split ends, less heat, less breakage and a healthy scalp all mean more length stays on your head. If you notice sudden shedding or thinning rather than slow growth, that is a question for a dermatologist.

How do I stop my hair sticking out at the sides?
That shelf above the ears is volume, not length. Ask your barber to remove weight from the sides while keeping them long, which is thinning and texturising rather than cutting. Styling damp with a tonic and combing back rather than up handles the rest.

How much does it cost to grow your hair out in Zürich?
At The Good Barbers, a shape-up visit is The Good Classic Haircut at CHF 59. At one every 9 weeks, a year of growing out is around 5 visits, so roughly CHF 300 across twelve months, plus whatever you spend on product.

Growing it out and not sure whether the next appointment should take anything off? Come in, tell us the plan, and we will cut it to fit the plan rather than to fit the calendar. Book at Enge, Alfred-Escher-Strasse 66 or Europaallee, Lagerstrasse 102, or read more about both shops.