Haircut Before Professional Headshots: Timing and Style
Book your haircut three to seven days before professional headshots. That gives a clipper fade a few days to lose its freshly-cut, slightly raw edge, and gives scissored hair time to settle into its natural fall, while still looking sharp on camera. Keep the cut close to your usual style rather than trying something new, because a headshot is meant to look like the person who walks into the meeting. If you have short faded sides, aim for the nearer end of that window, two to four days; if your cut is longer and softer, nearer a week works well.
Why a fresh cut is not the best cut for the camera
A haircut on the day of a shoot has three problems. Freshly clipped skin can look slightly pink, especially round the ears and neck, and the contrast between the cut line and untouched skin shows up under studio lighting. Scissored hair has not yet found its parting and can sit a little stiffly. And if anything is not quite right, there is no time to fix it. Two to seven days later, the edges have softened just enough to look natural while still reading as well-kept.
The opposite mistake is more common: leaving it too long. At four or five weeks, a fade looks fuzzy and the neckline has grown in, and a high-resolution camera picks up every stray hair over the ears. These photos tend to live on a company website or LinkedIn for years, so the small effort of timing it is worth it.
A simple timeline
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| 3 to 4 weeks before | If you want any change in style, do it now, so there is time for one corrective visit. |
| As soon as the shoot is confirmed | Book the pre-shoot cut. Tell the barber what it is for. |
| 3 to 7 days before | The cut itself. Shorter sides, closer to the shoot; longer hair, nearer a week. |
| 1 to 2 days before | Beard shape-up or neck tidy if needed. Do not try a new product. |
| Morning of | Wash, style as normal, shave if clean-shaven, bring a comb. |
What to ask the barber for
Tell them it is for headshots and when the shoot is. That changes several small decisions:
- Keep the style familiar. A headshot is not the moment to try the cut you saw last week. If you want a change, see the timeline above.
- Soften the hardest lines. A very sharp line-up at the forehead or temples can look drawn on in close-up. Ask for it slightly softer than you would normally wear it.
- Tidy what the camera sees. Hair over the ears, the neckline, sideburns, stray eyebrow hairs and any visible nose or ear hair.
- Take out bulk, not length. Puffy sides and heavy weight above the ears widen the face in a front-on photo.
- Ask how it will look on day four. The barber knows how quickly your sides grow and can cut a fraction shorter to allow for it.
Every visit at Highgate Cuts starts with the barber looking at your hair and what you need, so mention the shoot at that point rather than halfway through. If you find it hard to describe what you want, how to tell your barber what you want is a useful read beforehand.
Beards and stubble
Facial hair is where headshots are most often let down, because a cheek line or neckline that looks fine in a mirror is magnified on a large screen.
If you keep a beard
Have it trimmed and shaped one to two days before. The neckline should sit about a finger’s width above the Adam’s apple, and the cheek line should look natural rather than ruler-straight. Our guides to the beard neckline and cheek line explain the placement. Use a little beard oil the morning of the shoot to calm flyaways, not so much that it shines under lights.
If you wear stubble
Trim to your usual length the day before or the morning of, and clean the neck below it. Stubble that is uneven across the face shows more on camera than in person.
If you are clean-shaven
Shave the morning of, or have a hot towel shave the day before if you are prone to redness or bumps, so any irritation has calmed. A hot towel shave takes 20 to 30 minutes and gives the closest, most even finish. Do not shave against the grain for the first time on shoot day.
The morning of the shoot
- Wash and condition as normal. Hair that is a day past washing sometimes holds style better; if that is true for you, wash the day before.
- Style it the way you always do. Use less product than usual: wet-look gels and high-shine pomades reflect studio light and can look greasy in photos. Matte or low-shine products photograph better.
- Bring a small comb and the product in your bag. Wind, hats and a commute through the Archway Road traffic will do their worst.
- Check the back and sides in a hand mirror or ask someone. Three-quarter angle shots show more of the side than you expect.
- Ask the photographer to point out stray hairs between shots. Good photographers do this anyway.
Common mistakes
- Booking the cut the afternoon before. If it goes slightly wrong, there is no time to fix it.
- Changing colour or style just for the shoot. The photo should look like you in six months, not you on one particular day.
- Too much product. It looks wet and dark under lights.
- Forgetting the eyebrows and ears. These show up clearly at high resolution and take the barber seconds to tidy.
- Not mentioning the shoot. The barber cuts differently when they know a camera is coming.
Headshots for a team
If your firm is photographing several people on one day, it helps to stagger the cuts across the week before, so that no-one is in the chair the morning of the shoot. Groups booking together can email us with the date and the number of people, and we will work out the timing. For other occasions where the camera matters, the job interview haircut guide covers a similar problem with a different deadline.
Questions we get asked
Is the day before too close?
For a scissor cut on someone whose hair settles quickly, it can be fine. For a skin fade or a style change, it is cutting it fine. Three days is safer.
Should I shave my beard off for headshots?
Only if you are planning to stay clean-shaven. The photo should match how you look day to day.
What about a video call photo or a quick LinkedIn update?
The same rule applies on a smaller scale: a cut within the previous week and a tidy neckline make a noticeable difference.
Can I come in on the morning of the shoot for a tidy-up?
Ask us when you book with our Highgate barbers. A neckline or beard tidy is quick, but a full cut that morning is not recommended.
Book with The Highgate House
Ready for a proper cut? Email us at [email protected] with the service and the day that suits you, and we will come back to you with times.
Visit The Highgate House · The barbers
The Highgate House, Archway Road, Highgate, London N6.
