# Why do they automatically cut off my sideburns? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 3, 2011, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331 "2011-03-03T11:03:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/21 "2011-03-04T18:42:18Z")
> [@mkecane](#): > > When I was about 20 years old, I went to a Cost Cutters or similar place for a regular, short haircut. At some point, the woman asked if I wanted her to cut my sideburns. 😕 I didn’t have sideburns. > > “Uh, sure,” I said, figuring she would just shave down my faint whiskers there or something like that. So, as she’s cleaning up around the ear near the end of my haircut, all of a sudden she shaved into my head a solid 3/4 inch above the line where the arm (?) of glasses would go, if I wore glasses. I couldn’t figure it out. Those aren’t sideburns! She shaved about halfway between the temple and the top of my would-be sideburns. Granted, my hair was really short anyway, so these completely shaved areas weren’t horribly noticeable, but I wasn’t too pleased. That was my last trip to that place. > > I now have a regular barber, so he knows what to do, though I’ll remind him if he’s talking a whole lot during a haircut just in case he forgets. What that barber gave you is sidewalls, not a sideburn. Military and ex military men get that cut. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/22 "2011-03-04T19:06:04Z")
I have to tell my barber to remove them entirely as they creep down in the month between cuts and sideburns are not in style. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/23 "2011-03-04T19:14:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > … > My problem is that I never know what to say to the barber. I want it short, but not too short. Not so short that it looks like I’m joining the army or so short that my bald spot starts to show through. There was a barbershop in the student union in college that had a nice system. When you went for your first haircut as a freshman, they’d write up your haircut on an index card, and then whichever barber you got from then on could refer to the card so they’d know what to do for you. Say, “Buzz cut, number three on top and number two on the sides.” Optionally, while looking at yourself in the mirror and pointing an index finger at the height above which you don’t want your sideburns cut, you could add, “And could you keep the sideburns right about here?” ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/24 "2011-03-04T21:12:28Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > …sideburns are not in style. Which is the best time to have them. Sparky you aren’t the only one. I had the same problem, as well as the “how do I describe what I want” problem until I settled on a regular barber. No more misunderstandings. Then things were peachy until Joe Mauer came along. ---
**Author:** ![Joyful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Joyful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joyful)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/25 "2011-03-04T21:21:57Z")
I remember that they had to cut my sideburns when I was playing in this low budget movie. I mean, I hated it. They never even payed me for the role and they made me cut my sideburns there on the set. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/26 "2011-03-05T12:25:50Z")
A good barber/stylist doesn’t assume you want to be in “style.” If you haven’t shaved off your sideburns, but have otherwise shaved properly (even if you have carry a beard there’s the neck beard) they should assume you want them. Sure, they can say “This would look better without sideburns; can I shave them off?” Sure they can trim them down (something that is a little harder to do on your own.) Also, sideburns allow wider faces to look more narrow. The same people who want to shave off my sideburns always want to give me too short of hair for my face. I’m not balding yet, but I have a high forehead and don’t want to look like I am. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/27 "2011-03-05T15:00:46Z")
Not quite worth its own thread: Yesterday I was lunching at a Japanese place near my office and was distracted by a professionally-dressed IT type at a nearby table who had elected to shave his entire head - except for half-inch strips of ginger sideburns which ran neatly from the the top to bottom of each ear. It looked like [this](http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/1267908943063579193aBtiNI). I didn’t know this was a thing, now. Hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![Chillermekanik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f17d59/32.png) [@Chillermekanik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chillermekanik)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/28 "2026-05-21T16:46:38Z")
It annoys me to end that these airhead hairdressers just automatically assume I want my sideburns cut off. What is going through their minds that makes them think that is the right decision. I should not have to remember to tell them every time I go to get my haircut, not to cut off my sideburns. If there are any hairdressers reading this for the love of God, stop this madness you trim the sideburns and then ask them if they want them to be cut off… if it means that much to you. Otherwise trim them and move on. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331/29 "2026-05-21T18:09:59Z")
I don’t think I have ever had a barber fail to ask me how I want my side burns before cutting them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-automatically-cut-off-my-sideburns/573331.md?page=1)