Should I have short or long hair?
There is no right length, only one that suits your hair and your life. Short hair is quick to style but needs regular cuts to keep its shape. Long hair needs fewer cuts but more time and care, and its ends have been through years of washing, brushing and styling. Medium length sits in between and keeps the most options open.
This quiz weighs your habits and your hair, not your face, and suggests short, medium or long. Length is a matter of taste, so treat the result as a nudge. Nothing you choose is saved or sent.
How the quiz decides
Six questions ask how long you want to spend styling, how often you will get a cut, how much hair you have, how healthy your ends are, whether you need to tie it back, and how much heat you use. Styling time and how often you get a cut count most, then the state of your ends. Ties go to medium length, and the result says how clearly your answers agree. The weights are ours.
Short hair
Suits you if you want to spend little time styling, will get a cut every four to six weeks, and especially if your ends are badly damaged. Cutting off damaged ends is the surest way to get rid of them. The American Academy of Dermatology describes damaged hair as fragile hair that breaks, and a review of hair cosmetics notes that products can smooth damaged hair but do not restore its damaged structure.
Think about the growing-out phase if you change your mind, and whether you need to tie your hair back for work or sport.
Medium length
Suits you if you want a bit of everything: long enough to tie back, short enough to style in ten minutes and dry quickly. A cut every two or three months keeps the shape.
Think about the awkward shoulder length, where hair flips out. Long layers help.
Long hair
Suits you if your ends are healthy, you enjoy styling, and you are happy with a few cuts a year. Long ends have been around for years, so gentle care matters more the longer hair grows.
Think about the habits the American Academy of Dermatology lists as damaging hair, which add up over years: rubbing hair dry with a towel, brushing it wet, daily hot tools, tight ponytails and frequent colouring or relaxing. Each has a gentler alternative, and they decide how healthy long ends look.
Our hair growth calculator shows how long it takes to reach a target length, with trims.
Hair type changes the picture
- Low density often looks fuller at a shorter or medium length, because long hair lies flatter and shows more scalp.
- Curly and coily hair shrinks as it dries, so it looks shorter than it is, and a cut that suits it is shaped dry.
- Fine strands can look flat when long, because the length weighs them down; layers help.
Our hair density test and strand thickness test help you see where you sit.
Take it further in the HairLens app
The HairLens app scores breakage and split ends from your photos and tracks them over time, so you can see whether your ends are ready for more length.