Most men with thick hair have tried the grow-out at least once
Most quit around week six.
The sides balloon. The top lags behind. It stops looking like a plan and starts looking like a missed appointment. So it gets buzzed off, and the story becomes “medium length doesn’t suit me.”
It usually does suit them. They just didn’t have a route.
Thick hair won’t drift into a good medium cut on its own. It has to be steered there, trim by trim. Know the trims in advance and the ugly weeks mostly don’t happen.
One honest note first: hair grows about half an inch a month. Yours might run slower. Treat the months below as a sequence, not a deadline.
Month Zero: The Setup Cut
The grow-out starts in the chair, not by avoiding it.
Tell your stylist you’re growing to medium length. It changes how they cut everything. A tight fade leaves you nothing to build on.
What you want instead:
- A textured crop, two to three inches on top.
- Tapered sides.
- Sharp today, launchpad for everything after.
Then the sentence that matters at every trim from here on: “take the weight out, keep the length.”
Thick hair’s problem was never growing. It’s density. All those strands make the sides swell in volume as length builds. Point cutting and internal layering thin that bulk from the inside. Length stays. Swelling never starts.
Months One And Two: The Puff Phase
This stretch kills most grow-outs. Helps to know it’s coming.
The top gains length slowly. The sides gain width fast. Your silhouette starts spreading at the ears.
Temporary. And cheap to manage:
- Keep the sides and neckline trimmed while the top grows untouched.
- A tidy-up costs less than a full cut.
- It reads as intentional instead of overgrown, which is the whole battle right now.
Two small adjustments help. Swap heavy wax for a light cream or sea salt spray, heavy product on expanding thick hair just makes a shiny dome of the problem. And wear the hat when you need to. No prizes for suffering on principle.
Month Three or Four: Curtains Become Possible
Once the top hits roughly four inches, the middle part starts to work.
Month three if you’re lucky. Month four if you’re average. Either way, it’s the first properly medium style the grow-out unlocks.
What to ask for:
- Layers around the face so the part settles on its own.
- Blended sides, not faded.
- Soft transitions everywhere. A hard fade under curtains looks like two haircuts arguing.
One styling habit makes or breaks it. Blow dry each side away from the center part while damp. Fingers or a brush, low heat, about a minute.
Thick hair holds whatever direction it dries in. That works for you if you set it. Against you if you don’t.
Some men reach curtains and simply stay. Fine outcome. Everything past this point is optional.
Month Five or Six: The Fork
Past four and a half inches, you get a real choice. The deciding factor is your tolerance for morning effort, not your face.
Path One: The Bro Flow
- Swept back and slightly outward, ears just covered.
- Routine: salt spray on damp hair, rough dry pushing back with your hands, done.
- Fine hair collapses at this length. Thick hair holds it all day, free.
- One rule: get it layered. Unlayered thick hair at five inches is a mop.
Path Two: The Slicked Back Undercut
- Sides taken back hard, full length on top, combed straight back.
- Sharper, more deliberate, more presence.
- The cost: pomade or cream every day, undercut refreshed every two to three weeks.
- Skip either and it shows fast.
Neither is the better cut. One suits a man who’ll spend eight minutes on his hair, one suits a man who won’t. You already know which you are.
The Part That Continues Forever
Whichever path you picked, the rhythm from here is fixed:
- Trim every six to eight weeks. Not to shorten, to pull the weight back out. Thick hair rebuilds its bulk constantly.
- Wash two or three times a week, not daily. Thick hair goes dry and rough without its own oils.
- Conditioner every wash.
- Pat dry, never scrub. The towel scrubbing habit causes half the frizz men blame on their hair type.
- Frizzy ends anyway? A few drops of hair oil sorts it.
Our hair care shelf carries what our stylists actually use on thick-haired clients.
The Sequence In Brief
- Month 0: textured crop, two to three inches, weight out, length stays.
- Months 1-2: top untouched, sides and neckline kept tidy.
- Months 3-4: curtains from about four inches, blow dry habit begins.
- Months 5-6: flow for easy mornings, slicked undercut for sharp ones.
- Ongoing: trim every six to eight weeks, wash two or three times weekly.
Half a year, roughly, from short sides to a finished medium cut. Slower if your hair grows slow. Still worth it.
Start At Month Zero
The setup cut decides how the whole grow-out goes.
Haircuts at EROthots start from $35, walk-ins welcome. Tell your stylist you’re starting the grow-out plan and they’ll map the trim schedule with you.
Questions first? Get in touch.