Seasonal haircut statistics: August is the busiest month at barbershops

Key findings

1. On SQUIRE's barbershop platform, August took 9% of annual appointments from 2023 through 2025, against an average of 8.3% for the other months^[1].
2. Kid and student barbershop appointments run 27% to 33% above their monthly average every August^[1].
3. On GlossGenius, August was the peak month for kids' services, with 45.24% more appointments than other months on average (2023)^[3].
4. In a UK study of 14 men measured every 28 days for 18 months, more than 90% of scalp follicles were in the growth phase in March, falling to a low in September^[2].
5. Shedding in the same men peaked around August and September at about 60 hairs a day, more than double the preceding winter^[2].
6. Beard growth was slowest in January and February and peaked in July at about 60% above the winter rate^[2].
7. UK barbers reporting that clients were embracing longer styles rose from 55% in spring 2023 to 82% in winter 2023/24^[4][5].

Download the infographic

The headline numbers from this report as one tall image (1000 x 1500 PNG), sized for Pinterest, slides and posts. Free to reuse with credit.

Download infographic (PNG)

What is the busiest month for haircuts?

August. SQUIRE, a barbershop booking and payments platform, reports that across thousands of US barbershops from 2023 through 2025, August consistently took 9% of annual appointments while every other month averaged 8.3%^[1][6]. That puts August about 8% above a typical month ((9 − 8.3) ÷ 8.3 = 8.4%, menhaircuts.net calculation).

The driver is back to school. SQUIRE says kid and student appointments spike 27% to 33% above their monthly average every August^[1]. At shops that price kids' cuts separately, about one in seven August appointments is a kid or student^[1].

Salon data shows the same summer-end peak. GlossGenius, a salon and spa booking platform, found August was the busiest month for kids' services among its members in 2023, with 45.24% more appointments than other months on average^[3].

Why do haircut bookings jump before school starts?

Families book in a cluster before the first day of school. On SQUIRE, kid and student appointments run 27% to 33% above their usual monthly level in August^[1]. On GlossGenius, kids' service appointments overall rose 3.82% from 2022 to 2023, and the share of businesses offering at least one kids' service rose 3.01%^[3].

For adult men the August effect is smaller, because kids and students make up a minority of bookings. That matters if you are trying to get a slot: the late-summer rush is concentrated in the weeks before local schools reopen. Our guide to haircuts for boys covers the cuts that dominate this season.

Does hair grow faster in summer?

The best-known study on this followed 14 healthy men aged 18 to 39 in Sheffield, England, measuring their hair every 28 days for 18 months^[2]. On the scalp, the share of follicles in the growth (anagen) phase peaked at over 90% in March and fell steadily to a low in September^[2].

Beards behaved differently. Beard growth was slowest in January and February, rose from March to July, and peaked at about 60% above the winter level^[2]. Thigh hair followed a similar but weaker pattern, and nails showed no seasonal change^[2].

So the honest answer is that summer is when beards grow fastest, while scalp hair has the most follicles growing in late winter and early spring. Scalp hair in the growth phase grows about 1 cm every 28 days^[7], which works out to roughly 13 cm over a year (365 ÷ 28 × 1 cm, menhaircuts.net calculation).

Do men lose more hair in the fall?

Yes, in the studies that have looked. In the Sheffield men, the number of shed hairs peaked around August and September, when the fewest follicles were growing, at an average of about 60 a day^[2]. That was more than double the shedding rate of the winter before^[2].

Larger studies of other groups found the same timing. A Swiss review of 823 healthy women with hair loss complaints over six years found the highest share of resting (telogen) hairs in summer, a smaller peak in spring, and the lowest rates in late winter^[8]. A year-long study of 41 Chinese men and women found more resting hairs around August and September, though the change stayed within the normal range^[9].

The American Academy of Dermatology says it is normal to shed 50 to 100 hairs a day^[10]. A late-summer rise inside that range is expected. Shedding well above it, or patches of thinning, is worth a visit to a dermatologist. Our thinning and balding guide covers haircuts that work while hair is shedding.

Do men wear their hair longer in some seasons?

The only seasonal series on hair length comes from Modern Barber, a UK trade magazine that polled barbers on Instagram each season in 2023. The share saying clients were embracing longer styles rose from 55% in spring to 58% in summer, 63% in autumn and 82% in Winter 2023/24^{[4][11][12][5]}.

The series is one year long and the respondents may differ between polls. It can show that longer styles were rising through 2023. It cannot separate a seasonal swing from a longer-term trend. Our guide on how to grow your hair out covers the awkward stages.

Which haircuts are seasonal trends?

Google's 2015 Beauty Trends report for the US removed the seasonal pattern from each hair search before ranking trends, and grouped some terms as "seasonal risers": searches that rise and fall each year but come back stronger every cycle^[13]. For men, the seasonal risers were the flat top haircut, the high top fade, the pompadour fade and the taper haircut^[13].

Google did not publish the month in which each one peaks, so this report does not assign them to a particular season. What the label does confirm is that interest in these four cuts moves on a yearly cycle while growing overall. Our guides to the taper fade and the high top fade cover two of them.

Do fade and mullet requests change by season?

Modern Barber's 2023 polls also tracked which fade barbers cut most. The skin fade led in summer (55% against 45% for the taper fade), held in autumn (55% against 35%, with 10% for the burst fade) and slipped in winter (48% against 41%, with 11% burst)^[11][12][5].

Mullet requests stayed high all year. The share of barbers still getting them was 87% in spring, 96% in summer, 77% in autumn and 89% in winter^{[4][11][12][5]}. The summer high and autumn dip are the clearest seasonal swing in the series, though one year of informal polls is not enough to call it a pattern.

When is the best time of year to change your haircut?

The data points to a few practical rules. If you want a slot with a busy barber, avoid the back-to-school weeks in August, when appointments run above every other month^[1]. If you are growing hair out, expect more visible shedding in late summer and early fall^[2] and judge thickness again in spring, when more follicles are growing^[2].

If you are growing a beard, summer is when it grows fastest^[2]. Booksy recommends a cut every 2 to 4 weeks for a fade or short style and every 4 to 6 weeks for longer styles^[14], so a man moving from a summer fade to a longer winter cut can stretch his appointments as the season turns. For more on timing see how often you should get a haircut.

Frequently asked questions

Methodology and limitations

This report was compiled October 1 to 15, 2026. Booking seasonality comes from SQUIRE platform data for 2023 to 2025 and from GlossGenius member data for 2022 to 2023. SQUIRE's own article blocked automated access, so its figures were checked against Lutily's verbatim quotation of that article, which links to it, and both are cited. Hair growth and shedding data comes from three peer-reviewed studies (Randall and Ebling 1991, Kunz and colleagues 2009, Liu and colleagues 2014) read from their PubMed abstracts, plus the American Academy of Dermatology and BioNumbers. Style data comes from Google's 2015 Beauty Trends report and Modern Barber's 2023 seasonal polls. The August uplift and the yearly growth figure are menhaircuts.net calculations shown in the text.

Limitations

No public source gives month-by-month haircut counts for all US barbershops. SQUIRE's figures cover its own client shops and the full monthly breakdown was not published. GlossGenius data covers salons and kids' services, not men's cuts specifically. The hair growth studies are small (14 men in the main study) and from one latitude each, so the timing may shift in other climates and the Southern Hemisphere. Modern Barber's polls are informal, UK-only and cover one year, which is too short to separate seasonal swings from trend. December is widely described as busy for barbers, but no verifiable figure was found, so it is not included.

Every figure on this page links to its source. Numbers are reported as published; any menhaircuts.net calculation is labelled and shows its inputs. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it.

Sources

1. Back to School Barbershop Rush: A Survival Playbook, Lutily (quoting SQUIRE platform data) (2026). Accessed October 15, 2026.
2. Seasonal changes in human hair growth (Randall VA, Ebling FJ). Br J Dermatol 1991;124(2):146-51, British Journal of Dermatology (PubMed 2003996) (1991). Accessed October 15, 2026.
3. Kid's Manicure Services Are Part of Back to School Prep, Salon Today (data: GlossGenius) (2023). Accessed October 15, 2026.
4. Modern Barber Trend Report: Spring 2023, Modern Barber (2023). Accessed October 15, 2026.
5. Modern Barber Trend Report: Winter 23/24, Modern Barber (2024). Accessed October 15, 2026.
6. Maximizing back-to-school season for barbershops, SQUIRE. Accessed October 15, 2026.
7. Rate of hair growth during anagen phase (head), BioNumbers, Harvard Medical School (2012). Accessed October 15, 2026.
8. Seasonality of hair shedding in healthy women complaining of hair loss (Kunz M, Seifert B, Trüeb RM). Dermatology 2009;219(2):105-10, Dermatology (PubMed 19407435) (2009). Accessed October 15, 2026.
9. Changes in Chinese hair growth along a full year (Liu C et al.). Int J Cosmet Sci 2014;36(6):531-6, International Journal of Cosmetic Science (PubMed 25065943) (2014). Accessed October 15, 2026.
10. Do you have hair loss or hair shedding?, American Academy of Dermatology (2026). Accessed October 15, 2026.
11. Modern Barber Trend Report: Summer 2023, Modern Barber (2023). Accessed October 15, 2026.
12. Modern Barber Trend Report: Autumn 2023, Modern Barber (2023). Accessed October 15, 2026.
13. Beauty Trends 2015: Hair Care Edition (U.S.), Google (Think with Google) (2015). Accessed October 15, 2026.
14. Haircut Near Me, Booksy (2026). Accessed October 15, 2026.

Cite, embed and download

This report, its charts and its infographic are free to reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Credit menhaircuts.net with a link to this page.

<a href="https://menhaircuts.net/stats/seasonal-haircut-statistics/">Seasonal Haircut Statistics 2026: Busiest Months, Trends</a> (menhaircuts.net, CC BY 4.0)

Related data

• 10Haircuts per year for the average US man (2025 poll)How Often Men Get Haircuts →
• ~2 in 3Barbershop bookings made by clients through self-serviceBarbershop Booking Statistics 2026 →
• #2 and #3the mullet's and undercut's rank among most-searched haircuts since 2004Men's Haircut Trends Over Time →
• 1.0–1.3 cmTypical scalp hair growth per monthHair Growth Statistics 2026 →

Related guides

• How Often Should You Get a Haircut? By Hair Type (2026)→
• Best Haircuts for Swimmers + Chlorine Hair Care (2026)→
• How to Grow Your Hair Out Without It Looking Messy (2026)→
• Taper Fade Haircut: Low, Mid and High Explained→
• Haircuts for Thinning & Balding Hair→

All men's hair and grooming statistics