Everything You Need to Know About Getting the Chop in China 💇🏾‍♀️

We know from experience, something that scares our students the most is the dreaded trip to the hairdressers!

One mistranslation and it’s game over…

Let’s be frank, it’s not something we want messed up.

Not to worry, our comprehensive guide is here to make sure you can go to your Chinese hairdresser armed with all the key words and phrases you need to get the exact look you’re after!

Haircut in Chinese – Hair Length in Chinese

Haircut in Chinese – Hair Colour in Chinese

Haircut in Chinese – Hair Texture in Chinese

Haircut in Chinese – Asking About the Price

Haircut in Chinese – FAQ’s

Communicating your celebrity inspired hair goals can be a challenge even in your native language, so how exactly are you meant to cope in Mandarin Chinese?

Don’t worry. Let’s start with the basics: how to describe hair’s length, colour, and texture!

Haircut in Chinese – Hair Length

Let’s start off by taking a look at different hair lengths in Chinese:

So when your hair stylist or hairdresser asks you ‘how would you like your hair cut today? 你头发今天想要怎么剪?’ (Nǐ tóufa jīntiān xiǎng yào zěnme jiǎn?)

You might say you simply want to wash your hair 洗头发 (xǐ tóu fà), or if you’re really treating yourself you might opt for a wash, cut and dry 洗剪吹 (xǐ jiǎn chuī).

You could say you want it shorter, 我想要剪短一点 (Wǒ xiǎng yào jiǎn duǎn yīdiǎn), trimmed 修 (xiū) and maybe also layered 层次 (céngcì). Then, if you’d like to get a fringe, you can say 我想要刘海 (wǒ xiǎng yào liúhǎi).

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Haircut in Chinese – Hair Colour

If you want to get your hair dyed in China, the following sentence will be one to save for later:

I want to dye my hair 我想染发… (Wǒ xiǎng rǎnfà)…

PS – you can find out more colours with our complete guide to all the colours in Chinese.

What if you would like to get highlights in your hair?

Easy! 我想挑染! (Wǒ xiǎng tiāo rǎn) 挑 tiāo “to pick” + 染 (rǎn) “to dye”.

Haircut in Chinese – Hair Texture

First, let’s take a look at the three main hair types:

If you’re off to see a hairdresser, you might be looking to change the texture of your hair. The hairdresser might ask you if would like to have your hair straightened 你想把头发烫直吗? (nǐ xiǎng bǎtóufà tàng zhí ma) or if you want to get a perm 你想烫头发吗? (nǐ xiǎng tàng tóu fà ma).

Haircut in Chinese – Asking About the Price

Finally, how do you ask how much your haircut costs in Chinese?

The most simple way to ask ‘How much does it cost?’ is 多少钱? (duōshǎo qián?)

If you want to ask how all the treatments you got combined cost, you can simply the treatment, for example, “wash and set” and ask how much is that all together? 洗+剪吹。。。一共是多少钱？(Yīgòng shì duōshǎo qián?)

Get practicing and you’ll be a pro in no time!

BONUS: To learn even more Chinese vocab related to money, check out our ultimate guide here!

Good luck at the hairdressers – let us know in the comments if you’ve ever had any hair-raising incidents getting your hair cut in China!

Haircut in China – FAQ’s