A haircut is when someone cuts your hair to make it shorter, change its style, or tidy it up. You might get a haircut at a barbershop or salon, where a barber or stylist uses scissors, clippers, or razors to trim and shape your hair. Some people get haircuts every few weeks to keep their hair neat, while others might wait months and then get several inches cut off.

The word can describe both the act of cutting hair and the resulting style. You might say “I need a haircut” when your hair feels too long, or “I like your haircut” when someone's new style looks good. Different haircuts have different names: a buzz cut is very short all over, a bob is a style where hair is cut straight around the head at jaw level, and bangs (or a fringe) are short pieces of hair that hang over the forehead.

In business and finance, a haircut means something quite different: a reduction in the value of something. If a bank takes a haircut on a loan, it accepts less money than it was originally owed.