Haircut and color timing before headshots.

The cut: about a week, not the day before.

A fresh haircut has a distinct look for the first day or two: sharp edges, an unfamiliar shape, ends that have not settled into how they normally fall. Many stylists suggest booking it roughly a week before a session, which gives it time to soften into the hair you actually wear day to day, rather than the hair you wore once, for a photo.

This is not a strict countdown. A cut two weeks out that you are happy with is entirely fine. A cut booked for the night before is the one timing worth avoiding, since there is nothing left to adjust if it comes out shorter, blunter or simply different than you pictured.

If you are trying something genuinely new, a shorter length, a different part, bangs for the first time, give it even more room, closer to two weeks, so you have lived in it a little before it goes on camera. A familiar length you already trust needs less runway than a change you have never worn.

Color: a week or two, so roots go quiet.

Color behaves a little differently than a cut, because the first few days after a service often carry more shine, more saturation and a slightly different tone than the color settles into once it has been washed a couple of times. Many colorists suggest timing it a week or two before a session, so what you see under studio light is the color as you actually wear it, not the color on day one.

Roots are the other half of this. A root touch-up that is a week or so old tends to read as clean and intentional. A touch-up from the day before can look slightly too crisp at the part, especially under strong light, while roots that have gone too long the other direction show as a visible line. The middle of that window is the easiest place to land.

If you are changing color meaningfully rather than maintaining it, treat it like a bigger change and give it the same extra runway a dramatic cut would need. Ask your stylist how your particular color tends to shift in the days after a service, since some tones settle faster than others.

Greys: the honest choice, either way.

There is no requirement to color grey hair before a session, and plenty of strong headshots are built around it exactly as it grows in. The only real guidance here is consistency: whatever you decide, decide it in time for it to look settled rather than freshly done, using the week-or-two window described above for any other color decision.

If you are somewhere in between and unsure, the more useful question is not what looks best in theory but what you plan to keep doing after the photos. A headshot is meant to look like you on an ordinary good day, months or longer from now, so the honest version of your hair, whatever that is, tends to age better than a one-time change made specifically for the camera.

Bring a photo, not just a description.

If you already have a cut or color you love, from a past photo rather than a magazine clipping, bring it with you to the appointment beforehand. A stylist working from a specific reference has an easier time landing close to what you actually want than one working from a verbal description, and the same is true of anyone you show it to before the session.

You do not need to bring that photo to your session with me. What I need from you is simply the finished result, in good condition, in time for it to settle. The reference belongs at the hair appointment, not at the shoot.

Men: the cut and the beard on different clocks.

The haircut timing above applies just as much to men as anyone else, roughly a week out so it falls naturally rather than looking freshly barbered. A beard runs on a shorter clock. A trim and a clean line, or a full shave if that is your normal look, belong much closer to the session, the day before or the morning of, since facial hair changes shape quickly and does not need the settling time a haircut does.

The full version of grooming timing, beard, brows, skin and what to bring, is its own guide: the men's grooming checklist covers the rest of it in detail. This page stays on hair and color.

What goes wrong when timing gets skipped.

When hair goes wrong for a photo, it is usually the timing rather than the service itself. A cut done the same morning can look slightly too neat, too symmetrical, not yet relaxed into place. A dramatic color change done the day before can photograph at a saturation the color itself will not hold once it has been washed a few times.

• Booking a first-time style change with no runway before the session.
• Waiting until the last appointment slot available, which is often the day before by default.
• Assuming a stylist can rush a longer service and still leave time for it to settle.
• Changing both cut and color at once, in the final days, before photographs meant to last a long while.

None of these are disasters. A photo with slightly fresher hair than ideal is still a good photo. But if timing is easy to control, and it usually is, there is no reason to leave it to the last appointment on the calendar. For the mistakes people make beyond hair specifically, what not to do before headshots covers the wider list.

Styling on the day is a separate question.

Timing your cut and color is only half the hair conversation. What you actually do with it the morning of the session, whether that is your normal routine, something slightly more polished, or a stylist arranged in advance, is covered fully in hair styling for headshots. This guide is about when to book the service. That one is about what to do with the result on the day.

The same logic threads through both. For headshots, where the crop is tight and the goal is a clean, reliable image for a long stretch of use, familiar and settled beats brand new every time. For a LinkedIn headshot specifically, the same rule holds even more, since that photo tends to stay in circulation the longest of anything you will use it for.

The rest of the week runs on the same clock.

Everything that changes how you look answers to the same principle hair does, which is why the week before a session has an order to it at all. The full countdown, nails, skin, wardrobe and sleep included, lives on how to prepare for a photoshoot. If brows are the piece you are still figuring out, eyebrow timing before a photoshoot runs on nearly the same schedule as color, for the same reason: anything that changes your face needs a few days to look like it belongs there.