How to get a haircut in Spanish Matador editor Eileen Smith pulls together vocabulary from years of Latin American haircuts. THE LONGER YOU TRAVEL, the longer your hair grows. Bangs in eyes, hair creeping dangerously close to a mullet . Now you're south of the border, and things are bad. You need a corte de pelo . Below is some essential vocab to keeping your hair-related tragedies to a minimum. Getting into the salon Many peluqueras charge different prices, varying depending on if it's a corte varon/hombre (men's haircut) or corte dama/mujer (women's haircut). A woman's hair length will also change the price, with long hair costing the most. Corto/mediano/largo is short/medium/long. I'm assuming you're just going to walk in and ask to get your hair cut right then and there, and not ask to make an appointment. You've gotten up your nerve to cut your hair in a language you don't speak. Any further obstacle will slow you down. But if you must make an appointment, ask for an hora or a cita . I'm also assuming you know the difference between cuanto (how much, how many) and cuando (when). So just go on in, wait for someone to look at you, and say: Quiero cortarme el pelo. I want a haircut. Then the fun begins. Your hair is washed (or not), and you're wearing that silly polyester cape. You've sat down in the chair and gotten pumped up or let down to the right height so the peluquero