The hair you lose in September is not a sign that something suddenly went wrong. It is the bill from summer - sun, sea, salt, blow-drying. After August the hair is weaker, it only looks thicker in June's photographs, and the shedding is heavier than usual. Part of the solution is not in a bottle but in a pair of scissors.

The logic is simple: when density drops, a cut can either expose that loss or conceal it. A properly weighted end looks thicker. Layers in the wrong place make hair look thinner than it actually is.

Cuts that work with less hair. The long shoulder-length bob with a relaxed end gives body and stops hair looking thin. Invisible layers give movement without losing length - an option for anyone unwilling to sacrifice centimetres. The textured bob is a classic upgraded with a point-cutting technique that prevents flatness.

A micro bob with flicked-out ends, to the jawline, creates a volume effect. The layered pixie is a structured short cut with built-in layering that gives body. The bixie with a fringe is a hybrid between bob and pixie - short hair, but with more styling options.

The tousled shag runs with a gradation from front to back and gives lightness. The relaxed shag carries noticeable but unsharpened layers with movement that can be managed daily without a fight. The pronounced butterfly has layers in different zones - volume on top, length below, light ends.

An inverted-U fringe concentrates hair at the front and gives a sense of density without having to cut layers across the whole head. Face-framing layers do the same over a smaller area. And a straight cut with no layers, weight kept right to the end, is the most direct way to make hair look fuller.

Twelve options, not one of them needs a product. That is the part rarely mentioned in advertising, because nobody earns from it. Anti-hair-loss serum sells all year round, every month again. A haircut is paid for in the salon and then stops asking anything of you. Guess which of the two has the bigger advertising budget.