The Transition Point in a Haircut

The most difficult part of a tapered of fade haircut is making a smooth transition from the direct contact cutting that's on the lower sides and back to the over the comb cutting (or scissor cutting) that's used to do the upper sides and back. Almost always, smooth tapering suffers the most at the place where these 2 methods of cutting meet.


How do you deal with it? Drop down 1 or 2 blade sizes when you're doing the over the comb cutting. What blade you use over the comb will depend what blade you used on the direct contact cutting and also what comb you chose to use.


A wahl comb is thicker. It's almost - but not quite - 1/4" thick at the back bar. A flattop comb is only 1/8" thick. Also, a #1 blade will cut just a bit shorter than 1/8". Just from experience, hair does not feed well into a #2 blade (cutting the hair 1/4") for over the comb cutting.


The short cutting (1/8") will have the comb quite close to the scalp. With a longer cutting, you'll need to hold the comb (for clipper over comb cutting) a bit further away from the scalp.


Below is guide for which blade to use with which comb when doing your clipper over comb transition cutting.


Direct Contact Over Comb

Length of Hair l Hair Length with Flattop Comb l Hair Length with Wahl Comb
3/16" l 1/16" l 1/100"

1/4" l 1/8" l 3/16"

3/8" l 3/16" * l 1/8"

1/2" l 3/16" * l 3/16"*


* = the comb is held 1/8" away from the scalp

* = the comb is held 1/4" away from the scalp

* = the comb is held less than 1/4" away from the scalp

Where Does the Part Go?

Some haircuts have the hair parted and some do not. It all depends on the cut and the hair growth pattern on an individual's head. Some people want a really formal hairstyle with every hair in its place, whereas others like a more casual approach and allow the hair to lie where it wants to.

For some reason, years ago it became a tradition that men parted their hair at the left with the hair combed off toward the right. However, the hair should always be allowed to lay the way the hairgrain wants it to lay. Going with the hairgrain means the part is located somewhere on the top, usually on one side or the other. It could also be in the middle or a bit off to one side of the middle or the other. The part must be between the 2 receded parts of the front hairline.

If the hair has a center cowlick, the hair could be parted on the left side, right side, the center, or a little off-center, just depending on how the hair wants to lie. Look very carefully at the hairgrain before making your decision.

Typically the hair will be parted on the same side of the head as the cowlick. If you have a cowlick on the left, usually your part is going to be on the left. The same goes for the right side.

Parting the hair on the same side as the cowlick allows the hair to lie where it wants at the top of the head. This is because typically the hairgrain that has a cowlick on the left will have the hair wanting to move out toward the right. This works vice versa for the right where a cowlick on the right will have the hair wanting to move out toward the left.

About 5% on the population has an unusual hairgrain where the cowlick is on the left side and the hairgrain also moves of to the left. With this unusual type of hairgrain, you would have to part the hair all the way around the back and down on the right side.

If this same type of unusual cowlick is on the right side, you would have to part the hair around the back of the head and down on the left side.

The average and usual way to part hair is very easily done. Just comb the hair forward from the cowlick and place the hair where it agrees with your part. When the hair lays well and doesn't stand on end (even when it's dry), you know that you've put it in the right spot, having the hair lie where it wants to.

The Crucial Minute of a Haircut

If you are just cutting family or friends' hair, you most likely know what they want done. But if you are cutting quite a few peoples' hair or if you work at a salon, you need to find out what they want you to do to their hair. Assume nothing. A gap in communication can have unpleasant results. This means you need to be good at

1. communicating and


2. analyzing the hair.

This time I'll get into the careful questioning and listening skills.

Some of the questions you can ask are-

• How do you like your hair cut?


• Do you want some covering your ear?


• Do you want it really short at the side?


• Would you like the back tapered or blocked?


• Do you want all the ear showing?


• Right now you have 2 inches. How much would you like off?

Ask very specific questions so you get specific answers.

The first haircut you give a specific customer, cut it conservatively and cautiously and leave the hair a bit longer than what you agreed on. Clip one side and give him the hand mirror. Once you get the OK, proceed with the back and on around the other side. If he wants it cut shorter, do that and have him check it again with the mirror. This saves you time because you won't have to completely recut all the way around the sides and back if he wants the entire cut shorter.

You'll often have people tell you, "Oh, just give it a trim." At least 9 times out of 10 people who want a trim don't want much hair cut off. Their last haircut was what they wanted, so they just want you to cut off the hair that's grown out since that last cut. That means you need to find out how long it's been since they've had their hair cut.

Hair grows about 1/2 inch per month, so if it's been 2 months since their last haircut, they'll want you to cut of an inch of hair all over.

While an average haircut may take 15 to 20 minutes, the first minute (before the haircut) is the most important minute of all. If your customers don't like what you did to their hair, they won't be back.

Do You Cut Wet or Dry?

What should you do? Should you cut hair when it is wet or when it is dry? That depends.

If you are cutting hair with scissors, you should be cutting damp hair. If the hair is damp, it can be combed neatly into place and held securely in your holding hand with all the hairs lined up perfectly for the scissors. If the hair is dripping wet, you'll have a soggy mess on your hands with hair clumping and water dripping all over the place. The key word here is damp.

If you are cutting with clippers, the hair needs to be dry. Wet hair clumps and therefore does not feed evenly into the clipper. This will give you an uneven cut. Wet hair bends away from the blades.

However, if you are about to cut someone's hair with a clipper and he has a classic case of "hat hair", you'll first need to wash the hair. Wash the hair and dry it before clipper cutting. You want the hair to feed evenly into the clipper and kinks will bend away from the clipper and give you a very unique looking haircut!

Wavy Hair Can Have 3 Different Looks

Wavy hair can be cut to look 3 different ways.

1. If you cut it short enough it will look straight.


2. If you cut it just a bit longer, there will be some waves.


3. If you leave it an inch long, it will get the curly look.

Decide which look you'd like to achieve and cut the hair accordingly. You can always blowdry the longer wavy hair to straighten it, but you'll have to blowdry it every day if you want the straight look. Cutting it short is simply the easiest way with the lowest maintenance.

How to Deal With Protruding Ears

People with protruding ears are usually self conscious of them and would like to have a haircut that would minimize them rather than accent them. If the tops of the ears protrude 3/4 of an inch or more from your client's head, the hair that covers them will flip out and look like wings if it's cut too short. If the hairline just above the ears is close to the top of your client's ears, the problem is accented. If however, there is 1/2 inch between the top of the ear and the hairline, it's kinder to your client.

What can you do to camouflage and minimize protruding ears?

1. Leave the hair long enough when you cut the outline so that half of the ear is covered. This will work well with medium or coarse hair.


2. For fine hair, cut the hair so it's very full and short above the ears. The extra fullness balances the ears. Fine hair that is over the ears (as in option 1) could flip out at the sides. Don't make the mistake of cutting the hair super short above the ears. Super short will have the opposite effect. You need short length and especially fullness. (If it's cut to 1/8 inch, it can't be full.)

How to Decide the Best Length to Cut Men's & Boys' Hair

A general rule of thumb for straight or slightly wavy hair is the finer the hair, the shorter it would be cut and the coarser the hair, the longer you should leave it. This is because finer hair bends easier than coarse hair and need less length to bend and lie where it should. Coarser hair needs to be longer because it does not bend as easily and needs more weight (from length) to bend and lie in place.

A basic guideline would be -

• Fine Hair 1 - 2 inches


• Medium Hair 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches


• Coarse Hair 2 - 3 inches

This is just a general guide, though, and each specific haircut needs to be unique for a particular person's needs.

If you are not really sure about the texture of the hair you are cutting and want to know for certain that you will be cutting it the right length, do this simple test. Cut off one hair from the top of the head right at the scalp. Hold that hair between your thumb and y our pointer finger right at the "root" end. Hold it straight up. Cut little bits of length off of the end until the hair has just a slight bend at the end. (When it's too long, it will lie down, bending close to your fingers.) Once you find the optimal length, measure that strand of hair with a ruler.

Look closely at the way the hair grows at the top of the head. If your client's hair grows straight out of the scalp (usually only 1% of people have this), then cut his hair to the length that you measured the strand of hair to be. However, if your client's hair grows at a 45 degree angle from his scalp (which is much more common), you should subtract 1 inch from the measured hair strand length.

When you have a client that has his hair thinning on the top, cut it 1/2 to 3/4 inch shorter than what you calculated from your cutting test. Thinner hair lies flatter because it doesn't have much hair around it to support it. Thinner hair (up top) will have more fullness when you cut it shorter.

Deciding What Length to Cut Hair

A general rule that can apply to cutting men's or boys' hair is to cut off any unnecessary length and leave it long enough to lie in its place. This rule mainly applies to the hair on the top of the head where extra length can make it heavy looking with the extra bulk.

There are exceptions to this rule. Hairtype is a factor that determines length. Wavy, kinky, and curly hair types give you more options when choosing length and cover up haircutting slip ups too ;o) The shorter you cut the hair, the straighter it lies and the longer you leave it, the curlier it is.

Just slightly wavy or straight hair is less forgiving. If you cut it too short, it will stick straight up and if you leave it too long, it becomes floppy and doesn't hold its shape. With this hairtype, you tend to have more low cowlicks, double cowlicks, ducktail necklines, and cowlicks in the front hair line.

Since every head of hair has its own unique combination of hairgrain, hairtype, density, and texture, you need to take all these factors into account when deciding how long to cut the hair.

How to Deal With Cowlicks in the Neck and at the Front Hairline

Everyone has a cowlick in the crown area, but some people also have one in the nape of their neck or along the front hairline (or both). We'll start off with looking at the cowlick at the nape of the neck.

Ducktail

Someone with a cowlick at the nape of his/her neck has what's commonly called a ducktail neckline. When the hair is short enough in the nape area, you can see the hairgrain growing up and to the side in some areas. As the hair grows, it can start flipping out in the wrong direction, not lying neatly with the rest of the hair. There is nothing you can do to change the hairgrain - that is just the way it is going to grow.

Some people have only one cowlick at the back, so it looks as though the hair sort of swirls over all to one side at the bottom of the hairline. Others have 2 cowlicks, making the hair on both sides swirl toward the center, looking like a duck's tail.

When cutting a ducktail neckline, you don't really need to do anything out of the ordinary. Just cut as though it wasn't there when dealing with fine or medium hair. However, if the hair is very coarse and straight, it may prove to be a problem. You will need to cut it very short and taper out to a long length further up the back of the head. You can do the taper either scissor-over-comb or clipper-over-comb to get the ducktail area really nice and short.

Font Hairline Cowlick

This particular type of cowlick is not entirely in the hair itself but the center of it is in the finer, transparent "peach fuzz" at the top of the forehead. The effects the hairgrain along the front hairline and is found on 5 - 10% of the population.

The best way to deal with a cowlick at the front hairline is to let the hair lie where it wants to. If you don't want your hair to lie in the direction that it wants to, you are going to need extra length. You can do this in 2 ways:

• 
  
  Cut the entire top section 1 inch longer than you usually would.


• 
  
  Leave the first 2 inches of hair (behind the front hairline) longer. Blend it in with the rest of the top when you've finished cutting.

The easiest way, of course, is to go with the natural hairgrain of the hair rather than try to fight it. The famous model, Claudia Schiffer, has not one, but 2 cowlicks at her front hairline. She deals with it by wearing her hair longer and having it styled to compliment, rather than trying to hide the little erratic hairgrain areas. So ..... go with the flow, don't fight it!

The Right Length of Hair for a Cowlick

As described earlier, cowlicks can present a problem when cutting and styling hair. We will look at 2 main problem areas: the double cowlick and the low cowlick.

Double Cowlick
Double cowlicks are found on less than 10% of the population. The 2 cowlicks create a hairgrain clash in the area right between the 2 cowlicks. Usually 10 - 15% of double cowlicks need longer hair to keep the hair from standing up. In those cases, the hair is usually quite coarse (it doesn't bend easily) and the cowlicks are fairly close (about 1 1/2 inches apart).

When cutting hair in this situation, leave the hair on the top of the head 2 1/2 to 3 inches long. This allows the hair to be long enough to have the weight to bend it so that the cowlick hair lies down with the other hair. This length may leave the hair a bit too long in the bang area, so you'll have to adjust it there accordingly.

Low Cowlick
Low cowlicks are found on 5% of the population. This is where the cowlick sits just a bit lower down the back of the head than the average person. The hair that wants to lie towards the front of the head often sticks up (or bends over backwards) because it is fighting gravity.

You want to cut hair with this type of cowlick 1/2 inch shorter so that it will not bend and will not be effected by gravity.
Therefore, if you would normally opt for a 2 inch length for the type of haircut you would usually give, go with a 1 1/2 inch length if there is a low cowlick.

Therefore, the "cures" for these 2 types of cowlicks are exactly the opposite. With the double cowlick, you want gravity to help bend the coarse hairs into position and with the low cowlick, you want to keep the hair a bit shorter so that gravity won't bend it. You will need to keep the hair that has a low cowlick trimmed every 4 weeks since hair grows 1/2 inch every month. Within 4 weeks time, the hair in a low cowlick could be long enough to be sticking up and bending backwards or sideways again.

Why Does Cowlick Hair Stand Up?

In the previous article, we learned how that everyone has a cowlick even though sometimes it can be camouflaged by either longer hair or wavy/curly hair. However, there are some people that have a cowlicks that are very easy to see, especially when the hair sticks straight up! Why is this? We'll look at 4 different reasons.

• 
  1 - Fighting the hair grain by combing it the wrong direction. Remember that the cowlick determines the direction that the hair wants to lie. When you comb hair straight back off the face, that goes against what it naturally wants to do you are going directly against the hair grain This will cause the hair that you've combed to stand up, especially in the cowlick area.


• 2 - Double cowlicks are found on 10% or the population. The hair that sits directly between the 2 cowlicks often stands up if the hair is cut too short. The 2 cowlicks create a hair grain clash in this area. The closer the 2 cowlicks are to each other, the more the hair between them will want to stick up. This means you should leave the hair a bit longer in this area so that the hair has enough length to bend over and lie in place with the other hairs around it.


• 3 - A low cowlick will have the hair standing up more readily than a higher cowlick. If the cowlick is a bit lower down the back of the head, the hair that wants to grow and lie forward toward the front of the head has to fight against gravity. Because it's fighting gravity, it's not lying the way it wants to. When hair doesn't lie the way it wants to, it will stick up.


• 4 - A cowlick could have hair sticking straight up if the hair is cut too short. Actually only about 5% of people have a single (not a double) cowlick that needs to be left on the longer side. With these people you find that you make your calculations for how long the hair needs to be to get it lying nicely on the top, you cut it, and then you end up with some hair standing straight up at the cowlick. It doesn't happen often but it does happen. Just remember to leave it a bit longer in the crown area the next time you cut.

When you cut someone's hair, you want to do a good job. Not only because you want your client to come back to you for repeat business, but because you want to feel good about the job that you did. So when dealing with cowlicks, remember to comb the hair in the direction of the hair grain (not against it) and to leave the hair the appropriate length in the cowlick area.

Look for more information to follow on determining the right length for a cowlick.

Cowlicks

When cutting hair, you will have to deal with cowlicks. You will see at least one cowlick on every head of hair you cut. Every one has at least one cowlick in the crown area of his/her head. This spot, the cowlick, is where the beginning of a person's hairgrowth pattern starts. The cowlick determines the pattern of the hairgrain for the rest of the head. It is like the axle on a bicycle wheel, with the hair around the cowlick being the spokes of the wheel. The axle determines the direction or motion of the wheel just like a cowlick determines which way the hair wants to lie.

Cowlicks aren't only in the crown area, they can also be in the front hairline as well as at the back in the nape of the neck. These cowlicks also have the hair growing out and away from them. This of course adds interest to the way the hair lies, how it must be cut and how it needs to be styled.

But does eveyone really have a cowlick? I'm sure you can think of many people who you would say don't have one. That is because certain hair lengths and hair types can camouflage a cowlick very easily. These are

• 
  Long Hair - When hair gets longer, it gets heavier. This causes it to bend. When the hair bends at the roots, it can cover the cowlick area with long, bent hairs. If the same hair is then cut a bit shorter, the weight of the hair is gone. This will allow the hair to lie the way it wants to and then you'll be able to see the cowlick.


• 
  Wavy and Curly Hair - This type of hair grows out of the head like coiled springs, whereas starighter hair lies closer to the head. Because curly and wavy hair grows out like springs, when you look at it, you mainly see the ends. However, because straighter hair lies closer to the head, you can see more of the hairshaft and therefore you can also see more of the cowlick and the hairgrain (the direction that the hair lies).

The wavier or curlier the hair that you cut, the shorter you have to cut it to see the cowlick. If you cut it to a 1 inch length, you'll probably see the cowlick, but if it is a half of an inch longer, it will camouflage the cowlick.

Watch for more information coming on cowlicks (how to deal with them, the right length to cut them, etc.).

Introduction

This blog is set up so that I can share what I have learnt with those of you who visit my site. I'll share information that will benefit home haircutters and and hair care professionals alike.

I'll start with very basic information on the roles of both your hands when giving a haircut.

If you are totally new to cutting hair, it can be difficult to get your hands in synch with what you want them to do. When giving a haircut, you need to use both hands. They both have different but important jobs to do. Since only 15% of people are left-handed, we will look at the jobs your hands do assuming you are right-handed (for sake of illustration). Your right hand is your cutting hand and your left hand is your holding hand. Your left hand is very important with your pinkie and ring fingers being your spacer fingers with your middle and pointer fingers being your holding fingers.

Jobs of Your Holding Hand
Your holding hand (for illustration, it's your left or less dominant hand) has 3 important jobs to do:
Holds the hair - Once your right hand combs the hair up away from the head, your left hand takes hold of that hair between your middle and pointer fingers.
Decides how much to cut - Your pinkie and ring fingers determine the spacing between the scalp and the cutting point. They decide how much hair needs to be cut off and act as a guide.
Holds your comb - Once your spacer fingers help you decide where to cut, you need to transfer your comb from your cutting hand to your holding hand. Without letting go of the hair in your holding/left hand, slide your scissors between your thumb and your pointer. Press your thumb against your hand to hold your comb steady.

Jobs of Your Cutting Hand
Your cutting hand (your right or dominant hand) has 2 jobs to do:
Combs up hair - You start off with wet, clean hair lying on the scalp. You need to comb up a section of hair so your holding hand can slip it between your 2 holding fingers.
Works the scissor - When the hair is held between your holding fingers and is measured using your spacing fingers, you are ready to transfer your comb to your holding hand and make the cut.

Even though your cutting hand makes the most difference visually, it is the work of the holding hand that makes all the difference. If you don't have your hair neatly lifted and spaced, you will end up with a messy and uneven haircut.

For directions for the basics on how to manipulate scissors correctly, see The Beginner's Guide to Cutting Hair chapter 5.