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:

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


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  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.

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  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.