Jeryl E. Spear - Haircutting For Dummies

Although the old saying, “Let bygones be bygones,” shows the wisdom of forgiving and forgetting, it doesn’t apply to hair. If your bangs have ever been cut so badly that even hot glue wouldn’t hold them down, you’re always going to be anxious about getting your bangs cut. The same holds true if you once requested a trim and were given the “big chop” instead. Always keep in mind that the people sitting in your chair have probably had similar experiences. It’s your job to do all you can to understand where they’re coming from and allay their fears.

To find out what strikes terror in the heart of the person sitting in your styling chair, ask these three questions:

Is there anything I should be mindful of while cutting your hair — your bangs, perhaps, or the overall length of your hair?

Is there any area of your face, neck, or ears that you want to remain covered, or partly covered, by your hair — the tips of your ears, for instance, or the back of your neck?

Do you want to share any other special concerns that you have before we talk about your new style?

Comb through every square inch of the hair, or you could be eating your words midway through the service. Do you see any short pieces that preclude certain styles? Is the hair unusually straight, making a curly style too time-consuming to do on a daily basis? Does the neckline shoot up like a waterfall, making it impossible to cut a straight hairline? Is the hair exceptionally smooth and silky, giving it a big thumbs up for a one-length blunt cut?

Discover anything and everything there is to know about someone’s hair before the style has been set in stone. Otherwise, you may end up like many stylists I’ve seen who come rushing into the break room after doing a haircut, crying, “I can’t believe it! I was halfway through this haircut when I came across these short pieces. Now there’s this big dip in the middle!” This type of disaster will never happen to you as long as you evaluate the hair carefully before you even take your scissors out of their case! (Check out Chapter 4to find out about the different hair types and their unique styling abilities.)

Everybody has different time constraints, lifestyle habits, and abilities to style their hair that need to be integrated into all haircut suggestions. Imagine having only 45 minutes to shower and style your hair before shooting out the door, only to find that your style takes 45 minutes to blow-dry and curl. Or think about having a haircut that requires the back of the head to be curled when you can barely manage a blow-dryer. Knowing a person’s lifestyle and abilities put you in the unique position of creating haircuts that enhance their daily lives.

Here are four lifestyle questions that you should always pose:

How much time do you have (or are willing to spend) in the morning to style your hair?

Does your career dictate that you must have a more conservative style?

How handy are you with a blow-dryer and curling iron?

What type of style — sporty, casual, or elegant, for instance — best suits your lifestyle on a daily basis?

Human faces come in seven basic shapes. For decades, people treated the oval face as the facial goddess and compared every other face type to its perfect beauty. How dated can you get!

Today, attractiveness is often defined by interesting irregularities like wide-set eyes, a delicate pointed chin, or a square jawline that gives the impression of strength. Still, when facial shapes become too pronounced, people will often request that you de-emphasize something about their face.

Table 3-1provides info on seven different facial shapes you’ll need to consider before suggesting the best styles to enhance your family’s and friends’ naturally good looks. These guidelines can help you create the illusion of a more pleasing shape by softening or crisping up corners, and minimizing unwanted facial features like a protruding forehead.

TABLE 3-1Seven Face Shapes

Face Shape	Features	Feminine Cutting Tips	Masculine Cutting Tips
Heart	Wide forehead and narrow chin	Cut a side-swept bang, retain enough length to peek around the back of the neck and at the jawline	Keep length on top with less volume; suggest a beard that is slightly fuller and thicker around the chin area
Oval	Symmetrical	Suitable for all haircuts and styles	Suitable for all haircuts and styles
Square	Overly strong forehead, jawline, and chin Face is equal length and width	Add see-through bangs and long layers that drape the face (past jawline)	Longer hair that accentuates angles of the face; modern undercuts with tapered sides and angular-shaped beards
Triangle	Narrow at the forehead and wide at the jawline	Cut a full, wide bang and face frame design	Tapered or faded haircuts with length and volume on top; short, trimmed beards that start just above the jawline
Round (Circle)	Shaped like a sphere	Cut top layers for lift and/or deep-set bang and long, smooth layers (past jawline)	Longer top with angular perimeter lines; side parts, angular beards
Oblong	Long and narrow	Add fullness to the sides and a smooth top with bangs, or cut a chin-length bob with bangs and movement (waves or curls) around the sides of the face	Cut longer lengths to properly drape the head; or slicked-back styles with a close skin fade paired with a naturally shaped, slightly full beard
Diamond	Wide cheekbones, prominent jawbone, and narrow forehead	Cut a full bang or a curtain bang; drape the hair at the edge of the cheeks down to the jawline	Add bangs to high fades; notch or point cut the ends for lift and a deconstructed look; design cuts that hug the jawline

Images © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; Illustrations by Rashell Smith