Jeryl E. Spear - Haircutting For Dummies

Having a hard time figuring out which shape your face is? Try this: Brush your hair straight back to expose your entire face. Next, grab a bar of soap, stand in front of a mirror, close one eye, and trace your face shape onto the mirror. Now open your closed eye. Which face shape do you have?

Failure to communicate in a precise manner can turn an ordinary haircut into a disaster faster than you can say, “Oops!” One of the best ways to avoid misfires in communication is by using pictures of different haircuts to communicate length, style, and whether or not the tips of the ears should be covered by hair.

To use this strategy effectively, involve the person in your discussion by pointing at pictures and asking things like, “Do you want your hair to stop here or there? “Do you like the way my hair is cut in back, or do you want it more tapered like the model in this picture?” These kinds of questions can save you from making big haircutting mistakes.

Here’s a true story that happened to a stylist I know rather well. To this day, she still brings it up in conversations and has also confessed to this haircut fail more than once on social media. A regular salon client dropped off her mother for a haircut and then left to go shopping. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a big deal, except her mother didn’t speak a word of English and the stylist didn’t speak the client’s native tongue. Instead of communicating through pictures, they solely relied on hand gestures. Bad move. No matter what the stylist asked her, the client kept pointing to her shoulders. So, with all the confidence in the world, the stylist removed 8 inches (20.3 centimeters) of hair to create a beautiful, shoulder-length bob. When the service was complete, the woman paid for her service and left with tears streaming down her face. Uh-oh. When the daughter showed up to collect her mom, the stylist went outside to ask her why her mother was crying. Come to find out, her mother wanted her layers — not her length — to start at her shoulders.

Talking through pictures — whether there’s a language barrier or not — is always the most accurate form of communication.

Don’t feel like you have to narrow everything down the first time you ask the right questions or even use pictures to communicate. People often need some time to feel comfortable enough to openly share what they want done with their hair, and people express themselves differently. By taking your time and verbally rephrasing your questions, the truth will eventually come out.

Using social media hair pages are the best and quickest way to discover a plethora of styles and haircuts, ranging from short to long and one length to long layers. My go-to social media apps for hair are Instagram and Pinterest. To get you started, here are a few of my favorite pages to visit for inspiration and to visually communicate with my clients:

Chapter 4

IN THIS CHAPTER

Uncovering the truth about hair types

Sweet talking hair types to make them behave

Having your way with cowlicks and other growth patterns

Understanding hair type, texture, and density is an important step toward making your little darlings — and your big ones too — look forward to sitting in your chair. Once mastered, evaluating these factors as part of your cutting plan will help you to create cut-above hair designs on even the most opinionated hair.

Carefully evaluating the hair will also help to eliminate so many unwanted surprises like fine hair collapsing on the head, curly hair performing its incredible shrinking act, or thin hair playing peek-a-boo with the scalp.

In this chapter, I walk you through how to determine any hair type, as well as how to spot and handle pesky (but sometimes fun) whorls and cowlicks. You’ll learn the meaning of hair density and discover how to determine whether a head of hair is thin, medium, or thick. And because hair texture plays a big role in every cut and style, I’ll show you how to determine whether it’s fine, medium, or coarse by comparing it to common sewing thread.

Hair texture defines the diameter of the hair, which ranges from fine to coarse strands. All hair textures behave differently. Fine hair can resemble fine silk, while medium hair is usually spunky without displaying the stubborn characteristics of wiry, coarse hair.

To help you accurately pinpoint the correct hair texture, use this tried-and-true method: Compare the hair to a length of regular sewing thread. If the hair is the same thickness as the thread, it’s medium. If it’s smaller than the thread, it’s fine. If it’s thicker than the thread, it’s coarse.