Elements of Haircut Design Part II

By understanding the element of hair cutting design you can cut hair more effectively. Many stylists cut the way they were taught, but do not understand how the principles of hair cutting design effect their cuts. If you understand how the haircut elements work, you can get better haircut results. Redken training is based off of these same concepts.

In part one, the elements of shape was discussed. Now we can talk about the elements of movement and how it applies to haircuts. When we talk about hair design we can simplify it into two types of haircuts: graduated/layered or blunt. If we do not want a blunt cut, we must lift the hair up. To elevate the hair we take a section in an upward manner without moving it out of its natural falling position. After we cut the hair and let it drop down, the hair will fall down vertically with no side-to-side movement. Elevation is an up and down movement and is very important when you cut hair.

What actually happens when you elevate the hair? It creates graduation also known as layers. So any haircut you do will either be one length or it will be graduated. An easy tip to remember elevation is to think of an elevator. They move up and down. They do not move from left to right. When you give a haircut and you want the hair to fall back to its natural falling position, you must keep their head upright. If you push the head forward or have them tilt their head down, the hair will not be in its natural falling position. An important thing to keep in mind is that you must hold all the hair that you elevate at the same angle otherwise your haircut will not be consistent.

If you think about the four views of the views of the head, they are the front, sides, back and top. So whether you are standing in the front or back of the client, you can see the elevation from every view except from the top. Keep this in mind when you position your body while cutting your clients hair.

So now that we have talked about elevation we need to discuss over direction. In contrast, over direction is side to side. If the hair is moved out of its natural falling position in a side to side motion, it is over directed. Over direction creates weight and length in the opposite direction. If you take the hair from the back and direct it to the front, you create length and weight in the back.

If you were to take all the hair in the back area and over direct it to the center back, the hair will be shorter in the center, becoming longer to the back of the ears. Most of the layers would be in the center with the least layers at the back of the ears. Over direction narrows the width of the graduation. You see over direction used a lot with a-line haircuts. The only direction you can see the degree of over direction is from the top.

The final movement in hair cutting is finger angle. The movement of finger angle is in and out. The fingers determine the angle at which the hair is cut. If you want to adjust the volume or depth within the haircut shape, you must adjust your finger angle. If you placed your fingers in the side area and you angle them diagonally IN at the chin and OUT from the top of the head, the volume would be at the top of the shape. You can use the mirror to keep your finger angle consistent.

In conclusion, you must always think about the three movements in order to achieve predictable and precise haircuts. Movement is very important to understand in hair cutting and will help you increase you skills. Just keep practice your techniques and remember the basic elements of hair cutting.

Note: Look for Part III Coming Soon covering the element of head form.

Source:

1. Redken.com