how to cut CURLY HAIR
today we’re going to show you how to cut CURLY HAIR.
in dakota’s case, she’s looking to get rid of some of the body and enhance her curls. though there are many ways to cut CURLY HAIR, we’ve chosen the CHRISTMAS TREE CUT. this involves internal layering without any texturizing.
the LAST THING you want to do to curly hair is to add too much texture to it. too much texture will leave the ends looking scraggly.
PRO TIP: curly hair loves texture. it gives the curls room to “play and form”. remove the bulk from the hair, and then add texture. DON’T use “texturizing” as your cutting technique.
the trick to cutting curly hair is cutting the hair in it’s natural shape. we’ll brush it out to get the knots out, but we’ll reform the hair before we start the cut. to do this you can apply replenish oil and spray it down with a bit of water to bring back out the natural curl. in dakota’s hair we used 3 pumps.
cutting the PERIMETER
we’re going to start with the PERIMETER of the hair. we’re going to take off about 2 ½ inches. we want to avoid creating a solid line, so we’re going to point cut into the hair. we want to play with it, see where all the curls sit and cut accordingly.
PROTIP: keep in mind that cutting CURLY HAIR is more about working with the shape of the hair, it’s more visual than a precise, structured hair cut. in many ways, it’s like clipping hedges.
CUTTING the hair to remove excess bulk or body
this starts with separating the hair into 3 sections. think of it as the basement, the main floor, and the roof (and cut in that order).
PROTIP: the number of sections is determined by the amount of bulk the client wants removed and the density of their hair. dakota has really thick hair and wanted a lot of bulk removed.
the first section is the BOTTOM of the head. dakota hates the layer underneath because it sits fairly straight, so we’re going to cut it shorter than the above layers in a very slight undercut. this will be hidden by the rest of the hair by giving the rest of her curls more room to form.
since we’ll be using a slide cutting technique, you want to make sure that the hair is really wet before hand. this will ensure that the shears are creating a CLEAN CUT to the strand and not tearing the cuticle. tearing the cuticle will cause splits in the hair which will make the hair frizzy.
take sections starting in the center back and work towards the front on each side. we’re going to layer the hair on a steep angle to make sure there's enough hair is left at the perimeter. make sure your tension is gentle enough to preserve the natural curl in the hair (remember, we want to cut the hair as it would sit naturally). then you’ll take the next section and over direct it over it to the previous section. we will always overdirect on to the last section to maintain some of the length towards the front.
PRO TIP: if you want to maintain lots of length around the face, over direct everything behind the ear straight back rather than the previous sections.
with the bottom section done, we’re going to move on to the MIDDLE section. but before we do that-we’re going to spray the hair with water again to get some of the natural curl back. use the bottom section as a guide while we cut her hair. we want this section to fall over top of the bottom section creating a ‘CHRISTMAS TREE’ effect. (make sure the bottom length of the middle section is longer and falls over the top length of the bottom section - internal layering).
as we get closer to the area behind the ears, we’re going to pull the hair straight back as if you want to PRESERVE more LENGTH around the face. if they want a rounder shape, continue to over direct the hair to the previous section. we’ll be able to frame her face exactly how she likes it after the sections are all done.
we’ll repeat this process for the TOP of the head.
FRAMING the face
we’re going to layer her hair around the face and pay careful attention to where it falls. each and every head of CURLY HAIR is unique. you’ll need to cut carefully and make sure the hair is sitting in its natural curl shape before attempting to cut it. again, think of cutting the hair like hedge cutting where you would visually look at where the hair sits and cut accordingly.
STYLING the hair
to style dakota’s hair, we’re going to use a combination of oil and twisting. first, we put a little bit of oil onto our hands and twist her hair into spirals.
we’ll REPEAT this process around the entire head and allow it to air dry this way.
her style is COMPLETE!
BONUS: CURLY HAIR tips
with a lovely head of CURLY HAIR in our chair, we decided to ask dakota for her top 3 maintenance tips for curly hair.
1. get GOOD PRODUCTS. quality products are important for everyone, but they are VITAL for those with curly hair. leave conditioner in to contain the MOISTURE. curly hair needs a lot of moisture to defeat frizz.
2. DON’T COMB it when it’s DRY. always comb curly hair when it’s wet. otherwise, it will be incredibly frizzy.
3. find a STYLIST who can cut curly hair. if the stylist feels uncomfortable cutting curly hair, find someone else.
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