how to cut SQUARE LAYERS for men’s hair
jessica here! today i’m going to show you how to cut SQUARE LAYERS. this type of layer is most often used in MEN'S HAIRCUTS, as it has a ‘boxy’ look that is more suited for men's hair. that being said, it’s great for BUILDING WEIGHT and ADDING FULLNESS to the hair so it can be used for women that have a finer density of hair as well.
cutting SQUARE LAYERS
michael has been growing his hair out for a while now. he is currently growing it so that he can cut it off to donate afterwards. as you can see here, his hair has grown in with a big gap between his sides and the back of his head. i’m going to level out the gap on either side of his head while adding square layers to give him SHAPE and DIMENSION.
i’ll begin by combing the hair DOWN from the part, followed by a quick trim of the perimeter of the hair.
this will help me CLOSE the gap between the hair sections. in michael’s case, we won’t close it completely because he is growing his hair out to donate to charity.
PRO TIP: if michael wasn’t growing out his hair to donate, i would close the gap completely by using the length on the sides as the guide for the back.
next, i’ll take a section from the center back of the head. I’m going to pull the hair STRAIGHT OUT FROM HIS HEAD to cut. i’ll use the length at his O-BONE for the guide.
as i move on to the adjacent section, i will OVERDIRECT it into the previous section (center back).
i’ll continue this process until i reach behind the ears.
PRO TIP: i want to maintain MAXIMUM amount of length and weight so i will overdirect the hair all the way to the center back. you can also just overdirect each new section to the previous one if you didn’t want to maintain maximum amount of length and weight.
to check my work, i’m taking HORIZONTAL sections and checking to see that the hair gets LONGER TOWARDS the OUTER SIDES of his head.
when i finish the sides, i’m going to begin cutting the SIDES. i’ll start by cutting my guide at the perimeter of his face.
PRO TIP: you want the guide for the layers to be the same length as what it is at the back.
this time, i’ll be overdirecting each of the next sections to the front of the head to create a NATURAL progression of length towards the ears. i’ll continue this until i reach the section just BEHIND the ears.
now i’ll check my layers in the front. again, you want to take a horizontal section and you want to see the hair gets longer as it gets closer to his ear.
when i cross-check the back and sides together, they reach a point in the CENTER. this is the corner that i am trying to create that gives him SQUARE LAYERS.
for the TOP section of the hair, i’ll be taking horizontal sections and pulling the hair straight up and cutting it EVENLY across.
i don’t need to maintain length up here so i don’t need to overdirect the hair at all. i’m just going to take a little piece of my previous section and use it as a guide in my subsequent sections.
BLENDING the hair
now, i just want to make sure that the top half and the bottom half of his cut is connected. i’ll start at the front of the hair and take a vertical section connecting the top and bottom half of his head. i’ll comb his hair straight out from his head and i’ll notch out the corner to connect the top and bottom sections of his cut.
i’ll take vertical sections for the sides of his head and everything behind the ear will be done with PIE SHAPED sections.
STYLING and TEXTURIZING the hair
first i’m going to power DRY his hair to remove the majority of the moisture. i’m going spray in ‘fix’ to add some texture to his hair. this natural product dries weightless in the hair or dries invisible and gives the hair the grit that any good style needs.
with ‘fix’ added, i’m going to finish blow drying the hair. once that is done, i will TEXTURIZE the hair!
texturizing the hair can be a tricky process. there are NO GUIDELINES. what you do to one side of the head you may not do to another. the goal of texturizing is to balance weight so you just have to feel the hair and texturize accordingly.
as i say to my apprentices, “you need to be ONE with the HAIR”! i just run my hands through people’s hair and FEEL for the HEAVY SPOTS. do what you need to do to balance the weight of their hair on their head.
last but not least, i’m using ‘texture’ to finalize the style. this tames flyaways while PIECING IT OUT. you’ll love it 😉
it really helps to HOLD the style.
CONCLUSION
these SQUARE LAYERS are perfect for men’s hair! this technique can be used on anyone though that you want to build weight for.
want to learn more about nvenn? watch more videos on our YouTube at @nvennhairbeauty or try our products in the shop. 😉
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if you want more men’s hair videos, watch this playlist.
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