Haircutting For Dummies

J. Elaine Spear is a Contributing Editor for the magazines DaySpa, Today's Image, Beauty Store Business, and Salon News. She owned and operated a multimillion-dollar salon and day spa for 15 years.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

How This Book is Organized 3

Part I: Spreading Your Farrah Fawcett-Like Wings 3

Part II: Cutting to the Chase 3

Part III: Getting Snippy 4

Part IV: Letting the Scissors Fly with Advanced Haircutting Techniques 4

Part V: Keeping the Cooties Away 4

Part VI: The Part of Tens 4

Icons Used in This Book 4

Where to Go from Here 5

Part I: Spreading Your Farrah Fawcett-Like Wings 7

Chapter 1: Setting Up Shop: Career Stylists and Kitchen Beauticians 9

Discovering Your Inner Artist: Do You Have What It Takes? 10

Getting Your Goods Together 10

Cutting Up in Your Kitchen 11

Contorting to cut your own hair 12

Chopping your children’s hair 12

Clipping a companion’s hair 13

Making Someone Else’s Hair Your Business 13

Getting licensed 13

Being bitten by the beauty-school bug 14

Chapter 2: Strapping On Your Tool Belt 17

Running with These is a No-No 18

Playing it straight 20

Making beveled eggs and blades 21

Caving into convex blades 21

Finding a special blade 22

Caring for your scissors 23

Combing It Over 24

Styling comb 25

Wide-tooth comb 25

Detangling comb 26

Rattail comb 26

Pintail comb 26

Countless other combs 26

Brushing It Off 27

Bristling at all the patterns 27

Adding some style 28

Calling All Trimmers 30

Assessing an Assortment of Other Items 30

Chapter 3: Brushing Up Before You Begin 33

Getting Acquainted 33

Dwelling on the past 34

Evaluating the present 34

Getting personal 35

Figuring out face shapes 35

Playing show and tell 37

Doing Some Prep Work 37

Preparing your hair 38

Giving the perfect shampoo 38

Detangling like a pro 40

Choosing a wet or dry medium 40

Cutting to the Basics 41

Earning your degrees 41

Checking with reference points 43

Guiding the cut 45

Putting the Basics to Work 49

Making a bang 49

Being blunt 55

Sweeping through beveled cuts 56

Commencing to graduated ends 59

Loosening up with long-layered cuts 61

Sticking with short-layered cuts 64

Figuring Out What’s Next 66

Part II: Cutting to the Chase 67

Chapter 4: Talking About Texture 69

Mistaking a Hair’s Identity 69

Going with the Flow 70

Feeling fine 70

Coaxing the coarse 71

Playing Texture Detective 72

Joining the Hair Movement 73

Taming the Cowlick 75

Chapter 5: Tipping the Stylist: You 77

Blowing Them Away with Your Drying Technique 78

Sectioning the hair 79

Releasing water 79

Working with tension 80

Revving Up the Va-va-va Volume 80

Taking it up a notch 81

Taking it down a notch 82

Curling (It’s More than a Winter Olympics Sport) 83

Being thrifty 84

Harnessing the heat 84

Keeping your directions straight 85

Ironing It Out 88

Handling Styling Conundrums 90

Chapter 6: Ending is Just the Beginning 93

Starting at the Bottom 94

Exterminating the rats 94

Avoiding a single snip 94

Embracing the end; curbing the yen for speed 95

Pointing the way 96

Taking Part 96

Five-part sectioning 97

Four-part sectioning 98

Custom sectioning 100

Shaping Up in the End 101

Shooting straight 101

Rounding off 102

Cutting a gem: Diamond ends 104

Finishing Up at the Bottom 106

Chapter 7: Maintaining Your Professional Cut 107

Examining Your Cut with a Fine-Tooth Comb 108

Brevity is the Soul of Wit, Not Bangs 109

Freeing your fringe 109

Going down 110

Shortening full bangs 110

Trimming triangular bangs 112

Getting dirty with a compact bang trim 114

Taking a Little Off the Top 115

Earning your graduated layering diploma 115

Trimming with a traveling guide 116

Moving Forward 118

Cutting Side to Side 119

Refreshing short layers 119

Tipping long layers 120

Part III: Getting Snippy 121

Chapter 8: Getting Snippy with Women’s Short Styles 123

Establishing a Short List of Ground Rules 123

Cutting It Short and Sweet 125

Drawing Out a Lively Look 130

Getting Down to Business with a Classic Cut 134

Chapter 9: Getting Snippy with Women’s Mid-length Styles 137

Creating a Masterpiece: Mid-length Blunt Cut 137

Knowing the style 138

Cutting on the fringe: Mid-length blunt cut with triangular bangs 140

Getting framed: Mid-length blunt cut with framing 142

Layering It On 143

Chapter 10: Getting Snippy with Women’s Long Styles 147

Preparing Thyself for Long Locks 147

Being Single-Length and Loving It 148

Adding Decorative Details to a Blunt Cut 150

Doing a blunt haircut 151

Cutting triangular bangs 152

Adding subtle tapering 152

Graduating to Great Fanfare 153

Getting Framed Isn’t Always Bad: Framed Cut 157

Bevel haircut 158

Taper line 160

Framing a Long Cut 161

Chapter 11: Getting Snippy with Men’s Styles 167

Trimming the Light Fantastic 167

Scissors-over-comb technique 168

Going electric 169

Getting Down to a Standard Business Cut 169

Kicking Back with a Casual Men’s Haircut 174

Soft Rock: Short Cut 177

Hard Rock: Medium Cut 181

Retreating Hair 183

Chapter 12: Getting Snippy with Children’s Styles 185

Getting Practical with Your Pint-Sized Ones 185

Going for Some Girl Glam 186

Charting petite chic 187

Hopping on the Good Ship Lollipop 189

Bobbing for girls 193

Skating with little Dorothy 196

Bringing on the Boyish Style 200

Betting on the basic boy cut 200

Trying on a no-worries cut 203

Part IV: Letting the Scissors Fly with Advanced Haircutting Techniques 209

Chapter 13: Getting to the Point: Compact Cutting 211

Cutting to the Chase 212

Introducing a One-Snip Wonder: Bangs 214

Layering with Lightning Speed 215

Layering post haste 217

Keeping the length while incorporating layers 219

Introducing a Two-Snip Wonder: Disconnected Shape 221

Shooting Down Compact-Cut Conundrums 223

Chapter 14: Cuddling Up to Clippers 225

Getting the Buzz 225

Soft and Easy 227

Fading Away 229

Fixing a Flat Top 231

Chapter 15: Pulling the Plug: Disconnected Shapes 233

Mopping on Top 233

Contrasting Textures 237

Locking on Top 242

Chapter 16: Becoming a Free Spirit: Shattered Shapes 245

Kicking It Up a Notch 246

Doing It Deli Style: Sliced Hair 247

Making Tattered Look Good 248

Faking It No Longer: A Facade of Texture 250

Shattering the Whole Shebang 251

Getting Chunky 254

Part V: Keeping the Cooties Away 257

Chapter 17: Harnessing Hair Health 259

Living an Unfit Lifestyle 259

I Screen, You Screen, We All Screen for Hair Health 261

Normal, dry, damaged, or oily 264

Limp, frizzy, or just too full 265

Just plain dull 268

Treating Testy Hair 269

Pumping up the volume 269

Fighting the frizzies 270

Breaking down and splitting up 271

Livening up (yawn) dull hair 272

Unraveling the oily scalp and dry hair connection 273

Limiting the damage 274

Dealing with the chemical reaction 275

Stocking Up on Products 276

Chapter 18: Knowing the Sticky Stuff — and I Don’t Mean Hair Spray 279

Splitting Hairs: Anatomy 280

Charting growth 281

Viewing a day in the life of a hair 282

Losing It but Staying Sane 283

Male pattern baldness 284

Female pattern baldness 285

Alopecia aereata 285

Running through the three Rs 286

Chapter 19: Cleaning Up Your Act 287

Declaring War on Germs 287

Combing (and brushing) the area 288

Making a clean cut 289

Working on your working surfaces 290

Touching the Surface 291

Seborrheic dermatitis: Dandruff 292

Psoriasis 293

Communicating with Communicables 293

Pediculosis capitis: Head lice 294

Scabies 296

Tinea favosa: Honeycomb ringworm 297

Part VI: The Part of Tens 299

Chapter 20: Ten Slices of Advice on Cutting Kids’ Hair 301

Good Timing 302

Secure Seating 302

Covering Up 303

Brushing Up 303

Spiking the Waters 304

Banishing Tears 304

Cutting Control 305

Getting a Grip 305

Entertaining 305

Ensuring a Good Time 306

Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Keep What the Pros Created 307

Confessing to Your Stylist 307

Tracking Your Style 308

Getting Set Up 308

Good Timing 309

Using Common Sense 310

Beware of Blunt Cuts 310

Skipping Long Layers 310

Finer than Frog’s Hair 311

The Incredible Shrinking Hair 311

Following Through 311

Chapter 22: Ten Possible Career Paths 313

Full-Service Hairstylist 313

Hair Specialist 313

Esthetics, Makeup, or Nails Cosmetologist 314

Salon Owner 314

Editorial/Freelance Artist 314

Educator 315

Manufacturer/Distributor Representative 315

Corporate Executive 315

Industry Consultant 315

Public Relations 316

Index 317