THE PROBLEM. A customer who bought my videos emailed me about a problem he was having. On a regular tapered haircut given to a person with fine-textured straight hair, both sides were cut to the same length, but one side “puffed out” while the other side laid well. Why?
ANALYZING THE PROBLEM. Like many troublesome straight hair conditions, this is a hair grain problem. The section on “Analyzing the hair” in “Precision Clipper Cutting #2” demonstrated how to check the hair grain on straighter varieties of hair: You comb through the hair with the comb going against the grain while looking at the DIRECTION the first inch of hair takes as it comes out of the scalp. That first inch shows you what kind of hair grain you have to work with. I emailed back saying he should check the hair grain and it would probably show the grain on one side of the head goes toward the back of the head, with the other side heading downward. With this uncommon kind of hair grain, if both sides are combed toward the back of the head, the side that has a downward grain will puff out while the other side lays close to the head.
A FEW SOLUTIONS.
1. An easy solution is to comb the hair and let it lay in the same direction as the hair grain on both sides. This approach eliminates the puffiness, however with one side combed down and the other toward the back, you have an unbalanced appearance that many customers won’t want.
2. You could let the puffy side grow longer so there is enough length to bend toward the back and lay like the other side. With the extra length, this approach probably needs hair spray or gel to keep it in place.
3. Cut the hair extra short. Assuming the customer approves, cutting the sides like it’s done for a “Princeton” or a short/high tapered haircut will leave the problem lying on the floor.
TIME
How long is a minute? It depends on which side of the bathroom door you are on.
Anonymous