Haircutting For Dummies

Your short cut to stylish home hairdressing

Ever wondered if you could hack it at cutting your friends' and family's hair, or could even make it as a full-blown stylist? If you've got a little creative spark—a love of crafting or painting or a talent for home makeovers—and an obsessive yen to redo the dos you see around you, it's more than likely you can make the cut. The new edition of Haircutting For Dummies shows you how to draw out your inner artist and bring your ideas to glorious life on the heads of your nearest and dearest—and will help shave dollars off your beauty budget into the bargain!

In a free-spirited, chatty style, master stylist and social media corporate beauty consultant Jeryl E. Spear sits you down for a comprehensive snip-and-tell overview of how to reproduce the latest short, medium, and long hairstyles, as well as fancying things up with cutting-edge techniques like slicing, notching, and layering. Jeryl also provides a drawerful of tips on the tools you'll need to get started.

• Get a grip on men's and women's styles
• Set up shop at home
• Choose your tools and keep them sharp
• Take the first steps to embracing a beauty career

Packed with detailed illustrations and model shots to guide your work, this book has everything you need to begin the creative work of making everyone you know—and the world—a smarter, more beautiful place!

Jeryl E. Spear is the former Executive Editor of Beauty Launchpad and Editor-in-Chief of HOT Beauty magazine. She is currently a beauty and marketing consultant for prominent beauty corporations, and she is the Content Editor for Cengage- Milady Cosmetology. Jeryl owned and operated a multimillion-dollar full-service salon for 15 years. Follow her Instagram beauty inspiration page @hotonbeauty.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Shopping, Talking, and Acting Like a Pro 5

Chapter 1: Setting Up Shop: Kitchen Beauticians 7

Discovering Your Inner Artist: Do You Have What It Takes? 8

Setting the Scene 8

Cutting Up in Your Kitchen 10

Mane-taining your own hair 10

Chopping your children’s hair 11

Clipping a companion’s hair 11

Chapter 2: Strapping On Your Tool Belt 13

Running with These Is a No-No 14

Selecting scissors 15

Playing it straight 16

Making beveled eggs and blades 16

Caving in to convex blades 17

Getting a handle on ergonomics 17

Seeking specialty scissors 18

Caring for your scissors 19

Calling All Trimmers 20

Short List: Tools and Supplies 21

Combing It Over 22

Feeling Secure 23

Practicing with Doll Heads 24

Chapter 3: Beauty Show and Tell 27

Getting Acquainted 28

Being mindful of the past 28

Evaluating the present 29

Getting personal 29

Figuring Out Face Shapes 30

Playing Show and Tell 32

Chapter 4: Typecasting Different Hair Personalities 35

Talking about Texture 36

Feeling fine 36

Striking a happy medium 36

Cozying up to coarse hair 37

What’s Your Type? 37

In the Thick of It: Hair Density 39

Calming Cowlicks 40

How to discover growth patterns 41

Working cowlicks to your advantage 43

Part 2: Mastering Basic Techniques, Stat! 45

Chapter 5: Understanding Head Shapes, Elevations, Angles, and Guides 47

Getting to Know the Four Pillars of Haircutting 48

Identifying Head Shapes and Points of Interest (a.k.a Head Mapping) 49

The four corners of the head 50

Elevating Your Haircuts 52

Getting a Handle on Cutting Lines and Angles 53

Guiding the Cut 56

Horsing around: Using a stable guide 56

This hair is made for walking: Using a traveling guide 58

Chapter 6: Parting Ways: Sectioning Hair for Successful Cuts 61

Four-Section Parting 62

Four-Section Spherical Parting 63

Five-Section Parting 64

Seven-Section Parting 65

Seven-Section Parting with Hairline Sections 65

Chapter 7: Dressing Up the Ends 67

Graduating with Honors 68

Taking It Up a Notch 71

Point Cutting Remarks 73

Any Way You Slide It 75

Chapter 8: Cuddling Up to Clippers 79

Getting the Best Clippers for Your Needs 80

Cutting the cord 81

Bells and whistles 82

Guiding the cut 83

Clipping ABCs 84

Maintaining Your Machine 85

Getting Clipper Happy: Practicing Some Standard Techniques 87

The Boyish Taper Cut 87

Bald as a Billiard Ball: Clipper and razor balding cut 90

Part 3: Maintaining Hair Moxie 93

Chapter 9: Making Bangs and Frames 95

Tips for Creating Bangin’ Bangs 96

Starting Out with a Bang 97

Boho bangs 97

Layered bangs 99

Sideswept bangs 102

Curtain bangs 104

Eye-framing bangs 107

Curved bangs 109

Chapter 10: Cutting Your Crowning Glory 113

Tipping the DIY Haircutter in You 114

Minding the golden rules of cutting your own hair 114

Examining the details of your existing cut 114

Analyzing your current haircut 116

Diving into DIY Haircuts 118

Faux cut for straight or wavy hair 118

Dusting cut 120

Condensed Bob Chop 121

Getting Edgy cut 124

Layers and Lift cut 127

Chapter 11: Perfecting Touch-Up Cuts 131

A Little Goes a Long Way 131

Cutting Back: Refresher Trims 132

Getting Down to Business cut 132

Getting Down to Business cut for Type 4 hair 136

A Little off the Top and Sides trim 138

Tipping and Dusting trim 140

Part 4: Getting Snippy 145

Chapter 12: Getting Snippy and Clippy with Women’s Short Styles 147

Checking In Before You Begin 148

Life on the Short Side of the Street 148

Being Pixie Perfect cut 149

Keeping It Simple cut 154

Pulling the Plug cut 157

Chapter 13: Getting Snippy with Women’s Mid-Length Styles 163

Checking in Before You Begin 164

Being in the Middle: Mid-Length Cuts 164

It’s a Frame-Up cut 165

Her Name Is Bob cut 170

The Tilted Lob Bob cut 174

Let It Slide cut 178

Chapter 14: Getting Snippy with Women’s Long Styles 183

Preparing Thyself for Long Locks 183

Shape-Shifting Styles for Long Hair 185

Changing up a one-length cut 185

Being Single-Length and Loving It 186

Making a Clean Break 188

Slaying the Long Lived-In Layer cut 190

Chapter 15: Getting Snippy with Men’s Styles 197

Cutting Corners and Other Barbering Techniques 198

Using the “over-comb” cutting technique 198

Absolute power tools 199

Parting the hard way 199

Finding Your Masculine Mojo 200

Tips for longer masculine styles 200

Negotiating a Standard Business cut 201

Buzz Skill clipper cut 205

Fading away 206

Kicking back with a Trendy Casual cut 207

Chapter 16: Getting Snippy with Children’s Styles 211

Getting Practical with Your Pint-Sized Peeps 212

Girly Cue Cuts 213

Petite Chic cut 213

Lollipop Kids cut 216

Bountiful Curls cut 221

Getting into Boyish Styles 225

The Basic Boyish cut 225

Boys Next Door buzz cut 228

Part 5: Making Your Haircuts Shine 231

Chapter 17: Setting the Stage for Cuts and Styles: Caring for the Hair and Scalp 233

Doing No Harm to the Hair 234

Avoiding the Overuse of Hair Products 236

Testing Hair Porosity 238

Perfecting Your Family’s Hair Care Routine 240

Avoiding common cleansing missteps 240

How often should you shampoo your hair? 241

Caring for Dry and Oily Scalps 242

Special tips for dry scalp and hair 242

Special tips for oily scalp and hair 244

Selecting Shampoos and Conditioners Based on Hair Types and Conditions 245

Sidling Up to the Bar 247

Getting Clean with Co-Washing 248

Leave-In Conditioners: Giving Hair Frequent Sips of Water and Moisture 249

Giving the Scalp a Scrub-a-Dub-Dub 249

Refreshing the Hair with Dry Shampoos and Conditioners 251

Dry shampoos: Sopping up sebum and uninvited debris 251

Dry conditioners: Replacing lost moisture and shine 252

How to dry shampoo and condition hair 253

Chapter 18: Handling the Sticky Stuff 255

Becoming a Styling Aid Connoisseur 256

Mousse is more than a dessert 256

Getting a grip on hair gels 256

Shimmying up the barber pole 257

Know when to hold ’em 258

Taking a hair powder 258

Smooth around the edges 259

Lunch is served: Nutritious oils and serums 259

Four Specialty Styling Aids for Coily Hair 260

Chapter 19: Everything You Need to Know about Heat-Styling Tools 261

Brushing Up on Heat-Styling Brushes 262

Key brush types used for heat styling 262

Giving your brushes a checkup 263

Choosing the Best Blow-Dryer for You 265

Style-worthy blow-dryer features 265

Maintaining your blow-dryer 267

Choosing the Best Styling Irons for You 268

Types of curling irons and wands 269

Curling iron bells-and-whistles 269

Finding your perfect flat iron 271

Curling wands for trendy styles 272

Nifty, nonessential heat styling tools 272

Temperature Guidelines for Heat Styling 273

Chapter 20: Styling Tips and Tricks 275

They Went That-a-Way: Directional Styling and Lift 276

Directing the style 276

Learning the base-ics 278

Blowing Them Away with Your Drying Techniques 282

Sectioning the hair 282

Working with tension 282

Seriously breathtaking blow-dry sets 282

Curling Irons: Spiraling in Control 285

Perfecting poppin’ curls 285

Curling wands: Creating loose and unstructured styles 287

Flattening the Curve: Straightening Irons 288

Becoming a smooth beauty operator 288

Curling hair with a flat iron 289

Heat-Free Styling Tips 291

Plopping for curl perfection 291

Twirly curly finger styles 292

Curling super-fragile-istic hair 292

Handling Styling Conundrums 294

Chapter 21: Cleaning Up Your Act 297

Sanitizers versus Disinfectants 297

Treating Your Haircutting Space 298

Disinfecting Towels and Capes 298

Disinfecting Combs and Brushes 299

Cleaning and Disinfecting Scissors 300

Sanitizing and Disinfecting Trimmers and Clippers 301

Sanitizing and Disinfecting Sundries 302

Scalp Encounters of the Third Kind 302

How to Spot a Clean or Dirty Stylist and Salon 303

Is your stylist clean or dirty? 303

Is the salon clean or dirty? 304

Part 6: The Part of Tens 307

Chapter 22: Ten Slices of Advice on Cutting Kids’ Hair 309

Good Timing 310

Secure Seating 310

Curbing Curiosity 311

Covering Up 311

Brushing Up 312

Spiking the Waters 312

Banishing Tears 312

Getting a Grip 313

Entertaining 313

Ensuring a Good Time 314

Chapter 23: Ten Hair Fails and Fixes 315

Embracing the Good Times 315

Multitasking with Scissors 316

Playing by the Rules 316

Going Overbold 316

Disorderly Cutting Conduct 317

Taking a Leave of Absence 317

Keeping It Straight 317

Reaching the Breaking Point 318

Exceeding Hair Capabilities 318

Conquering Curl Rebellions 319

Chapter 24: Ten Bits of Advice for Thinning Hair 321

Understanding How You Can Help Those Dealing with Hair Loss 322

Communicating with Care 322

Terms of Concealment 323

Techniques for Hiding Hair Loss 323

Haircutting Tips for Pattern Baldness 324

Haircutting Tips for Diffuse Hair Thinning 324

Styling Tips for Male Hair Loss 325

Styling Tips for Female Hair Loss 326

Styling Aids and Thickening Hair Products 326

Seeing Neither Hide nor Hair 327

Index 329

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.