Haircutting For Dummies. Jeryl E. Spear

in the world, but if it’s not what the person sitting in your chair wanted, you could have a very unhappy situation on your hands.

      Good communication skills involve listening carefully to what the person is saying, thoughtfully repeating their messages in different words, and then reinforcing both of your verbal descriptions with visual cues or images.

      In this chapter, I share information about asking the right questions to ensure your visions jibe. I also share how to assess and enhance or minimize certain facial features, provide you with a starter list for finding specific hair images on social media, and guide you on perfecting the art of the “talk.”

      Chapter 3 is a critical chapter for cutting success, as you will discover in “Getting Acquainted,” which includes the legendary case of the severed ponytail.

Getting Acquainted

      

A story about a longhaired male salon customer has been circulating in the beauty industry for many years. A stylist asks the man if he wants to keep his ponytail. When he says, “Yes,” the stylist chops it off and hands it to him. In shock, he wanders out of the salon carrying his dearly departed hair. The poor guy then stops at every salon he comes across to ask if anyone there can fix his hair. Although this story probably ranks right up there with the urban legend about alligators living in sewer systems, it does contain a compelling kernel of truth: The number-one reason for haircutting disasters is failure to communicate!

      “Can we talk?” is the golden question that you should always ask before cutting a single strand of hair. In the case of the severed ponytail, asking the specific question, “Do you want a short haircut?” would have saved this free-spirited victim from the indignity of having a surprise business haircut.

      

In real life, good communication eliminates unwelcome haircutting surprises like a shoulder-length style unexpectedly stopping at the jawline, bangs stopping mid-forehead when they were supposed to cover the eyebrows, or graduated ends that weren’t supposed to be part of the cut. You can avoid these unhappy events and more by following five simple steps, which are discussed in the following sections.

      Being mindful of the past

      Although the old saying, “Let bygones be bygones,” shows the wisdom of forgiving and forgetting, it doesn’t apply to hair. If your bangs have ever been cut so badly that even hot glue wouldn’t hold them down, you’re always going to be anxious about getting your bangs cut. The same holds true if you once requested a trim and were given the “big chop” instead. Always keep in mind that the people sitting in your chair have probably had similar experiences. It’s your job to do all you can to understand where they’re coming from and allay their fears.

      

To find out what strikes terror in the heart of the person sitting in your styling chair, ask these three questions:

       Is there anything I should be mindful of while cutting your hair — your bangs, perhaps, or the overall length of your hair?

       Is there any area of your face, neck, or ears that you want to remain covered, or partly covered, by your hair — the tips of your ears, for instance, or the back of your neck?

       Do you want to share any other special concerns that you have before we talk about your new style?

      Evaluating the present

      Comb through every square inch of the hair, or you could be eating your words midway through the service. Do you see any short pieces that preclude certain styles? Is the hair unusually straight, making a curly style too time-consuming to do on a daily basis? Does the neckline shoot up like a waterfall, making it impossible to cut a straight hairline? Is the hair exceptionally smooth and silky, giving it a big thumbs up for a one-length blunt cut?

      Discover anything and everything there is to know about someone’s hair before the style has been set in stone. Otherwise, you may end up like many stylists I’ve seen who come rushing into the break room after doing a haircut, crying, “I can’t believe it! I was halfway through this haircut when I came across these short pieces. Now there’s this big dip in the middle!” This type of disaster will never happen to you as long as you evaluate the hair carefully before you even take your scissors out of their case! (Check out Chapter 4 to find out about the different hair types and their unique styling abilities.)

      Getting personal

      Everybody has different time constraints, lifestyle habits, and abilities to style their hair that need to be integrated into all haircut suggestions. Imagine having only 45 minutes to shower and style your hair before shooting out the door, only to find that your style takes 45 minutes to blow-dry and curl. Or think about having a haircut that requires the back of the head to be curled when you can barely manage a blow-dryer. Knowing a person’s lifestyle and abilities put you in the unique position of creating haircuts that enhance their daily lives.

      

Here are four lifestyle questions that you should always pose:

       How much time do you have (or are willing to spend) in the morning to style your hair?

       Does your career dictate that you must have a more conservative style?

       How handy are you with a blow-dryer and curling iron?

       What type of style — sporty, casual, or elegant, for instance — best suits your lifestyle on a daily basis?

Figuring Out Face Shapes

      Human faces come in seven basic shapes. For decades, people treated the oval face as the facial goddess and compared every other face type to its perfect beauty. How dated can you get!

      Today, attractiveness is often defined by interesting irregularities like wide-set eyes, a delicate pointed chin, or a square jawline that gives the impression of strength. Still, when facial shapes become too pronounced, people will often request that you de-emphasize something about their face.

Table 3-1 provides info on seven different facial shapes you’ll need to consider before suggesting the best styles to enhance your family’s and friends’ naturally good looks. These guidelines can help you create the illusion of a more pleasing shape by softening or crisping up corners, and minimizing unwanted facial features like a protruding forehead.

TABLE 3-1 Seven Face Shapes

Face Shape	Features	Feminine Cutting Tips	Masculine Cutting Tips
Heart	Wide forehead and narrow chin	Cut a side-swept bang, retain enough length