Thursday, January 21, 2010

Finding Your Guide

Was practicing a haircut from the American Crew Menswork DVDs and noticed some difficulty seeing my guide. This is a chronic problem in the cuts I perform.

Went back and reviewed the demonstration of the cut and noticed that the stylist used a repetitive routine to comb the hair into the shape she wanted and to then see the guide before cutting. She was cutting vertical sections about 1/2 inch wide moving from the front right temple area toward the back of the head. For a new section she seemed to take about half of the section from the last cut section and half from the uncut hair. She was pulling it out 90 degrees from the head and cutting it flat with the wall. That is straight up and down and not making the cut follow the head shape.

When she had parted off the section she would grab the hair between the index and middle fingers with the back of the fingers close to the head and the fingers pointing up. With a grip on the hair, she then used her comb to comb the uncut hair back so she could determine her guide by clearly seeing the line the cut hair made. With this in view she would slide her fingers away from the head until she had the hair fully extended from the head and the guide was along her finger. She then released the uncut hair and watched it as it fell to the guide. She then cut palm to palm being careful not to overdirect or elevate the hair.

In the past I had noticed this technique and had supposed it was put into the demonstration to show she was cutting along the guide. In the cut I watched yesterday she did this maneuver on all cuts requiring a guide.

In other course work I had been told repeatedly that if you could not see your guide this meant the section you had taken was too wide and a smaller section should be taken. This technique seems to give another option for finding the guide.

I have sung the praises of this American Crew Menswork course before. This confirms my beliefs.

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