M: Razor directing hair, short, texture

Use the guard on the razor throughout this haircut.

This follows the pattern of cutting the sides and back first. Follow this with connecting the sides to the top and then texturize the top.

Section

Make a horse shoe shaped parting starting at the deepest part of the recession area. This typically is just going to contain the top of the head. If you look at the client's head it will look like he has a little rug on the very top of his head. When you go to cut the sides and the back, sections will start high on the head above the parietal ridge on the sides and high into the crown area in the back.



Cut the sides and back

Start in front hair line and take vertical sections. Pull each section to 90 degrees from the side of the head and cut with the razor starting at the top of the section. The cutting angle for the razor looks like 30 degrees to me but was called about 45 in the demonstration. The blade cuts from closer to the scalp to further from the scalp. The length of the cut is about 1/4 inch away in each stroke and multiple strokes are needed to complete each section.

Because the razor blade travels away from the scalp as it cuts, the hair on the top of each stroke is shorter than the hair at the bottom of each stroke. This directs the hair down.

The top of the hair has hair long enough to cover most of the parietal ridge once it is cut. In the demonstration this is about two inches. All the hair is cut flat with the wall so it will all end at the same vertical plane.



Behind the ear, the sections are cut to give the hair a direction back. This is done by cutting the vertical section from front to back instead of from top to bottom. The guide from the sections in front of the ear is used. The section is held so the guide can be seen. The guide is allowed to fall away and the hair is cut where the guide had been. Again short 1/4 inch strokes are use and the angle the blade makes with the hair looks about 30 degrees but is again called 45.



In cutting these sections from front to back the razor blade is vertical and contacts most of the held part of the section at the same time. In the sections in front of the ear, the razor blade had been held horizontal to the floor and only the top of the section was cut with each stroke.



The sections in the back are cut to the center and then the cutting is started at the front hair line on the opposite side. The same direction is given to the hair. From the front hair line to behind the ear it is directed down. Behind the ear it is directed back. The razor needs to enter the section from the front and cut to the back while going away from the scalp for the direction back.



Connect the sides to the top

Reestablish the horse shoe shaped parting if it has been lost.

Make a part down the middle of the horse shoe shaped section going from front to back. Comb the hair in each half to its side. Starting in the back, make center to side sections. Pull these sections up from the head surface along with some of the hair outside of the horse shoe shaped section for a guide.

The hair outside the horse shoe shaped section will be the guide to length. This length can be pulled any where from out to the side of the head to straight up to the ceiling to straight to the middle of the head. Pulling it out to the side of the head will leave the most weight of hair on the top side of the head. Pulling the guide length straight to the ceiling will leave a moderate amount of weight, and pulling the guide to the center of the head will leave the shortest hair.

In this demonstration, the hair is pulled perpendicular to the head shape which is about half way between straight out to the side and straight up to the ceiling.

Each center to side section is cut according to the guide by pinching the hair above the guide between the thumb and the guard on the razor blade. It is cut from the front of the section toward the back as the razor blade is rotated up during the pinching action. Cutting from front to back keeps the top of the sides directed back.

Sections are cut to the front of the horse shoe shaped section. They over directed the last section back for more length in the transition area.

Behind the ear at the back of the horse shoe shaped section, sections are taken around the back and cut to follow the guide outside the horse shoe shaped section in the back. The sections are cut from the front of the head toward the back to keep the hair flowing back.

On reaching the center back, continue the same sectioning but cut from the front on the other side toward the back. This will make the hair flow toward the back on both sides of the head.

Continue to work to the front hairline.



Another method of doing this is to cut to the center back from one side and then start the other side at the front hair line and cut toward the back. Cutting from the back center to the front of the second side looks clumsy. The guide is coming from the back and the cutting is done from the front. It is not clear that starting in the front would make this less clumsy. This needs some work.



Texturize the top

Reestablish the original horse shoe shaped parting if it has been lost.

Make side to side sections across the horse shoe shaped section starting at the back. They switched to the shear for this part. Each side to side section was slide cut toward the front to direct the hair forward. Each section is held up so the shear can enter the hair from the rear. The section looks like it is being held about a half inch off the scalp. It is cut over the fingers. This means that the slide cutting takes place about 1 inch from the scalp. Finger pads are close to the scalp. The shear slides on the back of the fingers parallel to the scalp and rotates the point up as it the cuts into the section. It looks like the cutting is done about every 1/2 inch along a section. Sections are continued to the beginning of the recession area.
Following this the same area is re sectioned. Each section is then again cut with notches by slide cutting the ends of the hair strands. These are cut about an inch from the end. The shears are placed in the section pointing back and are rotated up and back while cutting. this is the opposite directions the previous sections were cut. Only the ends are cut in this pass and it is supposed to give more separation at the ends. On this pass with the side to side sections the sections go all the way to the front hair line.

Finish
They use point cutting to refine the side perimeter. This is done with shears. They cut so the short side is at the front and the hair is directed back. The back is done with free hand razor work directed down.
In their final display it looks like the top front is pushed back. It also looks like the top back is pushed forward. In front of the ears the hair is directed down. Behind the ears it is pushed back like an old fashioned DA.