W: clipper, long, layers, unstructured

Unstructured: formal sectioning is not used.

This is a long haircut on a woman with long hair. The original hair reaches about 6 inches below the shoulders. The perimeter in the back is rounded and this shape is used as the foundation for the final perimeter.

Cutting the round perimeter

The demonstration shows an outline of where the hair is to be cut. It is what you would expect to have if you cut a round hair cut with the perimeter shorter in the front and longer in the back.
See post: W: Round one length formula.

In a more structured approach to this haircut, the hair would have been sectioned 1 inch up from the hairline all around the the head. The parts for the section would be diagonal back on the side and would curve around the back to make it round.


In this haircut, you visualize the back perimeter and cut all the hair in the back at one time using the clippers. The rounded part in the back extends from the top of one shoulder to the top of the other. The hair is combed down into its natural fall and sections are held in the fingers to approximate the curvature of the desired perimeter. The clippers cut along the fingers.
Unstructured means sections and partings are not used.

The clippers are held with the blade near the pinkie and the cord leaving the hand between the thumb and the first finger. The comb has been placed between the first and second finger of the hand holding the clipper. The comb sticks out from the clipper nearer the cord end. This is a variant of the back hand technique of holding the clipper discussed in W/M: clipper, mid length, texture.



In cutting this perimeter about 1inch is taken from the perimeter around the back section. The hair is held with the palm facing the stylist and the hair is cut with the clipper in a palm to palm method. The clipper blade is rotated to the hair after it has been combed down. The blade cuts along the fingers from tip toward the hand. Only the middle of the blade does the cutting.



At the top of the shoulders, the roundness is continued to the front of the face. The same procedure is used to finished the round cut on the other side.



Add graduation to the perimeter: 45 degrees elevation and 60 degrees of elevation. Cutting layers at 90 degrees of elevation



45 degrees elevation

Sections are picked up manually. The sections are located at the perimeter and they consist of the hair that reaches the lowest part of the perimeter. The hair is pulled up to 45 degrees and is cut on a 45 degrees angle using the lowest part as the guide. The hair is cut by point cutting with the clipper going up about and inch or two. Point cutting with the clipper is done by holding the hair in the fingers and poking the blade into the end of section on a very steep angle to the hair ends. These cut to the guide line from the bottom of the section.

They refer to this as layering. It think it might be called graduation since it is elevated less than 90 degrees.

(In an haircut using more formally designed sections, each section would be combed out with a clean part on each side of the section. First a horizontal section would be made to separate off the lower part of the perimeter. Then this horizontal section would be divided into vertical sections where the graduation would be cut. This would separate one section from another and would let the stylist see where the hair had been cut and where it needed to be cut. This may be a technique used by those less experienced with seeing the sections as they are needed. It might also be used for a haircut in which precision is desired. In this demonstration, this stylist is able to see what needs to be done and to do it. It moves a lot faster than a haircut in which each section is well defined by clean partings. )



Graduation is added all around the perimeter. The hair is pulled out from the natural fall as it is elevated to 45 degrees.

The point cutting is done with about 6 points cut into each finger length section end. Only the ends are cut and they are cut on a 45 degree angle.



60 degree elevation

Following the first part of the graduation in the perimeter, the procedure is repeated. This time the section is elevated to 60 degrees and the bottom of the section, where the 45 degrees of elevation was used, is allowed to fall free of the new section.
(This is the equivalent of the second horizontal section in q more formalized haircut.)

The new part elevated to 60 degrees is also cut to a 45 degree angle using point cutting with the clipper. The guide for cutting this graduation is taken from the section elevated to 45 degrees. Most of this first section is allowed to fall away and only a little is held to be used as a guide.

Work the entire perimeter like this at 60 degrees of elevation.



90 degree layering

Repeat the two procedures as above picking up sections. Each is elevated to 90 degrees from the head shape and the first two sections are allowed to fall away except for a little at the top of the 60 degree elevation cut. This is the guide for the 90 degree cut. This is also cut to follow the guide. It is cut with point cutting also. The angle of the cut line here follows the head shape.

( This would be the third horizontal section in the formal haircut structure.)

In the 45 degree elevated section and in the 60 degree elevated section the hair was cut to give 45 degrees of graduation. In the 90 degree elevation section, the layering is cut to flat layering.

( If this had been done with horizontal sections working your way up the back and sides, the first two horizontal sections would be cut at a graduation angle of 45 degrees. The third horizontal section would be cut with flat layering above the graduation. )



Blend the top with the sides

Take side to side sections across the top of the head. Start at the front hairline. Elevate straight up and point cut flat with the ceiling. Use the length of the side as the guide to the blend.



Bangs

Comb the hair forward from some place near the apex. This seems to form a triangle from the apex to the outer eyebrows. The hair is point cut to take an inch off the overall length. This line in the middle is then connected to the side length with an angled cut. This angled cut is also done with point cutting.



Texturizing with a T-24 blade or texturizing shears

This procedure use the T-24 blade to go through each of the previous sections used in cutting the 45 degree, 60 degree and the 90 degree cuts. The stylist combs the first (45 degrees) part up. She then inserts the T-24 blade about two inches from the end and thins out the end of the section. She then does the same thing in the two sections above. She works vertically before going to the next section and starting over at the bottom and working her way up again.



(If you don't have a replaceable blade clipper, you can do the same thing with a thinning or texturizing shears. )



Finish with flat iron and blow dry.