M: Razor cut long

These are notes on a long men's haircut done with a razor.



The haircut will start at the side of the head and work around to the opposite side. A horse shoe part is made to separate the top from the sides. In the demonstration I watched this horse shoe parting was made where the recession area began just above the parietal ridge. This is the bottom of the recession area.



The hair on the side will be directed back by cutting the sections with a slanting cut from the front to the back of the section. The section is held vertically and the blade of the razor is held vertically. The blade enters the front of the section and slides through the section on a slight, acute angle. The section is cut over a short distance as the blade moves from the front of the section to the back. The motion of the blade is to slide a little from close to the head at the beginning of the cut to slightly further from the head at the end of the cut. From the demonstration it looks like the distance travelled in making the cut moves the blade less than 1/4 of an inch further away from the head. This makes the front of the section a little shorter than the back of the section. The old rule of short pushing long will make the short part direct the hair to the back on the sides.



The demonstration emphasized that the section had to be thick enough to be sure there is a difference in length going from front to back in the section. It looks like they used about 1.5 to 2 inches in width of these vertical sections. If the section is too thin the razor blade will cut it too quickly without travelling away from the head.



The first section is done at the front hairline. The next sections were taken behind the front and continued to the middle back of the nape. Once the center back nape is reached, the sections continue the same way with the same width. However the blade of razor is turned to cut from the front on the other side toward the back. This will assure that the hair will go to the back on both sides. Another way to do this would be to start on the front of the other side once the sections on the first side had reached the middle back.



The length of the cut sections is to be long enough so the top of the section can reach the top of the ear after it is cut. In the demonstration this length is reported to be 3 inches. All the hair in the section is cut flat to the wall at the same length on a vertical line from floor to ceiling.



When cutting with the razor, the stylist was cautious about finding the guide from the previous section. The new section was picked with her fingers near the scalp and the fingers moved through the section as they followed the comb through the section. Before reaching the end of the section, the guide could be seen through the new section ends. The section was then held at the end of the section beyond the guide. The hair was cut between the fingers and the scalp.



Further directing the sides back



On the sides after the vertical sections, another step was taken to be sure the hair on the sides would flow back.

Horizontal sections were taken from the bottom of the side to the horse shoe shaped part. There were three horizontal sections and each was about 1 inch wide from bottom to top. The horizontal sections ran from the front hair line to about an inch behind the ear. They were held parallel to the floor and notches were cut to a depth of about 1.5 inches. The short part of the notch is to the front and the long side of the notch is back toward the rear of the head. The notches were less than 1/2 inch wide. The razor used to cut the notches will angle back on each side of the head. This means the razor will enter the notch toward the front of the head and cut toward the back of the head. Be sure to change the angle of the razor when going from one side to the other. The bottom couple of horizontal sections are long enough to cover some part of the ear so be sure to elevate the horizontal sections out from the scalp before cutting the notches in them. This should keep you from notching the ears.

In the demonstration each horizontal section had about 5 to 6 notches cut in it.

Connecting the back to the top

Through the crown, side to side horizontal sections were taken and pulled straight back at the level of the part. Pulling back at the level of the part means the sections were slightly elevated up the slope of the crown. These were cut to the guide cut in the vertical sections. To keep the hair directing back the razor will always point to the center of the nape area. On the client's right side, the razor will point to the center from the right side and on the left it will point to the center from the left side. The demonstration used wide side to side horizontal sections in the crown. The section is pulled back from the part above the previous section. The guide is from the previous section.
Horizontal sections were continued forward until no more hair reached the guide in the back.

Connecting the top to the sides
Once the back had been connected to the top, the stylist returned to the sides and did the same thing that was done in the section above labelled further directing the sides back. To repeat, horizontal sections running along the side of the head had been elevated from the side of the head and notches had been cut in the sections to keep the hair directed back. In this part of the haircut the horizontal sections are continued up the head to the part on the top of the head. These sections should start where the horizontal sections on the side stopped. They should be within the horse shoe shaped parting done in the first part of the haircut. Each horizontal section is again pulled to the side and notches are cut along the horizontal section. The notches have their short sides toward the front and their long sides to the rear. Again it looks like about 6 notches were cut in each horizontal section. As in the above section, the horizontal sections go from the front hair line to about an inch behind the ear. The razor angle has to be changed from one side to another to keep the notches flowing to the rear.
It seemed the horizontal sections into the top went up further on the side opposite the client's part. It seemed to approach the top middle of the head there. On the side of the part, horizontal sections only continued until reaching the part.

Finish
Along the perimeter the razor was used to trim any excessive length and to give shape to outline. The hair was still cut with the razor to always keep it directed back.

Summary
1. Part top off with a horse shoe shaped part starting at the bottom of the recession area.
2. Flat layer the sides with a length long enough for the top to reach the ear.
The flat layering is cut to direct the hair back on each side and in the back.
3. Further insure the side hair flows back by taking horizontal sections on the side and cutting notches in these sections. The notches need to have their short sides directed to the front and the long sides to the back of the head. Go up to the horse shoe parting in this step. The horizontal sections go from the front hair line to about 1 inch behind the ear.
4. Connect the back to the top by pulling side to side horizontal sections across the crown and then the top of the head until the hair is not long enough to reach the back. These horizontal sections are cut from side to middle on each side to keep the hair flowing back.
5. Connect the sides to the top by making front to back sections within the horse shoe shaped parting. These are then notched as in step 3. above.
6. Finish and trim while using the razor to direct the hair back.

Differences and similarities
This haircut is similar to one cut with shears or with a clipper for overall shape. Shears or clipper could have been used to give the shape but the directing of the hair back with the razor cutting is different. In using shears or clippers the hair would have been shear over comb or clipper over comb. Notches can be cut with either shears or clippers while holding the horizontal sections in the fingers or the comb. With shears or clippers the hair would have been cut outside of the fingers or the comb. With the razor the cutting was done between the fingers and the scalp.
Besides the directing of the hair back the other difference in this haircut is the texture added to the internal part of the hair cut.