W: shears, short, layers, graduation

This client starts with a short haircut that is about an inch over her ears. She is layered on the top and given round graduation on the side. Both techniques are described in other posts if you would like more reading on them.

Check hair line, hair growth pattern, and head shape.
Estimate length and manually shape the design

Cut top and side layering
Take a front to back section down the middle of the top of the head from the crown to the front hair line.
The hair is pulled straight up and cut to follow the shape of the head shape.
Pivot the next sections from the crown to the side. The hair is either directed straight up or over directed to the previous section and cut to the guide. (Flat heads may be directed straight up while more rounded tops may be over directed to the middle to leave more length to fill in the roundness??)
Continue sections until the sections come to just behind the ear. The hair is cut slightly concave from the front side going back. Cutting this concave means to leave the length at the hair line longer. This can be done by angling the fingers at the hair line away from the scalp.

Graduate the sides with round graduation
After reaching the ear, go to the front hair line. Take a rounded section around the front hair line about an inch in from the hairline. Pull the hair out from the surface of the head. Use the length at the top as the guide and cut a rounded or convex line to following the head shape. Convex means it is longer in the interior and shorter on both sides of the middle.
( This seems to wipe out the concave length that had just been cut above.)
Make the next section behind the first and parallel to it. It is over directed to the first and cut to follow the guide. Over directing to the previously cut section will make the length of hair slightly longer as the sections proceed around the side of the head.

Continue the sections to the back of the ear.

Behind the ear the, the part is continued down in the hair and the line is cut to follow the head shape. The natural fall of the hair, or its growth pattern, is used so the hair line looks natural. The part is parallel to the hair line starting behind the ear.

Continue to take round sections across the back parallel to the previous section. Lift each slightly higher and cut to the previous sections guide. Cut to the head shape in the top, middle and lower part of the section.

At the top of the sections, follow the growth pattern of the hair for starting the sections.

Work to the middle back at the top of the section. The lower part will reach to the side of the nape.
Cross check the front side and top by taking vertical sections which are pulled back from the face.

Go to the other side of the top and do the same procedures all the way back to the middle back of the nape as before.

Watch where your hands are to get the same shape.

When the demonstration did the second side it did not take pivoting sections all the way to the ear before going to the front hair line for the curved sections to cut the convex graduation. This makes sense to me. The pivoting sections were stopped when they reached the side of the head.

Start the top of the sections on the second side by following the growth pattern around the crown.

Refine the shape with point cutting, shear over comb.