The Transition Point in a Haircut

The most difficult part of a tapered of fade haircut is making a smooth transition from the direct contact cutting that's on the lower sides and back to the over the comb cutting (or scissor cutting) that's used to do the upper sides and back. Almost always, smooth tapering suffers the most at the place where these 2 methods of cutting meet.


How do you deal with it? Drop down 1 or 2 blade sizes when you're doing the over the comb cutting. What blade you use over the comb will depend what blade you used on the direct contact cutting and also what comb you chose to use.


A wahl comb is thicker. It's almost - but not quite - 1/4" thick at the back bar. A flattop comb is only 1/8" thick. Also, a #1 blade will cut just a bit shorter than 1/8". Just from experience, hair does not feed well into a #2 blade (cutting the hair 1/4") for over the comb cutting.


The short cutting (1/8") will have the comb quite close to the scalp. With a longer cutting, you'll need to hold the comb (for clipper over comb cutting) a bit further away from the scalp.


Below is guide for which blade to use with which comb when doing your clipper over comb transition cutting.


Direct Contact Over Comb

Length of Hair l Hair Length with Flattop Comb l Hair Length with Wahl Comb
3/16" l 1/16" l 1/100"

1/4" l 1/8" l 3/16"

3/8" l 3/16" * l 1/8"

1/2" l 3/16" * l 3/16"*


* = the comb is held 1/8" away from the scalp

* = the comb is held 1/4" away from the scalp

* = the comb is held less than 1/4" away from the scalp

Where Does the Part Go?

Some haircuts have the hair parted and some do not. It all depends on the cut and the hair growth pattern on an individual's head. Some people want a really formal hairstyle with every hair in its place, whereas others like a more casual approach and allow the hair to lie where it wants to.

For some reason, years ago it became a tradition that men parted their hair at the left with the hair combed off toward the right. However, the hair should always be allowed to lay the way the hairgrain wants it to lay. Going with the hairgrain means the part is located somewhere on the top, usually on one side or the other. It could also be in the middle or a bit off to one side of the middle or the other. The part must be between the 2 receded parts of the front hairline.

If the hair has a center cowlick, the hair could be parted on the left side, right side, the center, or a little off-center, just depending on how the hair wants to lie. Look very carefully at the hairgrain before making your decision.

Typically the hair will be parted on the same side of the head as the cowlick. If you have a cowlick on the left, usually your part is going to be on the left. The same goes for the right side.

Parting the hair on the same side as the cowlick allows the hair to lie where it wants at the top of the head. This is because typically the hairgrain that has a cowlick on the left will have the hair wanting to move out toward the right. This works vice versa for the right where a cowlick on the right will have the hair wanting to move out toward the left.

About 5% on the population has an unusual hairgrain where the cowlick is on the left side and the hairgrain also moves of to the left. With this unusual type of hairgrain, you would have to part the hair all the way around the back and down on the right side.

If this same type of unusual cowlick is on the right side, you would have to part the hair around the back of the head and down on the left side.

The average and usual way to part hair is very easily done. Just comb the hair forward from the cowlick and place the hair where it agrees with your part. When the hair lays well and doesn't stand on end (even when it's dry), you know that you've put it in the right spot, having the hair lie where it wants to.

The Crucial Minute of a Haircut

If you are just cutting family or friends' hair, you most likely know what they want done. But if you are cutting quite a few peoples' hair or if you work at a salon, you need to find out what they want you to do to their hair. Assume nothing. A gap in communication can have unpleasant results. This means you need to be good at

1. communicating and
2. analyzing the hair.

This time I'll get into the careful questioning and listening skills.

Some of the questions you can ask are-

• How do you like your hair cut?
• Do you want some covering your ear?
• Do you want it really short at the side?
• Would you like the back tapered or blocked?
• Do you want all the ear showing?
• Right now you have 2 inches. How much would you like off?

Ask very specific questions so you get specific answers.

The first haircut you give a specific customer, cut it conservatively and cautiously and leave the hair a bit longer than what you agreed on. Clip one side and give him the hand mirror. Once you get the OK, proceed with the back and on around the other side. If he wants it cut shorter, do that and have him check it again with the mirror. This saves you time because you won't have to completely recut all the way around the sides and back if he wants the entire cut shorter.

You'll often have people tell you, "Oh, just give it a trim." At least 9 times out of 10 people who want a trim don't want much hair cut off. Their last haircut was what they wanted, so they just want you to cut off the hair that's grown out since that last cut. That means you need to find out how long it's been since they've had their hair cut.

Hair grows about 1/2 inch per month, so if it's been 2 months since their last haircut, they'll want you to cut of an inch of hair all over.

While an average haircut may take 15 to 20 minutes, the first minute (before the haircut) is the most important minute of all. If your customers don't like what you did to their hair, they won't be back.

Do You Cut Wet or Dry?

What should you do? Should you cut hair when it is wet or when it is dry? That depends.

If you are cutting hair with scissors, you should be cutting damp hair. If the hair is damp, it can be combed neatly into place and held securely in your holding hand with all the hairs lined up perfectly for the scissors. If the hair is dripping wet, you'll have a soggy mess on your hands with hair clumping and water dripping all over the place. The key word here is damp.

If you are cutting with clippers, the hair needs to be dry. Wet hair clumps and therefore does not feed evenly into the clipper. This will give you an uneven cut. Wet hair bends away from the blades.

However, if you are about to cut someone's hair with a clipper and he has a classic case of "hat hair", you'll first need to wash the hair. Wash the hair and dry it before clipper cutting. You want the hair to feed evenly into the clipper and kinks will bend away from the clipper and give you a very unique looking haircut!

Wavy Hair Can Have 3 Different Looks

Wavy hair can be cut to look 3 different ways.

1. If you cut it short enough it will look straight.
2. If you cut it just a bit longer, there will be some waves.
3. If you leave it an inch long, it will get the curly look.

Decide which look you'd like to achieve and cut the hair accordingly. You can always blowdry the longer wavy hair to straighten it, but you'll have to blowdry it every day if you want the straight look. Cutting it short is simply the easiest way with the lowest maintenance.

How to Deal With Protruding Ears

People with protruding ears are usually self conscious of them and would like to have a haircut that would minimize them rather than accent them. If the tops of the ears protrude 3/4 of an inch or more from your client's head, the hair that covers them will flip out and look like wings if it's cut too short. If the hairline just above the ears is close to the top of your client's ears, the problem is accented. If however, there is 1/2 inch between the top of the ear and the hairline, it's kinder to your client.

What can you do to camouflage and minimize protruding ears?

1. Leave the hair long enough when you cut the outline so that half of the ear is covered. This will work well with medium or coarse hair.
2. For fine hair, cut the hair so it's very full and short above the ears. The extra fullness balances the ears. Fine hair that is over the ears (as in option 1) could flip out at the sides. Don't make the mistake of cutting the hair super short above the ears. Super short will have the opposite effect. You need short length and especially fullness. (If it's cut to 1/8 inch, it can't be full.)

How to Decide the Best Length to Cut Men's & Boys' Hair

A general rule of thumb for straight or slightly wavy hair is the finer the hair, the shorter it would be cut and the coarser the hair, the longer you should leave it. This is because finer hair bends easier than coarse hair and need less length to bend and lie where it should. Coarser hair needs to be longer because it does not bend as easily and needs more weight (from length) to bend and lie in place.

A basic guideline would be -

• Fine Hair 1 - 2 inches
• Medium Hair 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches
• Coarse Hair 2 - 3 inches

This is just a general guide, though, and each specific haircut needs to be unique for a particular person's needs.

If you are not really sure about the texture of the hair you are cutting and want to know for certain that you will be cutting it the right length, do this simple test. Cut off one hair from the top of the head right at the scalp. Hold that hair between your thumb and y our pointer finger right at the "root" end. Hold it straight up. Cut little bits of length off of the end until the hair has just a slight bend at the end. (When it's too long, it will lie down, bending close to your fingers.) Once you find the optimal length, measure that strand of hair with a ruler.

Look closely at the way the hair grows at the top of the head. If your client's hair grows straight out of the scalp (usually only 1% of people have this), then cut his hair to the length that you measured the strand of hair to be. However, if your client's hair grows at a 45 degree angle from his scalp (which is much more common), you should subtract 1 inch from the measured hair strand length.

When you have a client that has his hair thinning on the top, cut it 1/2 to 3/4 inch shorter than what you calculated from your cutting test. Thinner hair lies flatter because it doesn't have much hair around it to support it. Thinner hair (up top) will have more fullness when you cut it shorter.