Haircut suitability

There is something genuinely satisfying about getting things right. You look out at your garden and realize you've gotten it to a pretty good place, it feels like all is well. You've been working on a painting or developing a recipe and at some point a pleasant feeling sinks in and you know you've arrived. It's that way with haircuts, you've had a few too many that have missed the mark and now you're looking in the mirror, noticing that feeling again, that comforting sensation that feels like someone just told you something you could resonate deeply with.

When we say a haircut suits you or not we’re often talking about whether it suits your face, we're looking to find a cut that works with your face to create a balanced, pleasant shape. If you have a longer, narrow face we balance it with volume on the sides. If you have a wide, square jaw, we avoid haircuts such as bobs cut at the widest part of your face. This is a predominately logical process.

Another aspect of suitability requires a somewhat deeper approach. Some haircuts will suit you at a personality level better than others. Are you extroverted? Do you like conservative haircuts or more adventurous ones? That is still somewhat of a logical process, mixed in with a sense-feeling of who you are as a person.

On a still deeper level some haircuts just feel like they were wandering the world, looking for their home and one day you showed up; suddenly there was a mutual recognition and that wonderful feeling that makes you walk and breathe a little differently and puts a tiny smile on your face. Arriving at that place is anything but a logical process and can be achieved only through sensitivity and intuition. You may intuitively know which haircut will bring you there or you may not, but either way you’ll recognize it when it's sitting atop your lovely head. In order for that to happen you need someone who has the ability to take haircutting to the level of art. Michaelangelo didn't create David by adding and dividing a bunch of numbers, and he certainly didn't do it by emulating someone else's work. David came through Michelangelo’s heartfelt intuition and spectacular skill, and when you see that magnificent sculpture you can feel it, there’s an intangible sense that everything is as it should be.

A haircut that is a work of art, suiting you on all levels requires patience, sensitivity and the desire to find a something that truly feels right. I hope you have a hairstylist that is capable of that, if not, please consider a visit with me.