In every art form there are certain challenges that reveal the skill, knowledge and intention of the artist. In hairdressing one of them is short haircuts, it’s one of the areas you really get to see where a hairdresser has come to in their understanding of hair and haircutting. Longer hair can more easily disguise questionable snips and shapes, short hair hides nothing. In many ways cutting short hair is like creating a sculpture in clay or marble, it’s somewhat more of a solid, stable shape and because of it, every nuance is obvious.

Another area where skill or lack of skill shows up is in the suitability to the person, both in personality and face shape. A short haircut is somewhat of an extension of your face, they’re two aspects of one overall design and either work together harmoniously, creating something appealing, or not. You’ve likely had a similar experience trying on various shapes of glasses or hats, at some point a sort of spontaneous recognition occurs and you know you’ve found a shape that works well, it feels right, both physically and emotionally.

Each different type of hair, be it fine, coarse, curly or straight requires its own approach when cutting short hair. The techniques utilized on coarse hair, for example, to give it more movement and a nice broken up, soft look will cause fine hair to look thin and wispy. It takes years to come to a thorough understanding of the various aspects of each hair type and utilize them in the creation of beautiful haircuts. When that has been achieved the endeavor may rise from a mechanical, mental process to a spontaneous intuitive one. At that level it can become worthy of the term “ art”.

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Jay Lamb