Child Haircut Tutorial

     Cutting kid's hair is sooooooo tricky. First of all, they wiggle. Second, their hair is weird. Seriously, it is very different from adults. Especially blondes. You can see chop marks very easily. It is a complete waste of time to try to do a slick Sassoon blunt cut on a child. I've seen someone do a precision cut on a child once and while they were sitting it looked flawless. As soon as that little girl stood up, the whole cut went wonky and choppy. It was very strange. So I've developed my own strategy to deal with the fine, mysterious hair of children and I'm really excited to show you how!
     My model is one of the most well behaved three year old's I know. Yet even still, she wiggled and wanted to play with her cousins instead of get a haircut.

Start by sectioning the hair into quarters. Part from behind ear to ear and front to back down the middle.

Now take a horizontal slice along the bottom on one side. This will be your first section. Hold the hair as close to the child's body as possible. (Wiggly kid  = crooked lines. Just do the best you can)
 Now here's the secret...

     Don't cut straight across. Using the tips of your scissors, nip into the hair creating a notched line along the bottom at your desired length. Keep your notches narrow. This is called "point cutting". You will create a soft, diffused edge that won't look choppy. Just don't cut your fingers!

     Once this first section is cut, consider it your guide. Your guide will show you how long to cut the rest of the hair on this area of the head. Proceed to let down 1/2" to 1" horizontal sections of hair depending on the thickness of the hair. You want to still be able to see your guide through the next portion of hair so you have a reference for length and all the hair will be evenly cut. Continue to hold the hair close to the body as you cut.

Cut the entire backside of the head this way.

     My model didn't have much hair on the sides of her head, so I let it down all at once and used the back as a length guide to cut across. If the child your working on has thick hair, let down small horizontal sections like the back and just point cut the entire side the same way.
Now for some simple layers...

Take a narrow rectangular section on the very top of the head. This will be your guide for all the layers.

Lift it up straight in the air and point cut across to the desired length.

Using that center section as a guide, take  1" sections of hair perpendicular to the center part, lift straight up into the air and point cut across the top. Do this to hair on either side of your guide and any other hair on the back/top of the head.

You're pretty much done. You can point cut the bangs as well if you'd like.

I hope this helps you out! Just remember, point cutting is the secret!

How To Cut Side Bangs

Everyone's bangs seem grow faster than the rest of their hair, so I'll share some secrets to cutting a side bang.
Does anyone remember Nick Arojo from What Not To Wear?  A few years back I took a class from him down in LA. What I'll be teaching you is similar to what he taught me. The only differences are the fact that he had us cut tiny sections at a time and we used a straight razor. The over all concept is the same though.

Step One: With dry hair, section out your bang area. You want your hair to be dry so you don't accidentally cut too much. Clip the rest of your hair out of the way.

Step Two: Starting at your eyebrow, cut down the side of your section with the scissors to create an angle. You might have to take another pass going upward to get a nice clean line.

Step Three: Do the same to the other side.

Now you should have  a nice point with the shortest pieces being by your brow.

Step Four: Take thinning shears and cut into the section vertically several times to reduce the bulk of the hair. My biggest criticism of people cutting their own bangs is how it tends to look like a big random chunk of hair hanging in their face. This helps with that.
What are thinning shears? Take a look! They are also called texturizing shears.

Anyone attempting haircuts at home needs a pair of these. The "teeth" come in different sizes and spacing to cut a lot or very little hair. This pair has pretty moderate spacing and I use it the most.

Your done! Easy enough right?

Hair Highlight Tutorial

Today I thought I'd show everyone how I highlight my own hair. To be completely honest, it's pretty easy since my hair is so short. If my hair was long, it would hang in my face and I wouldn't be able to see what I was doing! So let that be a warning to everyone who has long hair. Perhaps you could have someone assist you.

*Attempt this at your own risk! I am not responsible for any damage you do to your own hair!

Step One: Choosing a color.
My hair is virgin other than the highlights I'm touching up. That means I can use color or bleach depending on what I want. If you have ANY color on your hair (semi-permanent included) even if it was several months ago, color alone will not lighten it. Color does not lighten color.
Another caution - do NOT bleach over bleached hair. You will fry your hair and it will break right off. Please use common sense.
Believe it or not, I used a light ash brown with 40 volume developer. Since all dark hair contains a ton of red, the red in my hair overpowered the ash in the color and the color still turned out very warm. I knew that would happen and I'm fine with it. The little bit of ash took down the red just a notch and I love what I'm left with. If I wanted something more neutral I could have bleached it first then applied the desired color as a toner.  I want to keep my hair on the healthy side so I stuck with regular hair color.

Step Two: Collect your supplies
You'll need a rat tail comb (I prefer the ones with metal "tails"), a bowl and brush for your color, a mirror so you can see what you're doing, a slightly damp towel for cleaning up your fingers and any other mess, lots of clips to keep hair out of the way, and foil.
Cut the foil into strips and fold over the short end about a 1/4 inch 3-4 times so you have a more rigid edge.

Step Three: Protect your clothing with a T-shirt you don't mind ruining.

Step Four: Section off the front part of your hair. Keep in mind the way your bangs will lay.  Mine get parted to the side so my first foil with be on the "heavy" side of my bangs. Use your clips to keep the rest of your hair out of the way.

Step Five: Take your first "slice"
All my slices are on the diagonal. I chose to slice because this will give you the most color per swipe, make it easier to find and touch-up later and requires fewer foils for more dramatic results. I used only 8 foils and it looks like I have a lot more in there.
I took an 1/8 inch "slice" through the section and slid a piece of foil under it with the folded edge against my scalp. As you can tell from the picture, even my slice wasn't perfectly straight but still managed to turnout okay. Do the best you can. Go ahead and paint on the color staying about an 1/4 inch away from your scalp. You might want to clip the foil in so it doesn't move on you.

Step Six: Fold your foil.
Fold up the end of your foil to cover the color. I usually fold it up in thirds but if you just folded it in half that would be fine too. Then fold over the sides. Now you have a neat little packet. Try not to move it too much. If it gets moved too much, color might bleed out of the foil and make your hair splotchy.

Step Seven: Add more slices
Take your next slice about an inch behind the other and line up your slices on either side of your part. Do as many or as little as you'd like. The farther back on your head you go the harder it is to see what you're doing.

Step Eight: Process your color.
Follow the manufacturers directions when it come to processing. When time is up, wash, condition and style.

Step Nine: Enjoy the results!