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!
