Discussing men haircut styles
Let’s talk about men’s haircut styles!
As a barber I have cut over 10,000 different heads in my career. The one thing that keeps me challenged is the different men haircut styles that get requested. When I first began cutting it would make me tremble to get a style cut. Today I welcome the opportunity to be creative.
It can get boring at times to cut the same hairstyle day in day out. In my rookie years that’s all I would hope for. A regular same length buzz cut, or a high and tight state trooper cut. That’s all I was ever comfortable doing, or felt I was good at! That’s fine for someone just beginning to become familiar with technique, but after while where is the creation that sets my ability apart from the regular.
I needed to let my creativity out so that’s when I decided to take on the next customer that wanted a regular cut, and assert my professional opinion to suggest something more stylish. It WORKED! The next guest was game for it and said “sure!” Well there I was with my chance to challenge myself and put my creative side to work.
45 mins later I cut one of the WORSE Mohawks ever to adorned by a human being not in a comedy show. Well I was still fairly new I was only in school 3 weeks. Sure I was cutting before that but, never a style cut. Now that it was over it was painless actually. I began watching dvd after dvd studying advanced cuts. Next time around I will knock it out the park. 13 years later and Mohawks are my favorite cuts to do and used to be one of the most requested from me.
The ideas for haircut are just bought back into circulation from the past. A lot of the styles worn today are from different eras in time from the 80’s with high top fades to pompadours from the 1700’s. It’s fair to say some styles will never go out of style, while other styles will return to be the style!
Although hair is hair not all hair can or should be worn the same. I find myself having to remind some guest that not everyone can wear the same styles and pull it off. due to texture, length, condition, density, etc… So at the end of the day it’s important to know what you can, or cannot pull off. This is the general rule of thumb that I follow!
By determining the shapes of the face I can recommend a style that’s pleasing to the eye, and will suit your profile. Oval being the perfect shape face for design any cut can be sported. Triangle, diamond, and heart has similar features giving this keeping the top on the lower side will shorten the face giving the pointy chin less pointy. Leaving round, and square as unique. Round faces do well with square shapes hair to draw the eye from the roundness. While a square shape can be softened with a round shaping. Now these are general rules not to be followed all of the time.
There are a few more checks to
Some features and bone structures allow room to be creative. Hair texture, and density are vital to the overall look of a specific design. You can’t come in with a picture of silky wavy short cropped hair when your hair is a Brillo pad on steroids. After all I’m only a barber not a magician!
Lastly, when a guest doesn’t know exactly what they’d like a consultation is a sure way to discover what will suit this individual. for a men’s haircut I tend to ask these questions to discover what style to administer.
- What do you do for work?
- Hobbies?
- outgoing or home body?
- life of the party or glad to get invited?
- what is your maintenance routine?
With these question I will find out if he can wear a funky style or has to keep it professional for work. His hobby will give me a little insight into who he is, and what they can/can’t pull off. Home bodies tend to keep it routine. Therefore being a homebody means usually a regular cut will suffice while outgoing can be adventurous and willing to try anything. Life of the party can pull off adventurous looks as they can be adventurous. Maintenance is vital! One who doesn’t shampoo or cleanse the skin under the hair then a regular low buzz cut is best!
If you have had any men’s haircut style ideas that didn’t turn out too well, or any success with choosing a men haircut style. It’s probably because the proper elements of designs weren’t used, or you chose a style that didn’t fit your profile.
I would love to hear how you prefer your style, and why? If you are a stylist what rule of thumb do you use when approaching your grooming duty? Leave your comments below, and don’t forget to follow on Instagram @ shannon_kamal
Shannon kamal