Scene Hair Guide #2: Haircutting
Scene Hair Guide #2: Haircutting
by Ashr on 08-07-2009 4:50 pm
“Scene hair is one of those things that either makes you really REALLY annoyed or really REALLY happy.“ As I said in my first guide I had to go through hell to get everything to work right. SO, because I don’t want you to suffer I’m expanding my guide to the biggest topic, the cut.
The cut is really the basis for the whole hairstyle, if the cut sucks you’re screwed, so with that in mind let’s go through a simple way to make sure it doesn’t suck.
STEP 1: WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?
The first thing you need to do is look at your hair. There’s lots of things you should look for but I’m going to go over the things that really matter, a stylist can help you with the details.
LENGTH
How long your hair is will determine what you can get. You need to consider how long your hair is in different sections, what do you have on the bangs, the sides, the back, the top. Look at all of these when you’re deciding what you can get as far as a cut.
“MY HAIR’S NOT LONG ENOUGH!”
If you may have a style in mind and are lacking as far as length you can do one of two things: wait and grow it out, or (if you’re pretty close) get it cut it in that style and let it grow out that way.
“MY HAIR’S TOO LONG!”
Well then you’re fine. If you’re one of those people who’s let their hair grow like crazy (instead of finding a style) then you’re in luck, you can do pretty much anything you want. However, keep something in mind: It’s better to go for a longer cut at first, you can always cut shorter. Just saying.
CONDITION
Next on your list of things to check is how healthy your hair is. Do you have split ends? Is your hair wrecked from lots of dying? Did you chemically straighten your hair (against my advice)? Look for damage, areas where your hair is unmanageable, burned, and rough.
“MY HAIR IS DAMAGED!”
Ok, so you’ve been using a crappy flatiron without protectant, you haven’t been using a good conditioner, or you’ve dyed the heck out of it, ok, you’ve learned a lesson. Now, if it’s really bad you’ll have to go for a shorter cut. The ends of your hair are the oldest (and because of that they’ve received the most damage) so if they are really bad (ie. no longer styleable or they look bad compared to the rest of your hair) you’ll need to have them cut off. You can’t fix them, but now that you’re taking better care of your hair the new stuff will be nice. Consider badly damaged parts as length you don’t have.
“MY HAIR ISN’T DAMAGED!”
Ok…don’t know why you’re complaining but one thing I have to say here is you’ve got options, if you’re in pretty good condition think about doing something more risky as far as dying later.
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Ashr - From Heaven to your Heart.
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RE: Scene Hair Guide #2: Haircutting
by Ashr on 08-07-2009 4:57 pm
STEP 2: WHAT DO YOU WANT?
This is generally the hardest part for people. What do you want? Yes you want amazing, sexy, and stylish hair but what specifically do you want…? It’s hard I know. No one method works for one person so I’m going to go over a few ways to look for a hairstyle, as well as a few things to keep in mind.
LOOK AT THE BACK
What kind of back do you want? Some people like simpler manageable backs, others want it a little longer so they can spike it up. Figure out if you can and are willing to go for the length there, some people really love it.
Spiky backs:
LOOK AT THE TOP
Most emo (scene) hairstyles today go either two ways, the length of the hair is continuous or it’s textured. Continuous means that the hair runs all the way from the top to the bangs and sides. Textured means that some of the hair at the top has been cut in a choppy way to add a more messied look.
Continuous:
Textured:
LOOK AT THE SIDES
Most hairstyles these days have sides that aren’t that thick, they tend to be just enough to keep the bangs in proportion; however there are a few examples of where thicker sides gave a more “poofy” look. Sides don’t also have to be the same thickness, if one side is thicker it can give another look.
Regular sides:
Thicker sides:
LOOK AT THE BANGS
Long bangs tend to be a crowd favorite, there’s not much variety other than length but they have two basic characteristics that you can tweak to be longer or shorter: The first is “the fringe” the hair that is cut with a slight angle, (with one side is shorter and one side is longer.) The other are the side bangs (the hair that is cut around the side of the face.) You can have a long fringe and short sides, a short fringe and long sides, both long, both short, whatever.
Long fringe, shorter sides:
Short fringe, longer sides:
Long fringe, longer sides:
Short fringe, shorter sides:
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Ashr - From Heaven to your Heart.
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RE: Scene Hair Guide #2: Haircutting
by Ashr on 08-07-2009 5:03 pm
STEP 3: FINDING SOMEONE TO DO IT
Ok so you’ve decided what you can have and what you’re going to get, now…how do you get that done? There’s two schools on this, the first is the “do it yourself crowd” and the second is the “get someone who knows how to do it crowd.”
USING A STYLIST
Because I think it’s way smarter and less risky I’m going to talk about getting your hair cut by a professional first.
It’s hard to find a good stylist who can do emo (scene) hair. It’s just a fact, most stylists (at least where I live) are used to cutting normal people hair (ie. those boring cuts inspired from the 70s that your parents get; you know, the ones that your grandma approves of.) However there are other stylists, they’re sort of the “pretty working woman” kind of stylists. They work at more expensive salons, and mostly give stylish cuts to middle aged women. They may not seem like what you think you should go for but trust me, they’re your target.
“HOW DO I KNOW THEY’RE GOOD?”
Look at the salon, good salons hire good stylists.
First question: do you need to make an appointment? (And by appointment I don’t mean like “3 minutes from now when she’s done with that kid.” I mean like, tomorrow, or next week.) If yes then chances are you’re going the right direction.
Second Question: does it look stylish? Nice colors, pretty design, visual appeal, those are marks of a salon that takes itself seriously.
Third Question: Is it a chain? The rule of thumb is that if it has a “cut” in the title you don’t want to go there. Places like “super cuts” or “master cuts” are the Mc Donalds of hair places. Although they are cheap, you pay for it in other ways. If you’re looking for a good chain, I’d recommend Aveda, they train their stylists at their own school and know what the hell they’re doing. As far as independent salons, look at the feel, do they look haughty and obnoxious? If so skip them, if they look open and cool then go for it. (I personally go to an independent salon, and get my hair cut by the owner.)
“HOW DO I KNOW MY STYLIST IS GOOD?”
Ok, so odds are you’re stylist at a good salon will be good, however, if anytime you get a bad feeling. (ie. they don’t care.) Leave. However really good stylists will do two things: #1 they’ll act like a doctor, they’ll ask about your hair, what you want, they’ll take you on like a case and work you to your desired hair. #2 they’ll challenge you, a good stylist will present reality, they’ll tell you what looks good on you, what doesn’t, but they’ll do it keeping in mind the style you want. (ie. they won’t care if you’re going for the emo style, but they will care if that cut looks bad on you.)
“WHAT DO I DO WHEN I’VE FOUND A GOOD STYLIST?”
KEEP THEM. Be nice to your stylist, if they are good they are rare. Staying with a good stylist means that you’ll have years of nice good happy prettiness ahead. DON’T SCKREW IT UP.
“MY STYLIST IS EXPENSIVE…”
Ok I feel you here. My stylist costs $60+tip. (I go, every 2 months.) Most people aren’t willing (or able) to pay that. Consider what you can afford when choosing a salon. Mine is an example of one that’s up there, but really you can get away with semi-expensive and still look amazing. If you absolutely cannot afford it, it’s still better to try to find someone at one of those places in the mall, than do it yourself.
USING SOMEONE NOT A STYLIST
Ok, I know it’s a big thing in emo culture to be someone who can say “I cut my own hair” I know friends who insist on cutting their hair and do not allow others to touch it. So, if you think you can do it (and I take this opportunity to remind you that stylists go to school, have a license, and cut hair all freaking day long) then go for it. Since I know nothing about cutting hair I won’t give advice on anything here, I know nothing. (Maybe someone on the forum does, who knows.)
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Ashr - From Heaven to your Heart.
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RE: Scene Hair Guide #2: Haircutting
by Ashr on 08-07-2009 5:05 pm
STEP 4: GETTING WHAT YOU WANT
So you’ve found that special stylist in your life, now what do you do? Stylists are humans, they can’t read your mind and they have no idea what you want unless you tell them. It’s also hard to just say, “I want an emo cut” and get what you want. Most stylists (even the amazing ones) have no idea what that means. So, how do you explain it to them?
BRING IN PICTURES!
Photos are the best best BEST tool for stylists. Show them what you want and you will receive. Bring photos with different angles, show the back, top, sides, front. Bring all sorts of shots even if they aren’t perfect, just give them some idea and they’ll fill in the details.
TALK TO THEM!
Talk about what you want where, what you’re going for, where you want to go from here. All of that. At the end stylists also pause and ask, “How does this look?” that is code for “Do you want and changes?” take that opportunity to tweak that bit there, more texture here, that spot there. Fix things that don’t look to your liking, however keep in mind that stylists also make decisions based on things like, the shape of your face, the color of your hair, the way it grows, so ask. Talk.
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Ashr - From Heaven to your Heart.
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RE: Scene Hair Guide #2: Haircutting
by Ashr on 08-07-2009 5:09 pm
STEP 5: THE AFTERMATH
So now it’s cut, what now?
FIRST THINGS FIRST
As you’re finishing most stylists take this time to style your hair. They have a tendency of doing something that can irk people who have no idea. Stylists make overblown stylings so that when you walk out the door you look really “high fashion” sometimes this is good, you like it and you go home and you have no idea how they did it. Pay attention when they style, look at the tools, ask how to do it at home, buy the products, that way you can if you want to. The other possibility is that it’s bad. You can have a good cut but they stylist’s styling is a bit too much for you, don’t freak out, just go home, wash it, and style it tomorrow how you want it.
NEXT THINGS NEXT
So now you have a cut and you go home and you suddenly have no idea how to work your new hair, what do you do? Well now that you’re hair is different you’re going to have to play with it for a while until you get an idea of what it’s capable of. It might take a while. (Check out my products guide for some help there.)
WAY OFF THINGS
So one last thing, don’t make this mistake: “It’s been a few months, my hair was nice a while ago, I don’t need to get it cut again” Nope. You need to maintain a hairstyle, granted it won’t be as drastic of a cut next time but don’t wait until you look like crap before going back. Get hair cut relatively frequently. See your stylist.
If you have any more questions, comments, things to add. I love hearing about them.
Comment or send me a pm.
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Ashr - From Heaven to your Heart.
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Ningage - DENNAB
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by xxmusicislifexx on 08-07-2009 6:21 pm
Ashr, you're absolutely amazing.
lol I think I love you.
you're definitely getting karma for this.
lol I think I love you.
you're definitely getting karma for this.
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xxmusicislifexx - Scene Kid
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by Ashr on 08-07-2009 8:46 pm
Ningage wrote: Really Good Thread!!!
Kudos! <3
Heh thanks. ^-^
xxmusicislifexx wrote: Ashr, you're absolutely amazing.
lol I think I love you.
you're definitely getting karma for this.
Oh well *blushes*
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Ashr - From Heaven to your Heart.
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by crucifiction of man on 08-08-2009 12:15 am
you are freaking A-mazing! i will NEVER try to cut my own hair again! I <3 U!
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crucifiction of man - Scene Kid
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by Ashr on 08-08-2009 12:24 am
JINSN wrote: WOWWW ! AMAZINGGGG ! <3 this thread ! XDD !
^-^
VioletVelvetine wrote: I love you Ashy n_n
*hugs deeply*
crucifiction of man wrote: you are freaking A-mazing! i will NEVER try to cut my own hair again! I <3 U!
YEA. I converted someone.
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Ashr - From Heaven to your Heart.
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by Joli Petit Canard on 08-08-2009 1:06 am
aww ash thanks ! you answer to a question or two I had about haircut ^-^ love ya ;D <3
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Joli Petit Canard - Nub
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by Ashr on 08-08-2009 1:26 am
Joli Petit Canard wrote: aww ash thanks ! you answer to a question or two I had about haircut ^-^ love ya ;D <3
Glad I could help. ^-^
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Ashr - From Heaven to your Heart.
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by ChristinaEnvy on 08-08-2009 2:23 pm
good thread Ash !
but i will still continue to cut my own hair.
=)
but i will still continue to cut my own hair.
=)
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ChristinaEnvy - has retired.
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