There are many factors you should take into account before you start your haircut: hairlines, growth patterns, hair quality, quantity and texture, and face shape.
Hairlines
Client consultation is the most important part of your work and checking hairlines is an essential element of your hair analysis. The areas to look at are:
You should always look at these areas when the hair is dry and again when it is wet after shampooing. Your client could have used a mousse or gel product on their hair that will give you a false impression of their hairline growth.
Not everyone has a perfect hairline so make sure you check for uneven growth and awkward, moving shapes. You will need to take account of these when you are cutting.
Hair-growth patterns
You need to take your client’s hair growth pattern into consideration when you are cutting their hair because some patterns influence how a cut is carried out. The most common ones are:
If your client has any of these growth patterns, you should cut without using pressure to allow for the natural movement of the hair.
You may need to cut the sections of hair within the growth patterns longer than the rest of the hair. This allows for the movement of the hair as it springs back to how it falls naturally. The hair looks level even though it has not been cut level.
Quality of hair
The quality of hair means the condition. Good quality hair is easy to style. Hair that is thin and brittle is more difficult so you will need to use styling agents such as mousse or gel.
Quantity
Quantity refers to the density of hair � how much hair is on the head and how thick or fine the hair shape is.
These factors are important when you are thinking about the balance and control of a hair style. For example, it is easy to show volume on thick hair. On thin hair it is more difficult so you need to use styling gels and mousses.
When you are applying chemical treatments, the thickness of your client’s hair will dictate how much product and what techniques you use. For example, fine hair can be more resistant to colour and perm treatments.
Texture
There are three types of hair texture:
The texture of your client’s hair affects the size of the sections you take. For thicker hair, you need finer sections to make sure the guideline is visible. You need to see the guideline to know exactly where to cut each section of hair.
In this case, our model’s face shape is square.
Her hair type is naturally curly and it’s density is above average.
Divide the hair cut into segments: back; side; front; and internal layers.
Facial features and face shape
The shape of your client’s face and head are unique. Use your observation skills to identify their individual features.
Your haircut should enhance their good features, eg their eyes and cheek bones, and disguise their less attractive features, eg a heavy jaw or big nose.
The different face shapes are:
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