What is being asked of me? What can I do that will satisfying that request? How can I do it in a way that will also satisfy other, unstated requirements? My friend wanted me to trim her hair. She said that what she really wanted was for her hair not to get in her face when she went swimming. Nobody had ever been able to achieve that for her. She had lovely, fine, straight hair. It was strong, shiny, auburn in color, and planted very thick. Wonderful to work with. She wore it straight in a short page boy cut with bangs, whatever way it fell when she came out of the shower. Sometimes it looked like somebody had cut it with a bowl over her head.
To meet the first demand, I simply pulled all of her hair together in front of her face and with one big snip cut it all off in front of my fist. Now there was no way that any part of it, from any place on her head, could cover her face. To be sure, I followed the hairline and further trimmed whatever still reached to her eyes or past the cheeks to her mouth and nose.
The rest was up to me, creating a style that worked with that, didn't drastically alter her image, and still showed off how pretty she was. So my next task was to give it a carefree shape that allowed her the freedom to comb it and leave it alone, yet compliment her rounded countenance. I leveled off her bangs and then feathered them out so they followed the contour of her forehead without stopping so abruptly at her eyebrows, short enough to allow for at least a month's growth.
Over time, we let the back grow out even longer to show off it's beautiful color and strength, keeping with the initial limits. The details of reducing the overall volume, shaping the sides, undercutting the back to curl under a little, these things are not important here. To accommodate her athletic nature, I watched how she moved, what her hair did when she shook it out and than made various corrections so it would land well, no matter what she did.
She later told me it was the best haircut she'd ever had. I don't know if it was technically correct, but I'd been happy enough looking at it afterwards, and it did exactly what she wanted. That's all she asked. We just have to listen to what they ask.
To meet the first demand, I simply pulled all of her hair together in front of her face and with one big snip cut it all off in front of my fist. Now there was no way that any part of it, from any place on her head, could cover her face. To be sure, I followed the hairline and further trimmed whatever still reached to her eyes or past the cheeks to her mouth and nose.
The rest was up to me, creating a style that worked with that, didn't drastically alter her image, and still showed off how pretty she was. So my next task was to give it a carefree shape that allowed her the freedom to comb it and leave it alone, yet compliment her rounded countenance. I leveled off her bangs and then feathered them out so they followed the contour of her forehead without stopping so abruptly at her eyebrows, short enough to allow for at least a month's growth.
Over time, we let the back grow out even longer to show off it's beautiful color and strength, keeping with the initial limits. The details of reducing the overall volume, shaping the sides, undercutting the back to curl under a little, these things are not important here. To accommodate her athletic nature, I watched how she moved, what her hair did when she shook it out and than made various corrections so it would land well, no matter what she did.
She later told me it was the best haircut she'd ever had. I don't know if it was technically correct, but I'd been happy enough looking at it afterwards, and it did exactly what she wanted. That's all she asked. We just have to listen to what they ask.
posted by Mary Smith at 9:45 AM
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