Hi there! Welcome back to Hair Romance’s Good Hair Q&A series. I’m Christina and today’s question is all about curly hair cuts. I had a question from A.Ricotta on YouTube who asked which haircuts or haircut styles are best for curly or wavy hair.
And also it’s fun as I love your name because ricotta is one of my favorite cheeses! I have many. But this is a really interesting topic and curly hair cuts, there’s a lot of confusion and a lot of…
I would almost say controversy about what’s the best one for curly hair. Lots of people say there’s a right way or a wrong way to do it with curly hair. But personally I like to find what works for your hair, so I’m gonna run through some different techniques and talk about my haircut and some things to avoid. First thing I want to note is that I’m not a hairdresser.
I have lots of hairdresser friends.
I have enormous respect for hairdressers but I’m talking about this topic from someone with curly hair who’s had a lot of different haircuts – good and bad – over the years. The main controversy with curly hair cuts talks about whether you should have your hair cut wet or dry. Wet cuts are the standard in the hairdressing industry, where they’ll wash your hair first then cut your hair straight and then dry it and style it the way you like. There’s been a lot more talk now and it seems to be the preferred way in the curly community to have your hair cut dry. That is when you come in with your hair already styled to the salon and they’ll cut it curl by curl and work it out that way.
Personally, for me, I prefer a wet cut still. I like the variety and the versatility that I get from a wet cut which means I can wear my hair curly or straight. Because of the type of wavy curls I have, by their nature they’re quite uneven and they’ll be different from day-to-day.
So if I was to have a curly hair cut today that was on dry hair I’d end up with sections that are much longer than others and then I might wash my hair and restyle it and it’d be completely different. I know my hair will be so uneven.
So for my type of curls, a wet cut is best. You might find that if you have tight, very uniform, very even curls, that a dry cut is going to work best for you. The DevaCut is a term you hear all the time in “curly girl” forums and it refers to a particular haircut technique.
This was developed at the Devachan salons in New York and is a dry curl by curl technique and this was also formalised by Lorraine Massey in her book ‘The Curly Girl Handbook’. One of the advantages of a DevaCut is your hairdresser can see exactly how your curls sit and how they’re going to frame your face.
It also means there’s less chance that you’ll have a haircut that’s too short because they can see how much your hair shrinks up when it’s dry. Another popular curly hair technique is called the Oiudad method and this is also from the chain of salons Ouidad and also the product line as well. This is a kind of hybrid technique of wet first and then dry cutting to finish. Ouidad starts as a wet cut and they have a technique that’s sort of like slicing into your curls.
This is only if you want to thin out your hair and then also finishing with your hair curly and cutting it dry just to make sure that it’s all even and looks right.
This is probably the closest to the technique that my hairdresser uses. He would incorporate some of these techniques to customise a hairstyle for me. And this type of Ouidad technique is also quite popular with cutting straight hair.
You might cut into it when it’s wet, style it and then reshape it just slightly to suit your client’s face. Some hairdressers will advertise themselves as curly hair specialists and they may have trained in either the DevaChan style and do Deva cuts or in the Ouidad style and they’ll usually advertise that because their courses that have paid to attend.
Though lots of hairdressers may not have done this but they have experience with all different types of curls and the most important thing is to find a hairdresser that listens to you. Now I want to talk about one hairdressing implement that you don’t need for curly hair and that is thinning scissors. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a run-in with these. I have, many times over the years and thinning scissors or a particular hairdressing scissor which has a blade like comb on one side and a regular scissor on the other.
And what they do is rather than actually thinning into the curls and cutting different shapes in, it just sort of cuts out a portion of your hair as they’re going.
While this can work quite well if you want to have more of a like a Farrah flick kind of an 80s style, they end up giving your hair more of a thin, stringy look at the ends as they take off too much for curls. And they don’t allow your curls to form properly which means you have lots of layers sticking out all the way down each curl and if you have a hairdresser come towards you with thinning scissors I really urge you just to leave the salon! Just run out! Don’t say no. Just leave and ask to have someone else finish the haircut for you.
I didn’t really want to mention this hair cut technique but I see it so much on YouTube so we’re going to talk about the unicorn cut.
And also I want to say that I’m not recommending this style at all. The unicorn cut is a technique where you can do your own hair cut at home by putting your hair up in a big ponytail on top of your head almost like a unicorn and then just cutting straight across the ponytail. The idea behind this is a hairdressing technique to cut all your layers in a certain length, which is also known as the shag cut and the problem is it’s really difficult to actually cut hair evenly across so you end up with a hair cut that’s halfway between a shag and halfway between a mullet which probably will need a little bit more correction from a professional so by all means do your home haircuts at your own risk. There’s a reason they’re hairdressing scissors cost hundreds of dollars.
They’re incredibly sharp precision instruments and in Australia it takes three to four years for someone to complete an apprenticeship to become a hairdresser. So please trust the professionals and find one that you trust as well. Don’t be tempted to cut your split ends at home with any pair of scissors. You’re more likely going to end up doing more damage. A blunt scissor will actually create a blunt end which will in turn split more so while you think you’re solving the problem now you’re only going to cause a problem that’s even bigger in the long run.
Now I always get asked about my haircut and at the moment I haven’t had a haircut in quite a few months because I’ve been travelling but it’s still fairing quite well because I get my haircut with long layers and I have a few shorter pieces here around the front.
In the past I’ve had a haircut that’s been known as what’s called a V-cut or sometimes a U-cut which is where at the back my hair is cut in layers down to a V or you can have it into a U which has slightly more rounded edges. These types of layered cuts work really well for curly hair because they allow your hair to spring up, particularly if you’ve got longer hair. They take some of the weight out to allow the curls to take shape all around your hair quite well. For me I’ve gone back too long because I prefer the volume that I have in my hair and it makes it easier to braid with longer layers in my hair.
But I’d 100% recommend a U-shaped cut in particular if you’re looking to get some more lift and bounce in your curls if they’re if the weight of your hair is making them hang down too long.
I also really love short haircuts for curly hair. One of my all-time favorite hairstyles is when I was growing on a pixie cut and I had a layered bob that was above my shoulders. It’s such a fun hairstyle, really versatile and really easy to wear. Definitely check out my Pinterest boards if you’re looking for some curly hair inspiration and like I said in my last video, you definitely want to take in photos to show you a hairdresser so you can know exactly what you’re both talking about.
I’m really curious to know what’s your favorite way to have your curly hair cut let me know in the comments below.
And give this video a like if you’re enjoying the series and subscribe so you’re first to see the next video. Have fun with your hair and I’ll see you soon, bye!.
