I watch a student the other day, she was cutting a one length haircut, a simple haircut that I have seen this particular student complete and do it very well. This time however she seemed to just not get it right, whether this was down to a large amount of lack of concentration, I think this would have contributed a large amount, but what was interesting was was two areas that came to light, these were the students positioning and perception.   Positioning of a client, there head and yourself will play a part in getting a good haircut. You may have heard about clients who cross there legs and sit at a slant, there shoulders being at different heights, to correct this simply ask your client to uncross their legs. Head positioning is something crucial to a good haircut as you can eliminate unwanted graduation through the back of the haircut, if the head is placed forward you will end up with a crisp line in the cut. The other part of the positioning is the position or posture of yourself as a hairdresser. If you stand crooked there is a good chance the haircut you do will be crooked. if you stand squarely in the centre of a client, at the back of a one length haircut and plant your feet, do not move them, and work in the centre and to each of the sides of your one length haircut, your posture will be correct to make a straight haircut. I see students who have not yet built the stamina to work through a full day haircutting, they lack the concentration and physical presents to stand correctly, they invariably stand with their weight on one foot making their hips slant, and this effects the plain that there arms can move on, it is this lack of posture that make you complete a poor haircut. Another area is perception, try thinking that if you hold a broom handle, level across the line you want to cut on a one length haircut, this may help you with the over all perception of your haircut, it may help you visualise the line on which you will be cutting. Enjoy your hairdressing. John Mcloughlin   

Here is an article I did last year, but it is still relevant today. Undercutting has been around since the 80’s in one form or another, the “Pob”, Posh’s New Look Bob, is a combination of an undercut and a Bob.This is how to create it.

First, part the hair into four sections, To do this, take a centre parting from the front of the head to the very back of the head, an part the hair into two equal sections.  Then take a parting from the crown of the head to the back of the ear, ideally just at the top of the ear, this will part the hair into front and back sections, do the same on the other side of the head. You should now have the hair split into “Quadrant sections”. 

We are now going to only work on the back sections. From the back of the head feel for the occipital bone, this is the lump you can feel if you stroke your hand from the crown of the head to the nape area, roughly in the middle of the head.From the occipital bone in the centre at the back of the head, take a diagonal section from the centre parting, to the bottom of the back of the ear, do this on both sides of the head, and clip the hair out of the way.  Comb down this inverted “V” section, this is the area we are going to Undercut. Cut this hair like you would a uniform layer cut, try to leave the outline soft and “feathery”.Once you have achieved this, that is your undercut done, the point of this is it is to remove bulk from the haircut underneath, and to remain “Disconnected” from the rest of the haircut.  Comb the remaining section down and cut into a Graduated Bob shape, increasing the length through the side areas. Texture the back of the hair taking a little weight out of the ends so they are not too blunt, this gives the haircut a now-a-day feel, and is important to the over all finished look.Finish the sides of the hair like a traditional Bob, but again taking some weight out of the ends to give a softer look, you can do this by using layers from the crown to the longer outline of the haircut in front of the ears, making sure you do not cut too much weight out of the outline, as you need the long length in front of the ears for the haircut to work. Shape the fringe section to suit your client and you should have a new look for your collection.  

Having the skills to cut hair, are only part of the art of creating a great hairstyle, here some of the hidden skills that will help you become a top hairstylist are listed below. One of the skills that I was encouraged to develop was “Seeing the haircut”. This was fun when I was a junior and mainly washing hair and sweeping up, and of course making the tea’s for clients and staff.As a client would come in for their appointment, I would study their hair, taking notice of how thick the hair was, and what was the texture and length like. Then I would imagine the haircut I would give to a client and how I would dry and finish the haircut. The interesting thing was seeing the difference that another stylist would make on the actual haircut, the style that was given to the client and the one that I had imagined could be very varied, once I found myself more in tune with the stylist, I could almost predict the style they would create.By doing this it gave me a good inside knowledge of how each stylist worked, and the difference between the stylist. When I could see that I would have a style of cutting of my own, when I started to cut hair, I knew I was on the right track.Another discipline to make you a top stylist, is not to do just what is easiest on a client, this is where the “Work” comes into the job, trying to bring the best out of a clients hair, even if it is 3.0′Clock your sugar levels are low you feel tired and you have just started to think about going home. This is where you have to dig deep and put your client before you or your needs. Think, what is the best way to achieve the look your client wants.Sometimes it is hard working with a client when they have very fixed views on how they want their hair and are unwilling to move with any trends that are up and coming. As a Stylist we can only offer the advice, is it up to the client if they want to go with your recommendations.If you put your client first you will do the right thing, and don’t just think about the haircut, can you help the shape look better with the addition of hair colour.Seeing the haircut and working at your craft will stand you in good stead while you develop a strong and loyal clientele making you a top hair stylist.

I see many potential employees turning up for their interview with a beautiful array of qualifications, displayed in various ways.

The fact is, as an employer, I want to know about the person behind the qualifications, what drives them to get up in a morning, what do they do on their day off or weekend. These insights to what a person is really like, will help me as an employer, understanding how ambitious and motivated they are to finish their training. If you can portray how serious you are about not only learning your hairdressing skills but perfecting them, these are some of the terms I want to hear from potential employees.

The main thing that has driven my hairdressing career, is to be the best I possibly can with my field of expertise.

Hairdressing is a great career because as soon as you think you have perfected one aspect of hairdressing you can move on to another part of hairdressing, becoming not just a good all rounder but an expert in all the fields of hairdressing can take a lifetime, but if you have the yearning to do that, I can’t recommend a better profession.

The absolute passion I have for hairdressing, is the same if not greater now than when I first set off at sixteen. Hairdressing has given me a life I could have only dreamed of when I was at school, it has given me the finical rewards for my hard work, and a social standing within my community, and a respected from my professional peers.

I recently interviewed a young girl for a vacancy, and when asked about her ambitions, she said that she would like to own her own salon, I don’t know if she understood the amount of work that it takes to open a salon, but, I remember replying to that same question in an interview within a large hairdressing company, and my answer was, I wanted to be the best hairdresser that ever lived, it may have been an OTT answer, but it was how I felt, and I got the job.

It is easy to lose focus when running a salon, but the only thing I think we really sell as hairdressers is not what the latest offer is in the salon, 10% or 20% off perms or colours, but it is the quality of service, how good are the haircuts you give, and hair colours and other services you provide set you apart from the rest.

Setting your own standards and reappraise them, keeping them as high as possible is our ultimate goal. Whatever helps motivate you, whether it is additional training, going to shows, photo shoots or competitions work, it is all out there.

Sometimes being the best you can is used as a flippant remark, but if you can be the very best you can, you will have a long and lustrous hairdressing career.

In the main, Graduation is only thought of in a traditional shape of the geometric haircut from the 70’s, the “Mary Quant look”, this is more commonly known as The Graduated Bob, recently re-created by Victoria Beckham, Posh Spice, in her new look that I recently described.Graduation can be used in its subtle form to give lift to outlines on a haircut or it can be used to assist the outline to create interesting shapes on a layered haircut.

If you cast your mind back to the days of the 70-80’s and the pop groups Duran Duran, and Spandu Ballet, you can see how graduation was used to give the shape from the outline to the longer layers of the lads haircuts.

To create the haircut, section the hair into quadrant sections parting the hair from, ear-to-ear and from the middle of the forehead to the middle at the nape area, making equal four sections.

Begin working on the side front section, either side, and cut an outline length with your 1st section, around a inch from the bottom of the ear, cutting the hair as close to the head as possible.

Then take the same section, holding the hair about an inch away from the head, cut around a quarter-of-an-inch off the same outline. This may seem strange but bare with me.

The next section, comb down and hold this around an inch-and-a-half away from the head and cut, using the previous section as your guide, cut on the same line as you can see underneath. This is creating graduation for the graduated bob, work up the head with your sections and pull farther away as you work through the side of the head.

Now do the exactly same that you have done at the side of the head, but do this at the back of the head, creating this graduation. Once the other side of the haircut has been completed, it just a matter of drying the hair with a round brush, but blowing the hair upwards to give an exaggerated look of the hair coming out from the head.