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Undercutting has been around since the 80’s in one form or another, the “Pob”, Posh’s Bob, is a combination of an undercut and a Bob.

This is how to create it;

First, split 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, splitting 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 split 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.  From the occipital bone in the center of the head, take a diagonal section 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, Number 6 in the DVD collection, Hairdresser-Training, making sure you leave the outline soft and “feathery”.

That is your undercut done, the point of this is it is to remove bulk from the haircut and to remain “Disconnected” from the rest of the haircut.

Comb the remaining section of the back down and cut into a Graduated Bob shape, Number 5 in the DVD collection. This looks like the Inverted “V” or a soft “Arch” shape to the longer lengths that over lay the under cut section.

Texturise 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.

Most fringes are reasonably easy to cut, I use a little technique of rolling my fingers into the bridge of the nose, and use this as a guideline when cutting the length of a fringe. A straight fringe, once you have cut the center section, is then cut slightly angled to the outside of the fringe, giving you an arched or straight fringe.

Side fringes are a little difficult to cut, as you do not want an obvious diagonal cut to show.

Firstly split the fringe into 3 sections.

The first area, and make this a small area, on each side of the parting, so it almost looks like you are holding a triangle section.

The parting:    I   Just to the side of it:   /   and just to the other side of the parting:   \                 /I\

I hope this makes sense, comb this down above the eye and cut this around about the eyebrow length or a little longer if you are unsure, remember it is easier to cut more off, but remember this is only a small section.

The other main part of the fringe pull down, like you would a normal fringe, but drag it to the side and cut this going slightly longer from the triangle section you have cut to the other side of the fringe, this will be cut diagonally.

 The last section is on the other side of the fringe and again cutting from the triangle section, cut this steeply to blend into the side section of the hair.

 There is a lot of this is trial and error to create a correct side fringe, but hopefully you will not make too many errors and experiment with them as you go.

 The more you do the better you will get.

 I hope this helps.

I have been observing a new student, and I was explaining the mixing ratios of peroxide, to hair colour, as per the manufacturers instruction.

I gave the student a guide of getting a consistency of “Heinz Custard”.  I said this was around the right mixture consistency, (if you have never tried the custard, I recommend you have some, its great).

If you have a client who has gray hair, you will need to get your mixture thicker, by adding more tint, this will give you better coverage to your hair colour.

When mixing Bleach, I always put into a tinting bowl the peroxide first, as this determines how much you are likely to use. Then sprinkle the powder or granule Bleach, over the peroxide in the tinting bowl, and give the peroxide a light covering. When you have done this, stir the mixture until all the granules or powder is mixed in thoroughly.

Now scoop some of the bleach mixture up onto a tinting brush and watch as it drips from the brush, if drips too fast then you need to sprinkle more bleach powder or granules, in the mix. Get it to a consistency the lets the bleach mixture run slowly off the brush.

The idea of the correct mixture is so that the bleach mixture can soak through, say weaved mesh sections of hair, but not so that it runs off your mesh and onto the hair you do not wish to colour.

If you are using a plastic cap to apply highlights, make sure the holes are not too big as this will allow the bleach to flow through the holes and onto the scalp, and this is exactly what you do not want to happen, so make your bleach mixture a little thicker than normal and make sure you give the highlights a thorough comb through.

I hope this helps you with some of your mixing of hair colours.

Enjoy your hairdressing.

I am currently working with a good hairstylist, but they have gone Lazy.

Here is my take on a “Mod” haircut.

As we know all haircuts are taken from the Foundation haircuts 8 of them in total, these are known as the Fast Track Salon Training Course 

Once you are comfortable with these haircuts the doors of hairdressing open wide up for you.

It will help if you picture some one who wears a “Mod” haircut, and there are many with various versions of this cut, Paul Weller from the Jam, Early Roger Daltrey of the Who, some would say Liam Gallagher from Oasis, Steve Marriott of the Small Faces, but one of the latest up-and-coming music stars I have seen is, Miles Kane.

The basis of the hair cut is a layered haircut with a few options, one is the nape area is taken shorter, the crown area is textured, showing spikes through the crown, and most importantly the sides are left longer and slightly thicker leaving the back of the ear to poke through, this then gives the haircut the “Mod” feel.

Check the techniques out and the people I have mentioned to get you right on track to deliver that “Mod” look.

I began hairdressing at the age of 16, the salon was the first “Cut and blow” salon in Bolton. Until then you went to a barbers, were techniques of clippering or scissors over comb were used, or you went to the hair salons, were, what was fast becoming a yesteryear image of, the shampoo and set salons.

The salon was called ”Hairforce” and was put together by owner Howard Clift. Howard or “The Boss” as I always knew him, employed two great stylists, Gary Verbicas and Steve Dyer.  Steve and Gary came from the very stylish Village Barbers in Manchester, despite its name it used the latest cut and blow techniques and employed a wealth of talent from Manchester and surrounding area’s.  It had to be one of the best salons as George Best owned it, and George’s nightclub, Slack Alice was above the salon.

Vidal Sassoon was the flavor of the day in hairdressing terms,  he developed the technique of sectioning the hair and used different sectioning techniques to create different haircuts. These were exciting times, Mary Quant, Ozzy Clark, Biba, Max Factor were just a few of the names being banded about, I was 16, eager to learn and absolutely loving it.

Gary, for his birthday took me to Slack Alice’s and there I met some of my all time footballing hero’s, George Best of course, Rodney Marsh, Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell, and others, I briefly spoke to George and Rodney Marsh, I had, and still have, nothing but praise for them, as they were very courteous, polite people.

After two weeks of working in the salon, the boss showed me the cutting techniques they used, (this is the same technique I teach in the Basic Cutting DVD).

He let me cut his hair under the guidance of Gary and Steve. I practiced like mad, cutting friends and families hair, on average, I cut two peoples hair a night and up to five over the weekends.  

My efforts where rewarded when I was promoted to a stylist, I wasn’t the finished article by far, but I had become a stylist within 6 months.

Each year, thousands of would be hairdressers, take the time and trouble to learn new skill to become a hairdresser.

One of the main plus points in learning hairdressing skills, is that they give you a rounded set of skills, that can be transferred to other careers, people skills, working within a team and time management being the most obvious skills.

Many hairdressers fall by the way side early on, but I have seen some students spend up to three years hairdressing before they transfer to another career.  I remember being 16 and not really knowing what career path I would like to take, all you can do is to try something and see if it leads to something you take to, as in liking of the job and being able to do it.

When I started hairdressing I absolutely fell in love with the job, I loved meeting people, learning new skills and being challenged in more way than I could imagine. I will post my story up on to the web site to let you have a look in detail to how I began.

The real secret to becoming a good hairstylist, is the fact of loving the job, liking it is just not good enough, loving the career of a hairdresser is what will give you longevity and a way to perfect and hone your skills.

I noticed a junior stylist cutting hair, they had a client that was waiting for only 2-3 minutes, but the pressure it put onto this stylist to complete the client they were doing was evident. Instead of finishing the first client properly, they began to rush so they could do the next client and remain on time.  A senior stylist to over the 1st client and gave a polished finish to the haircut, this only took another 10 minutes, but the results were clear for all to see, the client left the premises happy with their new haircut.

The junior stylist began to work on the next client and had plenty of time to finish this client off properly. 

I remember when I got caught up with running late, I would purposely slow down and finish each client off correctly.  I used to think of it as “a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush”.  The client waiting could always get up and walk off and out of the salon, so it is more important to complete the client you are doing, and make sure they come back to you for their next haircut.  It is also good advice to take a little longer at the end of the haircut to polish off a haircut to retain a high standard of work.  

Enjoy your hairdressing.

 John Mcloughlin. 

This is a grey area of learning, once you have learned all the cutting skills and techniques, and this is important, you do need to be comfortable with all these techniques, you will not progress if you have gaps or omissions in your learning or understanding of all the haircuts. You now need to work from within and stretch your self as a Top Hair Stylist.

Understand what looks good and what looks exceptional, work that comes from your day to day cliental can look good, but if you look to what the top stylist are creating, the sharpness of the hair cut or the finish they have achieved, and look at the hair colour they have chosen to enhance the haircut, these are all indicators of how to achieve exceptional work.

If you are freelance, or working in a small salon you may not get the chance to work with other high fashion hair stylist and see how they work, or learn what their approach is or see there tricks and tips.I have tried with my DVD’s and Hairdressing tips page to help you become all you could and should be as a Top Hair Stylist, but this is about you. Get a strategy that will bring the best out of your hairdressing, book some time out for your self to go on a day course or go to a hairdressing event, get in touch with the major hairdressing companies and ask there advice.

Hairdressing is not a stand alone profession, there are people who can help you progress, sometimes you have to shake off the working norm’s and invest some time in your self, sometimes and evening event can be just the tonic to get your imagination flowing again, summer is coming,  are we going to have a Sixty’s twist to it or will it be an Eighty’s feel? That fact is I don’t know yet, but where ever the feel takes you go with the flow.

I hope you find the summer invigorating and begin to knock out some fantastic haircuts and hairstyles.Have fun with your hairdressing.