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How to Cut Hair in Layers Tutorial - Razor vs. Scissor
One of the most common asks by clients with long hair is layers. In this article and video you will learn how to cut hair in layers but also see how the tool used affects the end result. You will learn different methods on how to achieve long hair layers using a scissor versus a razor.
Russell Mayes, Director of Content for Jatai, teaches you step by step for how to cut hair layers and tips for using these different tools. Layered haircuts are popular and learning how to cut layers in hair is fundamental to hairdressing. You can use these techniques to cut straight and curly hair.
Layering hair gives volume, body and depth to a haircut and using different tools can give different results. So follow along with the video and the transcript to learn how using a razor is different from using a scissor.
Note: This video and article is not meant to teach people how to cut their own hair at home. Layering your own hair will require different techniques. For a complex layered cut, leave this up to a hair professional.
How to Cut Layers in Hair - Razor vs. Scissor Tutorial:
Welcome back to the Jatai Academy! Today we're going to be doing a versus video where we compare the textural differences of long layering with the razor versus long layering with a scissor. So let's get started.
So the whole concept behind this type of layering and comparing these two tools is because you know what's really prevalent in hair right now is this 70s sort of layering. And the 70s was really a dichotomy between really really textured versus really really structured and blunt.
So you want to see the textural differences between the two and then you can compare to see which technique would work better for your layering and for the desired effect that you're looking for and the type of hair that you're working on.
Establishing the Perimeter
Alright so I'm gonna start here in the nape. I'm gonna comb everything straight down, find a good length where I start feeling like it's getting a little too wispy, and then I'm going to go through and cut that blunt using my Jatai Tokyo Scissors, combing everything straight down in a natural fall keeping my fingers from flipping.
What that means is I'm not rolling my fingers up. I want to keep everything as blunt as possible, getting that cut one length. Then, on the other side I'm going to go through and do the same thing, but now I'm going to use my Feather Styling Razor with an R-Type Blade.
And just to keep everything consistent, I'm going to go and use the same sort of razor stroke that I'm going to use on the long layering so I can keep everything as symmetrical and as similar as possible because I don't want to have a really soft wispy kind of layering and then a really solid baseline.
So I want to compare complete haircuts blunt versus razor. Now I'm just going to go through and continue to take parallel parts, cut everything the same length until we run out of hair. Okay we've got our base length cut so now let's go through and do our layering.
How to Cut Hair in Layers Using a Razor
So, the layering I'm going to start right down the center to keep it as even as possible on both sides. Well, that's not quite down the middle. Let's try that again. We'll go right down the center or as close as we can get to it all the way down to the nape. Got to pick a side.
We're going to start cutting the razor side first. So, I'm going to pin this out of the way. So, I've taken a section on the right side from the center. Take a small piece in my front. That's going to be the beginning of my layering, so I want to determine...come on get out of there. Get out of there. There we go.
So I want to determine where this is going to fall in her face and then that's going to be the shortest part of my layering and then I'll use that to blend throughout. Going with my razor, take a pretty broad stroke probably about a two-inch stroke. Go across. That's going to be the shortest part of our layering right through there.
So we're going to take small pieces, my guide hold that up and out. Continue the same broad razor stroke as we're going up to the crown. Now once I get to the crown which is right here, I'm going to change the angle.
So here I'm going head shaped from the crown out. I'll continue that line going up and out. Small piece is my guide. Continue holding that 90-degrees from the head. There's my angle.
We'll continue that up and out. Now I will follow the same pattern with the scissor on the other side. There's my first section. I'm going to start right here in the crown.
At the crown I'm going to pivot over to the corner of the hairline. Pin that out of the way. Now I'm going to bring these two sections together. Follow my guide. There you see that guideline falling out. And continue that up and towards the perimeter.
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Perfect. Now I'm going to remove the centerpiece, the first guide that I created. And I'm going to continue to pivot from the high point of the head from the crown. Combine those two together. Hold that at 90.
Come oh come on now. Why do you gotta do me dirty? Comb that up and out. There's my guide. Keep a broad razor stroke. There's my guide falling out.
I can see some underneath as well and I'm working to my perimeter length. Now once I get to the ear I'm no longer going to pivot. I'm going to take parallel sections because the hair around the front is not as deep as the hair in the back so if I continue to pivot, I'll end up cutting a hole right around the cheek.
So I'll take this. I got my previously cut guide. I got my new hair 90 degrees. There it's falling out. I can see my guide. Take my broad razor stroke. Remove my previous guide.
I got my new guide 90 degrees from the head, working at an angle to my perimeter length. Add come here baby. Stop running. Add my next section. There's my guide underneath.
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Now we've got the entire right side of my haircut long layered with the razor, nice even amount of layering from the back all the way into the sides.
How to Cut Hair in Layers Using Scissors
So now we're going to go through. I'm going to take a small piece as my guide in the front and I'm going to pin all of this hair out of the way. And now we're going to cut the other side using this as my guide length and cut it the exact same way that I did on the right side and we're going to see how to cut long layers with a scissor.
Starting with the guide in the middle. Now we're going to go back to my Jatai Tokyo Scissors, take my piece up in the front that I see. So we're going to comb that up, there's my guide length cut that blunt, following the head shape until I get to the crown. I'm creating an entire new guide for the scissor cut part of the layering for the left side.
Now once I reach the high point of the head, same as the other side, I'll start to angle that length away from the head. I'm still holding it at 90 degrees, just getting longer as I go towards the back of the head. As I reach down to the occipital bone, I should start to run out of hair. And we do.
So now I'm going to continue the same pattern where I'm pivoting around the sides into the back. Alright, so we finished cutting on both sides. We got our layering done. It's nice and even. We've got texture on the right, blunt on the left. So let's blow it dry, take a look and compare the differences.
Comparing the Razor Side vs. the Scissor Side
Okay we finished our blow dryer. So if we look at the razor side, even if I go through and brush everything straight back and just kind of let it fall, you'll see that the layering on this side has a little bit more volume to it and it's also a lot more seamless when it gets brushed back and through and it starts to fall. It's much more seamless.
Whereas if we compare the scissor side to the other side and I brush this back you can certainly see that the hair cut layers have more structure to it and it pops out more and you can really see that layering kind of layer out so to speak.
So I think that's a nice little comparison to kind of show you when you might want to choose one over the other. If you're going for that 70s kind of retro look where you want the layering to pop and feather and see it, then I would definitely go with a scissor.
If I want something more modern and seamless and where I'm going to style it in beach waves or something where I don't want the layering to pop out, I just want the layering to kind of smooth and blend, I would definitely go with the razor.
So check out the Jatai Academy. There's all kinds of great stuff on there to make you a better hair stylist and barber and also leave us a comment. Let us know what you'd like to see in the future. Thank you so much for checking it out and we'll see you next time.
Final End Result: Razor vs. Scissors for Long Layering
As you can see, if you're looking at the mannequin head from the front, the left side is the razor cut side and the right side is the scissor cut side. Cutting layers with either tool gives beautiful results, it's just a matter of determining what look you're going for. We hope you enjoyed this layered hair cut and gained a deeper insight to how using different tools can give different results.
Tutorial
Tutorial
How to Thin Hair with Thinning Shears with Different Techniques
In this video you will learn how to thin hair with thinning shears using different techniques. Using hairdresser thinning scissors is an important tool for hair professionals to master as they are very useful for creating specific effects. This is not a haircut tutorial but rather education how to remove bulk, thin thick hair and create texture. Russell Mayes, Director of Content for JATAI, goes through each step of the techniques used. If you want to know how to use texturizing shears watch this tutorial and follow along with the transcript.
How to Thin Hair with Thinning Shears:
Welcome back to the Jatai Academy! Another technical deep dive today where we're going to focus on the thinning or the texturizing scissor. We want to focus on how to properly use it and all the creative ways that you can use it to get different types of results. So let's get started.
Now we're going to start with our Tokyo Thinning Scissor and you'll notice it has two tangs. That way I can have the cutting blade on the top or I can turn it over and have the cutting blade on the bottom underneath.
If I have the cutting blade underneath, I can take more cuts and it won't force the hair into the teeth of the blending shears so I can thin it more repetitively without always having to remove the blade and go back in for a fresh cut. I can hit the same area at one time without the hair clogging up the blade.
Creating a Blunt Line with Thinning Scissors
So say for instance that I want to go through and cut a more bluntish line. We've done a technical deep dive where we've done point cutting versus straight cutting. And the point cut, while it's not that much different, it gives it a softer line so it moves more.
So I can do a similar effect with my thinning scissor if I just put the straight blade underneath, comb down and now the teeth has come out and it has not clogged up the teeth of my thinning scissor.
So I can go through multiple cuts as I'm going across and cut that fairly blunt. Now it's going to be a softer almost blurry type of line versus if I was to go through and point cut it or cut it straight across with a straight scissor.
So I get kind of a defocused line, but I still end up with a blunt line. So let's go through and do that here to create our shape on the bottom. There's my guide. It's very easy. I put the cutting blade underneath and just go straight across. And I'll move the scissor inward as I'm going through and cutting across.
Now you'll say, oh my gosh, this is going to wear my thumb out. Well you do have to have a little bit of scissor dexterity but you pick that up pretty quick and I can go through and make a nice diffused soft line.
I can hear you saying now 'Well when would I want to use this?' Well there's going to be instances where say that they have really really thick coarse straight hair whereas if I was to just go through and cut this completely blunt with a straight scissor I'm going to have a broom-like effect. It's going to stack that line. It's not going to have any movement. It's going to be very very stiff.
Whereas if I go through and cut it with this thinning scissor, texturizing scissor like this, I can get a blunt-ish line but it's defocused. So it has a little bit more movement. It has a little bit more softness to it and even though the hair is very very thick it won't stack out like a broom. It'll give it a little bit of bevel.
Whereas if I were to point cut it, it would bevel it a lot more so there's a balancing act that goes on between it. Now another thing that I can do when I'm going to go through and texturize and thin hair because not always am I going to thin.
Texturizing Hair for Movement with Thinning Scissors
Sometimes I just want to texturize the hair to create movement. I don't necessarily want to go through and just shred it all out and thin it. Sometimes I want to thin it. So how do you thin hair with thinning shears? And how does hair thinning work?
So say for instance I want to texturize this and thin this out so it's not quite so blunt. So I'll put the teeth underneath and just go through horizontally eight or ten cuts down. Now that goes through thins that section out and makes it much softer.
As long as you have a nice seamless thinning scissor like the Tokyo Texturizers here, you won't see any kind of cut lines that go through here. It will just go through and thin it out.
So I'll start a little thicker and then I'll go down to where I get it as light as I want and have as much movement and as thin as I want.
Now you'll say 'Well how deep shall I go?'
I don't like to go... now right here you start to see that getting a little thinner? So I will focus my texturizing on the right side of the section not on the left side of the section so I don't thin this into oblivion.
So back to the other question is 'how deep will you go?' So if I have a section that's this deep, I can push the hair and see where it starts to arc and then and I won't go deeper than about halfway of that curve because if I go deeper than halfway of that first initial curve, that's where the hair starts to get alfalfa and stick up.
Now here I'm going to move on to my next section and I'm going to incorporate a different type of texturizing. I'll put my cutting blade underneath with the tooth blade on top, find my guide is about right here. So now when I go to thin I will go back and forth an area of about an inch. I'm not cutting everything blunt like I was underneath. I'm just going through and varying the depth across that whole section.
So now I've gone through and cut my section and you'll see it's much more wispy and more razor-like on the ends and that gives me a really nice seamless kind of blend without any kind of thickness and that's just by varying my cut up and down about an inch.
So there's my length I want to go. I'll go down a little bit, up a little bit, up and down, up and down until I get it about the length that I want. If there's any long pieces that hang over we'll just go through and take those off as well. Now I've got a really really soft line without any kind of bluntness to it just by varying the interior cut.
Internal Texturizing with Hairdressing Thinning Scissors
So now say that I want some internal texturizing. There's a couple of ways I can do this. I'll pull out a vertical section. I'll see where it's thicker, where it's thinner, where it's thicker and thinner, and I'll go through at an angle in about halfway.
Just go through and take some hair out. Where it's thicker I may hit it a couple of times and this will go through and remove some weight and make that much more movable and pliable and livable so it won't have that stiffness to it that these mannequin heads can get a lot of times.
And this will go through and evenly thin it because I'm taking a vertical section. I'm not going left or right. Everything is being held straight out. Before when I was cutting everything horizontally I was creating no movement left or right.
This, I'm not creating movement either. If anything, I'm creating an undercut with this because of the angle that the scissor is going into the hair.
You'll also notice that as I hit it with a scissor, I don't want to keep fitting the same hair so I'll pull that out of the way so I don't end up haphazardly thinning it more times than I want.
If the hair is really thick, I'll open the scissor, leave the hair in my hand and then thin it again. But I want to be very very mindful about how I'm applying my thinning to each section of the hair.
So say this is thick, I'll open it and then hit it again. Open it. Hit it again. Open it. Hit it again. Then pull it out here. I'll just pull out, just pull out that way I start to thin the hair.
I give it a little bit more of an undercut a little bit more of a bevel because of where I'm thinning it from. So that's another technique that we can use.
Side Swept Bangs
Now I want to go through and take some length off and build my shape around the face and then put some internal texture to create movement to where it flows back out of the face.
So we're going to start in the middle. I'll find something around our nose. I will go through and texturize the ends to where I start to remove some length but by going up and down with my thinning, I'm going to create all kinds of softness right here at my guide length by moving in and out.
I'll pull everything forward, angle that down. There's my guide length. I want to make sure I'm getting longer towards the edges but I still want this a little you know a little heavy. That's why I'm holding it down.
If I wanted it lighter I could hold it up but I want this a little heavy and solid so we're holding it down. You got that. Now we'll pull this forward. There's my length. Start diffusing the cut line from where I want my line to start building and then diffuse that down.
We've got a good little basic shape. It's still too solid and heavy but that's a good basic shape. Same thing on the other side.
Now let's go through and put some internal movement with the hair thin scissors. So let's start here in the center. That's going to create some movement internally going away.
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Now when I brush that I start to create that movement where it's moving back out of the face and you can certainly start to see how that's rolling. If I have something here that's just hanging a little bit too much, let's go through and take that a little bit.
We're going to take a little more out of here, just rolling my fingers out of the way. Creating that softness and movement going back and then the same thing on the other side.
Now the good thing about the Jatai Tokyo Thinning Scissor is it is only removing maybe 15 to 20 percent of the hair each time that I hit it. So I'm not going to go through and completely disappear the hair from one shot of the thinning scissors.
So that gives me a lot more versatility and I can go through and soften this line slowly and incrementally until I get it to the texture that I want.
If I use a thinning scissor that has too many teeth or the teeth are too fat then I can go through and really just shred the hair and completely remove all the weight and all the length in just a few shots.
So learn with your thinning scissor how much you can take, and then use that to your advantage. I like the overall shape and everything that I've got going on.
Cutting the Bangs
I just think her bangs are just too long so I'm going to go through and cut this a lot shorter and I want it to look like she's cut it herself, like it was a mistake.
So I'm gonna go through and not try to make this real perfect. I'm going to have some of it a little longer, some a little shorter. and I'm going to be really really haphazard about this which is something from beauty school that we're trained 'oh don't cut the bangs too short.'
So now we're going to try to break out of that mold of cutting the bangs too short and just see what we can create that's a little bit more haphazard, a little more choppy and a little less perfect.
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And there we're beginning to get something a little more cute, a little more Japanese. So now we'll go through, slide cut through to create an even amount of weight around the front.
Using thinning shears this way will force some separation because if I just texturize it, it tends to diffuse everything so by going through and slide cutting, point cutting like this, I'll create a little bit more separation because of the way it's being cut now. It's not going to be a real strong separation like if I was using a straight scissor, but it gets the same sort of effect.
Recap on How to Thin Hair with Thinning Shears
I think that covers a lot of the bases on how to cut hair with a thinning scissor or texturizing scissor like the Tokyo Scissor from Jatai but it also gives us a lot of room for creativity and a lot of different ideas.
We can see how to create a blurry diffused blunt line. We can also go through and create a line that has a lot more texture to it and a lot more bevel.
We see how to put internal texturizing to where it doesn't create any movement.
We see how to put internal texturizing to where it does create movement, gets this hair kind of flowing back out of the face.
We also see how we can go through and diffuse a blunt line that's been put in that we don't necessarily want that blunt.
And we can also see how to go through and create separation by almost slide cutting but you have to go through and use your scissor action to get that scissor to go through.
I hope this has helped. I hope it's a broadened your horizon on how to use hair thinning shears and if you have any questions or comments please leave it below and check out the Jatai Academy.
There's all kinds of great information on there to make you a better hair stylist and barber. So we'll see you next time and thank you so much for watching!
Tutorial
Tutorial
Male or Female Bowl Cut - Razor vs. Scissor Technical Deep Dive
A male or female bowl cut is a unisex and versatile short hairstyle. A bowl haircut can be made to be a more modern bowl or a vintage classic mod bowl. The variety in styles that bowl cuts come in make it a fun hairstyle to work with. The bowl cut hairstyle can be made dramatically different based on the type of tool used, the techniques used and of course the desired outcome.
When you use a scissor vs. a razor to cut a bowl hair cut, you can see how the differences are uncanny. This pixie bowl hairstyle compares the use of these 2 different tools and shows you how they give different effects and final outcomes. To do this, Russell Mayes, Director of Content for Jatai, does one half of the pixie bowl style haircut with a Jatai Tokyo Scissor and the other with a Feather Plier Razor.
Follow along in this video tutorial and transcript.
Male or Female Bowl Cut Tutorial:
Welcome back to Jatai Academy! Today we're going to be doing a comparison between a razor and a straight scissor when doing a pixie bowl haircut. So let's get started.
Scissor Bowl Pixie - Part 1
Alright so the first section we're going to take is going to be right here on the side of the head at an angle. I'm going to pull that forward, angle my fingers to where this is going to be kind of longer in the front and a little shorter over the ear.
Then we're going to take a parallel section to that and I'm going to continue to walk my guide all the way to the back of the head. There's my guide underneath, work that through.
Next section I'm working that back pulling it to the previously cut section straight out from the head. There's my angle. I'm going to follow that through.
And I am using my Jatai Tokyo Scissor. It's a five and a half inch which I think is perfect for when you're trying to deal with short little pieces of hair and it will force you to deal with smaller sections so you can work cleaner.
Pull that through. There's my guide. Continuing to work that through and down into the nape. And I'm just going to keep doing this until I get all the way to the center or the back of the head.
After I've gone through and cut this whole side I want to go back in and cross check it. Now to cross check, since I cut everything on the angle vertical I'm going to go through horizontally and just make sure everything blends.
I'm not trying to re-cut it. I'm just trying to make sure that there's no long pieces or any kind of major dips from me going through and cutting that vertically and walking my guide back.
Razor Haircut Bowl Pixie with a Feather Plier Razor - Part 1
Okay so we've gone through and tried to take the exact same parting on the opposite side of the head and I'm going to work it the same way. I'm going to take the same sections which is going to be a small section at an angle right in the front.
I'm going to pull this out from the head, longer at the top shorter underneath and I'm going to try to make sure I get it the same length. So I'm going to take kind of a tight razor stroke, but then I'm going to go through and put some internal texture to it.
So it's going to give me a solid shape with separation as opposed to taking a really broad stroke and feathering the whole thing out. Start with my length in the front, work that back. After I do that section, I'm going to go through and channel each stroke as I go back to kind of make that separate into pieces.
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Nice tight stroke after I cut my length. I'm going to go through and put some internal texture to force that to separate into pieces and work that back. Now to try to match the sides when I'm using two different techniques it's going to be difficult so I'm not really too worried about it.
I'm just going to go through it, cut this side as if I was to cut it with a razor. I'll cut the other side as if I was to cut it with a scissor because that's what I'm doing and then we'll just compare the results.
This is not trying to make both sides look the same. Pull out forward, there's my length in the front. Work that down and through. Put me some internal texture into it.
Take this next section all the way down to the nape. Pin that hair out of the way. Take my previously cut section as a guide. Work that down and through and then a little bit of texture in each section.
Now my last section as I start to cross over the other side should be very little hair here to reach and I'm just going to make sure all of that blends through. A little bit of texture.
Scissor Bowl Pixie - Part 2
Alright, I'm going to start right here in the crown, take a vertical section, hold this out from the head, find my length from my graduation underneath.
Cut this up and out and through. Check my length. I want to make sure that this shape kind of bevels but I still build up some volume through there so by continuing the graduated line up and then just rounding it out I'll build up some fullness in the back.
I'll pivot using the center and the underneath length as my guide. Continue that up and out. I'm going to follow the same line up and out. Now this bevels the shape in the back and I have a nice smooth kind of shape.
Now we're going to start to pivot and work that into the front. There's the length from underneath as my guide. Pivot again. Hold this out. There is my length...oh watch out.
Now here once I hit the mastoid, I will start to disconnect the underneath and build up a little bit of length towards the front so this is more of just a guesstimate at where I want that length to go because I know on their front I'm getting this kind of length. So I want to keep that somewhere around the eyeball.
There's my guide underneath. Now you see our little fringe dropping out there so let's go ahead and start to bevel that shape a little bit through there. And that's not looking too bad, not looking too shabby.
Razor Pixie Bowl Cut Haircut with a Feather Plier Razor - Part 2
Now let's go through and pivot on the other side and I'm going to use a razor on this side. When I'm using a razor and I'm trying to get this kind of beveled shape I don't have to be so conscious about beveling the shape because the application of the razor will naturally bevel it anyway.
I have a little bit of my guide from my scissor side to give me kind of the pathway to cut on the razor side. After I go and cut each section I will then go through and put a little bit of a deep channel into each section that I'm going through and cutting.
Remove the previously cut hair. Move into my next section. Comb that up and out. Now let's go through put a little bit of texture in there. Here we go. Continue this until I run out of hair and clean up my line here a wee bit.
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Well, we can certainly see a difference between the two sides even though they were cut in the same pattern and following the same guides. So let's blow it dry take a look at it and analyze our end result.
Finished Pixie Bowl Cut with Bangs Look
Here's our finished look. It looks very mod to me kind of a mod 60s kind of thing, that kind of pixie bowl cut from the 60s. So right side all done with the scissors, blunt cut, no texturizing to it at all. And you can really see the shape is very solid. It builds out a lot of weight and solidity around the sides as it's working towards the front.
And then if we look at the razor side I went through and tried to do it exactly the same. You can certainly see there's a lot more softness to it, a lot less weight and a lot more texture to it.
Oh come here. How can you handle all that hair in your eyes? Well, that's amazing. Anyway, uh things to remember. The stronger deeper the stroke the more weight you're going to remove and the shorter it's going to feel.
When you're working blunt with the straight scissor with the Tokyo scissor you got to be really diligent to maintain exactly on top of your guide so you don't create any kind of lumpiness and waviness especially when you're transitioning from back into the front and building up this graduation that we put in horizontally.
Let me know which side you like better. You like the 60s blunt mob or you like the texture all kinds of wildness over here which is more a little punk rock. Let me know which one you like better.
Leave a comment below and check out the JATAI Academy. There's all kinds of great information on there that make you a better hairdresser and make you a better barber. Let us know what you'd like to see in the future, and we will catch you next time. Thank you so much!
Final Thoughts on Bowl Haircuts for Women or Men
Bowl cut hairstyles can cut with different tools to create different effects which will influence the final outcome. Additionally, there can be other nuances to the cut that can make it look very different from other versions. The beauty of this cut is that it's a low maintenance, versatile style that can work as a unisex short style.
Tutorial
Tutorial
If you're new to razor cutting or even if you're an advanced user, learning proper razor cutting techniques can take your razor skills to a new level. By using the best razor tools and products and getting professional education you can live your best life in the salon and give beautiful razor hair cuts to all your clients.
If you're looking to learn how to cut hair with a razor these cutting hair tips will get you on the path understanding precision hair cutting techniques that are clean and sound. In this video you will learn a razor cutting technique for clean cutting using 2 different razors.
Follow along with this technical deep dive on clean razor cutting techniques and the transcript below.
Razor Cutting Technique Tutorial:
Welcome back to Jatai Academy! Today we're going to be doing a technical deep dive on how to get a clean cut with a razor. So let's get started.
How to Hold a Feather Styling Razor (Guarded Blades)
First thing is how you're going to hold the razor. You can hold the Feather Styling Razor a lot of different ways. Now the benefit of using the Feather Styling Razor is it has a built-in guard so you don't have to worry so much about cutting yourself and also it's a completely rigid unit.
So you don't have any flex points in the middle to worry about if you don't have a good dexterity and control of your hand. A single unit like this will be a lot easier to control.
Now a lot of people will tend to hold it with their pinky or ring finger into the ring and the blade facing them when they're holding it. I tend to hold it the opposite way where I have the blade facing away from me and then I bend my fingers so that my knuckles make a right angle.
Now the blade is facing down. This allows me to keep my wrist straight and my elbow out from my body so I have a lot more dexterity. I find when I hold it this way I tend to drop my elbow and drop my wrist and it's harder for me to control when I'm dealing with small tight areas like in the nape.
So I hold it facing away from me. If you hold it facing towards you that's fine. The main thing is just make sure you have a solid grip on it. If you don't want to put your finger in the ring, you can put one pinky on one side, thumb on the other, three fingers and do the claw method where I still bend my fingers over.
And now I have my pinky and my thumb on the inside and my three fingers on the outside. The next thing is I want to make sure that my blade is very very sharp so with each haircut I'm going to use a new blade.
How to Remove and Replace Blades
Sometimes if they have finer hair I can use one blade on two haircuts. Sometimes if the hair is very thick and coarse I might need to use two blades on the same haircut. So I'm going to remove this, get the blade out.
I have the cartridge right here. I'll slide it right in. Easy to replace, brand new fresh sharp blade. The sharper the blade is, the less pressure I have to use to apply the razor to the hair to cut a clean line. If I want to cut a real clean one length type of shape, I'll comb everything clean from the root all the way through to my fingers.
How to Angle the Razor in the Hair
I get a nice tight grip on my fingers, lay that as close to the head as I can. I'll lay the blade flat and I will tilt the blade at a 45 ° angle. Actually, it's a little less than 45. I just want a nice pitch of the blade to where the blade is hitting the hair at an angle.
It doesn't have to be 45. 45 is probably too much so maybe we're going to do 28, 28 to 30 somewhere around there. I just want a nice pitch of the angle.
Brush down and you'll start to feel when you have the right angle for cutting with razor. It will be effortless to move that blade up and down and go through and cut that section all the way through. You notice I did not move my left hand. It stayed stationary. I only moved the razoring hand. Get that out of the way. If I pushed any hair out I'll go through clean that up.
So that's the first method for how to cut hair using a razor and cutting a nice clean line is just to lay the blade against the head, tilt it at a slight angle and a very very small razor stroke. The smaller the razor stroke the more blunt that your section is going to be.
The Unguarded Feather Plier Razor
Now if I wanted to move up and move to the Feather Plier which is a guardless razor. It has no guard on it. It's just a straight blade. I want to keep the same things in mind. First thing I want to replace the blade so that I know that it's sharp.
This comes in a little cartridge like this. On the bottom you can store the blade. Be careful when you pull that out, goes in the bottom, closes up, no problem. The top pushes out. I have a new blade revealed.
Line that into the ridges into the blade holder. And now I have a nice sharp fresh blade. The best way to hold this is to actually pivot to where it's at a 90 ° angle. I'll place that really really deep in my forefinger and my middle finger and then I'll push out towards my finger tip.
Cutting with an Unguarded Blade
Curling these three fingers in, my thumb rests here to keep that tight and my forefinger goes towards the tip of the blade. This way I can control how much of the blade moves with just my forefinger. Now we're going to go through and cut this blunt again.
Comb everything nice and clean and smooth. There's my line underneath, put the blade in, get a nice pitch. Real gently just move that across. Now I'm moving my whole arm because I don't want to arc the movement of the blade. I want the blade moving parallel to the hair.
Now I'm being very very careful and very mindful of the blade touching my skin. One thing that will help with that is I don't chase the hair. I comb everything into my finger. One thing you want to do when cutting hair with razor is to create a death grip with my finger so that the hair does not move.
The next step is to gently apply pressure. If I have to apply a lot of pressure, my blade's dull and I need to change it and I need to make sure that the hair is an optimal wetness. If the hair is too dry it's going to scrape and it's going to shatter the cuticle.
If it's too wet I'm not going to be able to see how clean my underneath guide is. Does that make sense? I'm not going to be able to see my guide from underneath because it's all going to stick together. I think that's probably a better explanation.
When I go to section I close my blade so I don't want any sort of mishap from me going through and sectioning each section. I close the blade every time.
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Razoring Technique for Movement
Now if I want to razor cut hair introduce movement, then I will use a different technique. I'll take my section, I'll hold it down. There's my guide from underneath. Now from here I will put the blade at the inside of my finger or at the tip of my finger depending upon which side that I'm going to cut and then I only move straight up and down as I cut from the inside of my finger to the outside of my finger.
Now there's a little trick here for how to razor cut hair that I want to bring to your attention and that is if I only use the tip of my blade every time I go through and cut, it's going to dull the tip of the blade very very quickly. So what I want to do is I want to be conscientious of that and use the entire length of the blade.
So what I'll do is when I come in here to cut this section, I'll cut at the back of the blade right here at the very root of it and as I move the blade up and down I'm also moving to the tip. So I start at the back and as I move I go towards the tip of the blade.
The best thing to do for cutting hair with a razor is to start at the back of the cutting razor and move towards the tip. That way I can keep a nice clean straight line by cutting interior going towards the front which is going to create movement but also it's going to keep my blade evenly sharp and it's going to dull at the same time.
I'm not going to over dull the tip and the rest of the blade is super sharp. And so by being mindful of my blade usage I won't go through blade so quickly. Now the benefit of using the Feather Plier Razor over using the Feather Styling Razor to cut hair is that the Plier I have much more fine control and dexterity and I can end up with a cleaner cut line.
This Feather Styling Razor is much safer and will give me a nice clean line but because it has the softening effect of the guard I can't get as clean of a line. So ultimately this Feather Plier Razor will give me a cleaner line.
Alright so we're going to comb everything down. I'll come in. Now here I don't go from the tip into the very root of the blade. I keep the tip to the middle of the blade when I'm working from the interior to the front on the right side of the head.
Come in, there's my angle and I slowly move about halfway through. I don't try to go all the way to the root of the blade because then it gets a little bit close to my finger and I don't have as much control.
So the way that I compensate for that is when I cut the left side instead of starting at the tip I will start at the base of the blade the root of the blade and go towards the middle.
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Now say that I come through and I cut something and it's a little longer, I can go through and clean that up by rolling my fingers over to create tension on the hair and being very gentle as I run the blade across the hair on top of my finger.
I have to be very very mindful to not use a lot of pressure and cut all the way through and then to cut my finger. It's a very very small stroke but it will allow me to clean up my line as much as I need to so those are the two fundamental ways of doing a razor cut where you get a clean line.
It's not always about just filleting the hair until it becomes string. Sometimes you want a nice solid shape but you want the softness of a razor. The razor give you a softness you can't get any other way. This is where the nuances of how to razor hair come into play. So let's finish this up and see how she looks when we're all done.
The End Results
I think we're looking pretty good this is our end result. Our whole goal was to try to get as clean a cut as possible using the razor. So I showed you how to do it on two different razors, the guard and the guardless. And I think it looks pretty good.
We got a nice clean line. We got a nice little bit of texture in the bottom of it. It's got a nice amount of movement to it and swing. I think I got her a little longer on the left side but I'm just going to have her walk around like that from now on so we're not going to pay attention to that.
But same thing on the bangs. I just held straight down and just cut straight across. These different cutting techniques for hair will hopefully help with your razor techniques in the future.
Please check out the Jatai Academy. There's all kinds of great information on there that will make you a better hairdresser and a better barber. And let us know what you'd like to see in the future and until then thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time.
This video is all about razor cutting. If you would like to learn more about scissor cutting such as point cutting and texturizing with scissors, go to Education Connect and in the filter for 'Select Tool,' choose 'Shears and Scissors.'
If you want to learn how to remove bulk from hair and how to cut with a razor building fundamental razor skills, check out the Razor Fundamentals Course.
For general videos on how to do different razored hairstyles such as razor cut shags, how to razor cut short hair or razor haircuts for fine hair, go to Education Connect and in the filter for 'Select Tool,' choose 'Haircutting Razors.'
Tutorial
Tutorial
Short vs. Long Razor Stroke: Razor Cutting Hair Techniques for Different Results
When learning different razor cutting hair techniques, it's fundamental to understand razor stroke, razor angle and hair tension. Razor cutting hair techniques for beginners include understanding the difference between a short and long razor stroke. In this video you will learn how to cut hair with a razor and how a short and long razor stroke give different results.
In the salon, these razor cutting techniques will help you create the desired look and styling effects you're going for so take these cutting tips and precision hair cutting techniques and incorporate your learnings into your haircuts.
Watch this tutorial video and follow along with the transcript in this article on how to razor hair.
Short vs. Long Razor Stroke: Razor Cutting Hair Techniques
Welcome back to the Jatai Academy. Today we're going to be doing a razor cut where we compare the differences between how to razor cut hair using a long broad razor stroke versus a very tight short razor stroke.
So we're going to start here on one side of the head. The razor used in this tutorial is our Feather Plier Razor which is a professional razor for hair cutting. And I'm going to show you how to hold it. We're going to put it deep between my forefinger and middle finger push the blade out towards my fingertip and use just my fingertip to give it some movement.
Short Tight Razor Stroke
I'm going to take my first section, determine my length overall and then start cutting from the center of the hairline all the way down towards the perimeter. And I'm going to take a very very tight razor stroke here.
I'm pulling everything forward and cutting straight up and down perpendicular so this is going to give me kind of a feathered look and that's what we're going to go for. And you'll be able to see the differences between a long stroke and a short stroke.
So I'm pulling everything forward using my center guide that I chose where it would fall on the face, pulling everything forward and just follow through with the cutting razor. Now the thing is when you're using a short stroke like this I want to maintain some consistency with my stroke.
And if you'll notice as I'm cutting I'm starting at the base of the blade, the part that's back towards my palm and slowly moving the blade towards the tips so that way I dull the blade evenly. Now in between every section that I take I'm going to close the blade and hide it so that I don't risk cutting myself or risk cutting the hair. These are great cutting hair tips to maximize the longevity of the blade and the razor.
So this is the elevation that I'm holding out for each section that I take. I'm going to pull it forward, get the right elevation, find my guide underneath, open up my blade. There's my guide and I'm just going to follow cutting directly on top of the guide.
Now here you'll be able to see as I start at the base of the blade cutting with razor and then move towards the tip of the blade so that it evenly wears out the blade. Because if I only use the tip it's going to dull the tip pretty quick and then I have the rest of the blade that's sharp and then I end up throwing it away. I'm going to check the result and make sure that we're looking good.
Now I'm going to continue to work back towards the head and I take a flat section of head that's going to determine my size of the section and you also see the elevation. So as I work back my elevation gets higher and higher and I'm pulling everything thing forward even right on top of the previously cut guide.
The only thing that changes is the elevation and the head shape is going to show me the elevation, combing everything clean from the root all the way out continuing a nice short stroke all the way through.
Continuing to pivot around the ear taking little flat sections to determine the size of my section and then I'm showing you the elevation. Now as I start to work towards the back you'll notice I tilt the model's head down so it makes it easier for me to get into that correct elevation.
There's my guide underneath. Start at the base of the blade then work out towards the tip as I work through my sections. A tight razor stroke is going to give me a much more solid shape.
So if someone has finer hair I may want to use a really tight stroke versus a really broad stroke and this type of method of me elevating as I work towards the back is actually going to cut a curved line shorter in the front gradually curving to longer length in the back. And just continuing to work all the way through.
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Continuing all the way back, just following the same methodology working my guides back, I'm going to pin some of this hair underneath out of the way so it doesn't get in the way, gives me less hair to work with and it makes it easier to control.
There's my elevation. Hold that up, take my razor, go through and cut that as smoothly and as consistently as I could all the way from the beginning to the end. That's not the smoothest razor action that I've ever seen myself do but you know we try to keep it as consistent as possible.
One thing as I'm watching this that would help is if I kept a consistent tension on it. Sometimes I notice I was allowing the tension to sag and that will make it a little bit harder to cut.
Continuing to pull everything up at elevation to continue this curved layering line from the front all the way to the back. Now this next section I don't think I'm going to have a whole lot of hair and I didn't. So here's our end result on the left side which is the short razor stroke.
Broad Long Razor Stroke
And now we're going to take a little piece right in the middle as our guide and I'm going to go through and follow the same sectioning patterns that I had on the left side on the right side. The only thing that's going to change is the broadness of my razor stroke.
So you can certainly see here how much broader that razor stroke is and how much softer of a line that I'm going to get. Now one thing that I have to really pay attention to when cutting hair with razor is that this side is going to have a lot more texture to it. It's going to feel shorter.
Even though the lengths will match up in the end, it's going to feel shorter because it has a more airy texture to it. So maybe take that into consideration as I'm cutting that I might leave it a little longer if I'm using a lot of texturizing and a broad razor stroke like this.
And also another thing is when I'm working through a broad razor stroke like this, the guide is a little harder to see. So I need to be particularly mindful to pay attention to where my guide is so I can stay on top of my guide.
Keep a broad razor stroke as consistent as possible. I don't want to have one part a little tighter stroke and the other part a little looser. I want to keep it as even as possible.
And now you'll see that I start to elevate the same as I did on the other side, just following whatever the head shape is. Broad razor stroke all the way through. Consistency is key.
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Continuing to pivot my partings as I go back using the flat parts of the head to determine the section width and then using the head shape to determine my elevation. Continuing to pull everything forward and up parallel to my parting and then following my guide from underneath.
And I'll keep going until I run out of hair. Checking my guide here, checking the side lengths to make sure that they're even. So that's how I would determine if both sides are the same.
As I cut one section, I can compare it to the exact same section on the opposite side of the head. And if it's the same, then I just keep moving on, keep working towards the back until I run out of hair.
Now since I'm using the Plier it doesn't have a guard so I have to be a little respectful of the blade and exercise care as I'm taking these real broad razor strokes. On the tight razor stroke, I think it's easier to control but a broad razor stroke sometimes I get a little too excited. So I have to be really mindful so I don't cut myself.
And here we've run out of hair and nothing's uh reaching up to my guide so now we've got our end result. I'm going to check both sides to make sure it's even and I got a little whisper there on the right right side but not looking too bad.
Final Results
As we go through and blow dry and polish everything off we can certainly tell the difference between the broad razor stroke side versus the tight razor stroke side. The tight side is going to be heavier and more solid.
The broad side is going to be much more airy and flicky and you can really see the difference. Both look good but really quite a difference between the two even though it's the same haircut.
Check out the Jatai Academy for all kinds of fantastic information including how to cut hair using a razor that'll make you a better hair stylist and barber. You can learn how to do different types of razor hair cuts as well as scissor cuts. We hope you enjoyed this class and that we can continue to be your source for haircutting education. Let us know what you'd like to see in the future thanks so much we'll see you next time!
A short stroke vs. long stroke when cutting hair with a razor can make a difference in your haircutting results. And using a razor to cut hair vs. scissors also makes a huge difference. This means there are many ways to cut hair just based on the tool used and the technique used. Learning how to cut with a razor is a useful skill that every hairstylist should know. Learning different cutting techniques for hair such as how to remove bulk from hair, how to texturize and create volume using a razor for cutting hair will give you the confidence you need to take your razor cutting to the next level.
Tutorial
Tutorial
Channel Cutting Hair for Internal Texture
If you're looking for hair thinning techniques cutting hair to remove weight or giving added texture, channel cutting is a good option. Channel cutting hair is great for cutting thick hair to remove weight and give movement. In this tutorial we will do a technical deep dive in to channel cutting. You will see the channel cut before and after to compare.
Channel Cutting Hair Tutorial:
Welcome back to Jatai Academy! Today we're going to be doing a study on internal texture. There's two different ways of texture: external, internal. Today we're going to study internal. So let's get started.
So we're going to start out with our one length bob. We got a little bit of graduation in the back but it's all pretty solid. The edges are nice and solid. It might have a little texture in the tips but very very little. So this is going to be our solid shape. So by going through and comparing how to internally texture and what effects that that's going to have on the shape, we're going to go through and break this down into different sections.
Creating Internal Texture Underneath
So we're going to start by going with some internal texturing underneath. Then we're going to compare what the shape looks like. Then we're going to go with some internal texture on our in between layer. And then we're going to go with some texture all over so we can see how the shape changes, how the movement changes and if that makes any kind of difference in the overall aesthetic of the shape and the silhouette.
I'm going to go through on damp hair because a razor slides better through damp hair and you have less risk of damaging it. I'm going to go through with my Plier, my Feather Plier. And this is a no guard razor.
So I'm going to hold it real deep, get good control over it. Now I'm going to tilt my head. Come on baby. Tilt for me. If I want to create some internal texture there's a couple of different ways I can do it.
One way is I can just comb the section out and with my razor just lay it broad stroke across the entire section and fillet like I'm filleting a fish so that I can remove some weight. But that doesn't create any kind of movement. I specifically want to work and see how channeling the hair affects the shape not just filleting it because all filleting is going to do is bevel the shape.
So I'm going to start right in the middle, put my razor in angle it at whatever angle I think and then I'll wiggle it so I make sure I am cutting and then I'll just channel all the way down to my tips of my fingers and I start to curl my fingers out of the way as I go through and do each section.
And that's going to create as you can see channel, channel, channel, channel. So that's going to force the hair to separate into pieces. I usually don't want to do this more than about half the length so from where it's about halfway down to the tip.
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If I go shorter I run the risk of it getting really pokey. So about halfway to the tip, curl my fingers out of the way and I've started to create my internal texture. Put my blade out of the way and then let's move on to the next section.
I'm going to go through and spray this so I keep all the hair nice and damp. Now as I go to razor my second section I want to section out my second section and keep it separated from my original section from my beginning section. That way I can only texturize the hair that's in my hand.
If I pick up the entire section and I'm using a guide so to speak, I'll run the chance of texturizing this again. So I'll go through open my razor, elbow up out of the way about halfway, channel that all the way down and through. The closer the gaps are the more hair that I'm going to remove. The further away the gaps are the less hair I'm going to remove and the more solid my shape is going to be.
Okay here's the third part of my last section. I'm going to separate that from the underneath sections that I already texturized. Keep this very organized and clean. Separate. Go right and through down to my fingertips pull my fingers out of the way and channel that through.
Now I can tell already um that my blade is getting a little dull. So the way I'm going to change my blade is I have my Plier Blades. My razor right here on this little lip I'm going to use that to force the blade up and out so that I can grab it. Now on the bottom I have a little flap. Slide the blade in, close the flap. Now here I'll push this out grab that and this will go right in here. Boom. New blade easy.
So now we've texturized section number one, the flat and the nape. So let's blow it dry and compare it to our previous which had no texture to it at all. So we've got everything blown dry. We've got um our first level of texturizing of channeling and it doesn't make a huge difference in the overall shape but it certainly changes how much movement that we're having from the nape area alone because usually the nape area tends to be the stiffest area.
So even just doing that one section you can already see how much more movement that that channeling is going to give us just from doing underneath.
Channel Cutting Internal Sections
Okay now we've taken our next section which is from the recession center of the recession straight back to the drop crown which is the bump between where the crown and the occipital bone lies. I took half of that so I don't work with too much hair at one time.
Then I'll go through and do the same thing. I'm going to take section out, the section that I'm cutting only not including previous hair that I've cut. Go through channel that down to my fingertips. Pull that down. Take that out. You can see gap, gap, gap.
Then I'll just continue that on until I run out of hair. Just following this around the front. Now I want to be mindful of how thick the hair is. The thicker the hair is the more channeling that I can get away with.
The thinner the hair is, obviously, I want to be more judicious in my application of my channeling and also I want to be mindful of when I get around the front I want to make sure I still have a solid piece around the front for this particular haircut.
I'll take my next section as I split that in half and pin that out of the way, comb this clean from the root out, take my razor about halfway all the way down to the very tips.
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Okay so now we've finished our second tier of channel texturizing so let's blow this dry and compare it to the previous two. Second level is done.
You can see certainly the texture now is starting to pop through but we still have a nice solid shape through here. And it hasn't really changed the overall shape. It's probably beveled the line and give it a little bit more of an appearance of graduation.
The biggest difference that I can see is that when I run my fingers through it now you start to see separation internally whereas before you only saw separation on the very tips.
Channel Cutting the Top Sections
Now we're going to go through and do our last two sections which is the entire top third of the head and I'm going to do the same methodology I was doing before. Go through channel that down through as evenly and as consistently as I can trying not to take too large of a section to overload my razor with hair.
I want to be able to control it and then that way I can evenly remove the same amount of hair with every section and create the same amount of texture. Alright, so now we finished that. Let's go through and blow it dry and compare all of our results.
Final Results
Let's brush through. Oh now you can really see the texture in it and the shape really coming to life and having quite a bit more movement to it than it had before. Even though the shape is the same, the internal texture of it is greatly increased. So let's compare the photos of each step of the way.
So the first was tier one with just texturizing in the nape. Also let's look at that compared to tier two which was internally and then three where it covers the entirety of the head. We got texture in the whole head and you can certainly see that the more texture that we add to it, the more separation that we're getting throughout the more movement that we're going to have but also the less solid the shape is going to be.
So for someone that has thinner finer hair maybe you don't want to do every tier maybe you just want to do underneath and a little bit of the second. For someone with a lot of hair maybe you want to do all of it. I think that was a pretty good study on how internal texture and tiers can really change your shape and create more movement.
Let us know what you'd like to see in the future. Also check out the Jatai Academy. There's all kinds of great information on there to make you better hair stylist and barber and we will see you next time. Thank you so much for checking it out!
Tutorial
Tutorial
How to Texturize Hair Using Scissors vs. a Razor on a One Length Bob
When it comes to texturizing hair there are multiple ways create it. To create texture using a tool, hair professionals can turn to either shears, thinning shears or razors. If you use one of these tools, it's important to learn various texturizing techniques. Each tool will give slightly different results.
In the salon, hairdressing can be challenging. You are constantly dealing with different hair types such as thin or thick hair, straight or curly and short or long hair. You must take into consideration the client's desires as well as the hair you are working with. These factors will help determine the tool used in adding texture to hair. This article will discuss how to texturize hair with some of the best tools on the market.
But first, what is textured hair? Hair with texture is one with volume and shape. This could come in the form of movement, body, airiness, curls or waves. Learning how to get more texture in hair is multi-faceted and there are many factors to consider when doing so.
In this video, Russell Mayes, Director of Content for Jatai, gives us a run down on how to texturize hair in a one length bob using scissors versus a razor. By understanding the different techniques and the results they give, this can help you decide the best technique to use with your clients to create texture. You can follow along and view the video or read through the transcript below. Enjoy!
How to Texturize Hair Using Scissors vs. a Razor on a One Length Bob Tutorial:
Today we're going to be doing a study in texture and how to create textured hair. What's the difference between texturizing with a scissor versus texturizing with a razor? Let's get started.
I've already gone through and cut everything one length. So that's going to give me the simplest shape that I can really see the texturizing pop and the variations between the two. So I'm going to go through and deep point cut with the scissors the entire right side of the head and use some thinning scissors to thin it out where I feel like it's too heavy.
And then on the right side of the head I'm going to use my Feather Plier and go through and channel some texture into it and that will also remove weight where I feel that I need to and create separation.
Texturizing Hair with a Scissor
So we're going to start right here on the right side of our section of the nape which is the occipital to the mastoid. I'm going to use my Jatai Kyoto Scissors. This is the sharpest scissor that I have and so it's going to be easy for me to apply a deep point cut without having to fight it.
I'm going to comb everything straight down and about halfway through I'm going to comb this right against my fingers to kind of flatten that section out and get it real straight and then I'm going to go through and just point cut real deep. I'm not keeping the scissor completely 100% parallel with the hair.
I want to go through and cut it at an angle so I can create some separation and some pieciness to it. Now whenever I go through and do a deep point cut like this I'm basically only adding texture to the bottom 2 or 3 inches of the section.
Now from here I'll continue on taking parallel sections as I go up the head. And one thing that I want to be mindful of is to not pick up my previously cut section. I don't want to go through and overly texturize hair that I've already gone through and cut and texturized.
I don't want to take too thin a section. If I take too thin of a section I won't be able to see how much that I'm actually taking out so I want a thick enough section that I can actually see my channel point cutting going through.
Each section I will cut, I will cut independently of any other section so I have no guide. Each section is cut strictly by feel. If if I need to I'll ribbon that section together go through, cut that up and in. And I'm going to continue my sections until I run out of hair.
Now we're coming to the last section. Now for areas that I feel like are too thick I can change up my approach by either going through re-sectioning standing up and going through and cutting through but it's not very easy to control when I do that.
On the bottom it you don't have to have that much control but when you're working internally you need more control. So in that case where I need more control over how much hair I'm thinning I'm going to use my Jatai Tokyo Thinning Scissors. This way I can control exactly how much I take and exactly where I'm taking it from and I can choose if I want the texture blade on top of the section or on the bottom.
If I go through and use the cutting blade on top it'll be a little bit more seamless so that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go through take a vertical section, point cut about halfway through. Where it gets longer I may hit it twice. That way I can thin without leaving any kind of scissor marks at all and I can also be much more in control of where I take my hair from and how much I take.
Like right here there's less hair. Here there's a little bit more so I'll take a little bit more. This section there's very little through here but just a little bit underneath so I'll take there. And I'm going to go through and do this to all the sections. I will take a larger section and since I'm taking it vertical it'll be easier for me to control than if I take a real fine small horizontal section.
Pull that straight out. Little bit there. A little bit more. A little bit more. A little bit more. Where it's thicker I'll take more. I'll hit it more times. Where it's not as thick, I won't take as much.
On the top I don't want to run the risk of any kind of alfalfa sprig sticking up so I will never texturize more than about halfway through the section. If I start texturizing up here close I run the risk of that sticking up. Now that's texturized for thinning to even out the thickness and point cutting on the bottom.
Texturizing Hair with a Razor
So now let's learn how to make hair textured with a razor. On the razor side I'm going to go through and use a little bit of Jatai Blade Glide to help my razor slide through the hair more effortlessly.
So now I'm going to use my Feather Plier Razor which is a guardless razor and I'm going to go through comb this section straight down just like I did on the other side but instead of point cutting up I'm going to razor cut and channel some of this out and take out as much hair as I feel that I need to.
Now with this method I will actually thin and separate at the same time where the other side with the scissor I had to go through and do both independently. I will not channel more than about halfway through the length of the section.
I could probably get away with it more underneath than I can on top which sometimes I will actually go through and thin it deeper if I feel that the hair is so overly thick and really really stiff. Now I'm going to continue taking parallel sections as I run up the side of the head. Start in the center of the back and then work towards the front.
Close the blade each time so I don't end up cutting any hair or cutting myself. Get that out of the way. Now as I'm going through and channel cutting this I want you to notice that I'm starting with the tip and then I will go in and that way I use the entire length of the blade not just the tip of the blade.
I don't thin this very very front piece here. I'll thin the hair just behind it. Now I'm just going to continue on and do the same thing until I run out of hair being mindful to not pick up hair underneath as I texturize each subsequent section.
Now let's see if we can tell a difference while it's wet. Oh yes the scissor side is going to be a little bit well actually it's a lot more solid than the razor side. And it's heavier. It doesn't have the same amount of movement to it that the razor side has but let's blow it dry, take a look at it, see how we're doing.
Final Look
We've got our lovely model blown dry and now let's compare the differences between the side done with the a scissor and a thinning scissor versus the side done with the razor where you channel cut it and controlled the weight at the same time. You can really see the differences with dry hair.
Now on the right side you can certainly tell when I run my fingers through it it still has this nice solid shape and the texturizing is a very soft diffused kind of separation. I still have a good solid strong shape. It creates a lot of movement to it but it still has that solid one length shape and it just bevels my one length shape.
So sometimes a one length bob can look very very blunt and broom like. So by going through and doing it this way I certainly bevel that but at the same time I keep it really straight. And most of the movement and texturizing is in the bottom two inches of the hair.
Even though I went through and texturized internally it was more of an even diffused thinning where I get the separation underneath. Now if I look at my razor side you can certainly tell when I run my fingers through this I've got a lot more separation of texture from the center all the way down through the ends and it forces it to separate into pieces much more prevalently than the other side.
So when would I use one over the other to texture hair? Say for instance that I have somebody with very very thick but fine textured hair, I'm definitely using the razor. If I have someone with thinner hair that I want to maintain a solid shape and I just want to soften the edges, then I'll use a scissor for it.
If I have hair that has a fuzziness in the texture, I'll definitely use a scissor and a thinning scissor for it because I can get my thinning and control without any fear of it exploding the cuticle.
Now there are other texturizing techniques such as twist cutting but it's not covered here. Click this link to see a video on twist cutting. While you can also create texturized hair by using chemical sprays or dry shampoos, cutting the hair with either a shear or razor can make texture last for a longer period of time. Sprays can leave build-up over time if they are not washed off thoroughly. Take care when using texturizing sprays and don't over use them.
We hope you learned something about how to add texture to hair and it's useful for you in the salon. Even though this was done on a one length bob, these techniques can be done on longer or shorter hair as well. A bob is just the simplest shape for this demonstration.
If you enjoyed this video, you can see our other videos in Jatai Academy's Education Connect where we have hundreds of videos to learn from. There are also a number of other videos that show you how to texturize hair in other ways. You can also shop any of our products from our store. We hope to see you again soon.
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