How to Ask for a Great Haircut

June 17, 2010, By Jeffrey Weeks 0 comments

Going to a salon these days can be very confusing for a guy. The terms used by stylists can cause perplexity and misunderstandings - never a good thing when talking about your hair. The best way to leave a salon with the haircut you want is to make sure you grasp the lingo your stylist is using beyond shampoo, cut and blow-dry.

Hair Style Terms

Layering. The term that causes the most confusion between men and their stylist is layering. Many men assume that a layered cut is a specific cut, when layering is a term used for any cut that isn't a blunt cut. Layering is the technique that adds levels to your hair. Layering can be performed throughout the entire haircut, although many people ask for layering in the front for a face-framing effect.

Texturing. The process of texturing involves using a razor or scissors to remove bulk and deal with loose ends, but still gives your hair a healthy look with body and shine. Generally, when you talk to your stylist about texturing, you are talking about giving your hair a little character by either emphasizing or augmenting your natural hairstyle.

Feathered cut. Feathering is a texturing method performed on layered hair to create lighter, wispy ends and to remove mass from specific areas. Feathered cuts aren't just for guys with longer hair. In fact, a feathered cut can be used on any hair length since the stylist simply adjusts the slant of the texturing to compensate for shorter lengths.

Blunt cut. Blunt cutting means cutting sections of hair straight across. This is a fine cut for many men, and in some cases a blunt cut actually fits perfectly with the shape of one's face. For other men, particularly those with naturally thick hair, a blunt cut may leave too much volume and thickness. Some guys go with a blunt cut during the winter but choose a feathered or tapered look in the summer.

Tapered cut. This style is usually done with electric clippers, layering and clipping hair progressively shorter down toward the nape of the neck to give a guy a fresh, crisp look. The degree a hair stylist tapers your hair can range from a slight tapering to a style in which the hair around your face and ears is completely shaven.

Trimming. Trimming denotes cutting very little or only cutting around the back, top or sides. This is a hair maintenance term for when you are happy with your current hairstyle and just want it shaped back to the way it was the last time you visited the salon.

Undercutting. When a stylist undercuts, they cut the hair around the neck shorter than the rest of the hair on the back of the head. This will prevent the hair from sticking out in the neck area if you are a guy with naturally curly hair.

Coloring and Highlights

Many men today are choosing to add color to their hair, either to change their look or to go for a more youthful appearance. These are the most common terms you will encounter when talking to a stylist about coloring or highlighting.

Single process. Blanketing the entire head of hair with one color. This is how you go from having brown hair to being a redhead.

Touch-up. A touch-up colorization is done three to four weeks after your single process color and deals with your natural hair regrowth, augmenting your initial colorization.

Highlights. This is a much more subtle process than a coloring, simply using foils to create lighter shades of your basic hair color. Highlighting is a simple process that comes off looking a lot more natural than it sounds.

Highlight touch-up. As with coloring your hair, if you highlight it you'll need to be back in within four weeks to deal with regrowth.

Lowlights. This follows the same procedure as highlighting, except instead of making lighter pieces, darker pieces are the result. This is generally done in conjunction with highlights for men who want a bolder effect.

Striping/freehand highlight. This is a less dramatic form of highlighting that can either be used subtly or to stand out with a stripe highlight.

Toner/glaze/gloss/shiner/overlay. These all mean the same thing — a color product is used to alter the tone of your existing hair color, creating the effect you want.