Cut Hair Better, Immediately: Tip #4 of 10

Tip number four on my list of the things you can do RIGHT NOW to be a better haircutter is to use comb teeth properly. Combs have different tooth spacing for good reason. The reason is hair texture and control. The reason is tension.  Thin, fine teeth allow for applying maximum tension to hair sections. Big, wide teeth apply little tension to the hair allowing hair to lay, fall and go where IT wants as opposed to where the haircutter wants it. Knowing when to use tension and when to let hair flow on its own will improve your haircuts immediately.

Use thin, fine teeth on a standard cutting comb for control. When precision sectioning, graduating or elevating hair, tighter tension allows for building cleaner, stronger shapes. If you pick up a razor, pick up a wide-tooth comb. The texture of razor-cutting lends itself to the loose fall and feel of hair cut with minimal tension. Razor-cutting with a fine-tooth comb defeats the purpose of all that texture just as micro-fine precision sectioning and tight tension is undermined with wide-tooth combs.

A wide-tooth comb is ideal for point-cutting when you are breaking up hair shapes to create looks that lack weight and seek to move with fluidity. A fine-tooth comb is a better choice for shear-over-comb tapering on finer hair textures. A wide-tooth comb is the tool of choice for blending shear work on all textures.

There are as many comb choices as there are clients and haircutters. The best way to learn to make better comb choices is to watch what other haircutters are using, on whom they are using them and what results they are getting. Also, do some of this same experimentation yourself. The right comb in the right situation will make you a better haircutter immediately.

Happy haircutting!

Ivan