Trending Haircut: Pompadour with a Twist

For a client who’s looking for a new cut this season, explore the Pompadour with a Twist.

Patrick Butler, Technical Director — Education/Operations at Floyd’s 99 Barbershop, explains how to get the look:

“A traditional Pompadour features a tall, smooth shape that relies on product to keep it in place. The updated shape we’re focusing on leans into natural curl and takes a loose approach that uses product to support rather than dominate.

The haircut that lays the foundation uses a tapered neckline to create a distinct shape that controls the curl and builds the height that is needed on top. The sides and top build the shape up to pay tribute to a traditional pompadour.

This shape was cut entirely with scissors. The bottom half of the head, underneath the temples and under the crown, was cut with vertical sections. Cutting vertically will allow you to collapse the shape which will decrease weight and avoid a rounded look. Underneath the occipital bone we angled our sections towards the neckline to remove bulk and create a collapsed shape in back. 

As we moved to the top of the head, we used horizontal sections to keep the length at the highest point of the head. We over-directed the front hairline back to ensure we could keep all of that amazing length for styling. We let the natural curl do its thing which meant that we did not need to go back in and texturize. 

Instead, we used a Texture Powder on dry hair to get the lift we needed to enhance the pompadour shape. We then went back through and took a Styling Cream through various sections to add definition and to give more hold.

This shape works well on someone who has natural wave, but could easily work on anyone with straighter hair as well. Mix things up and give a classic shape a “twist!”