It might not feel like it, but the back-to-school bell is about to ring for salons and stylists across the country. Soon, students spanning pre-K to pre-teen to college prep (and their parents, in many cases) will seek out a great stylist to deliver a fresh new look, along with tips, tricks and personal lesson plans on how to maintain an A+ look.

Your customers want an authentic look that helps them express themselves. You want to offer new skills, while keeping your work simple and quick, especially for the younger folks in your chair.

Now’s the perfect time for a pro stylist to brush up on what’s truly new in salon style and how to deliver it.

So, what’s trending? Think clipper cuts and haircuts with long layers. Two on-trend haircuts can help you flex your skills and empower you to serve a whole new generation of evolving personal styling needs and preferences.

About Empowered Evolution

The Empowered Evolution by Great Clips collection, as taught by the talented Great Clips, Inc. Education Services Team through the Great Clips Academy, features two haircuts – a clipper cut and a long, layered haircut, both designed to be customized to the individual.

These two haircuts empower your customers — and you, too! — to go bolder with strong angles and fresh texturizing techniques. They can be cut on anyone and are easy to customize. As you practice and learn, you’ll also put a personal spin on both haircuts with tailored and efficient cutting techniques of over-direction, diagonal partings and a strong foundation. 

Long Layers

Easy, flattering, and appealing to all who prefer longer locks.

• Pro-to-pro: The long, layered haircut introduces cutting on an angled plane for customizable over-direction, symmetrical layering, a V-shaped outline, plenty of movement in the front sections. Plus, you’ll use invisible layering and internal texture to make the look truly “theirs” (and yours).

• Customer/parent consultation: If your customer loves having longer hair, share with them that this look combines face-framing layers for texture and movement with invisible layers for fullness and bounce.

The Clippered Hard Part

What could be easier or smarter? A clipper cut that incorporates a fixed part line with a longer and textured top is a great, universal style.

• Pro-to-pro: The clipper cut balances symmetry on a round shape with an asymmetrical part, heavy disconnection, angled clipper cutting for optimal fading, and texturizing blending techniques designed to work with any hair type.
  Customer/parent consultation: If your customer – or their parent – is looking for a simpler haircut that can save time in the morning, this haircut is easy to manage and looks great.

Always Trending: 4 More Back-to-School Basics

While many customers and parents appreciate a stylist who stays up to date on the latest trends, others are looking for more classic looks to boost confidence heading into the new school year.

Here are four more hairstyles any kid can rock, with tips on how you can share them with customers: 

• Shoulder Length Lob: This sweet haircut makes styling a breeze with endless ways to rock it. You can encourage customers to accessorize for a fun touch, or easily clip it back for on-the-go.
  

• Short and Side-Swept: This look is great for customers who want to be effortlessly stylish. While juggling lunch, backpacks and more on those early school mornings, a low-maintenance haircut can be their best friend. 
  

• Curly Shag: You can help your customers embrace natural hair texture and beat frizz with the curly shag hairstyle—a great way to amplify texture, with shorter layers and face-framing pieces.
  

• Classic Bangs: Bangs are timeless, effortless, and work with any length of hair. Whether the preferred length is short, long or somewhere in between, bangs rock a look with minimal styling effort.

Ready to Learn and Earn? 

If all this talk about education has you motivated to empower and evolve yourself, the Great Clips Academy, available to stylists working in an independently owned Great Clips salon, is ready to welcome you. The blended learning program combines online courses and in-person training for stylists for a comprehensive, customizable experience for stylists employed by independent franchisees.

Already a Great Clips stylist? Ask your franchise or manager to register you for an Empowered Evolution session to learn the long layers and clippered hard part haircuts. 

If the idea of learning the latest trends and accessing the best in continued education and stylist development on an ongoing, career-building basis sounds appealing, start the process of checking out the salon opportunities at Jobs.GreatClips.com.