I was a little nervous, but I do know lots of people have done it and loved it. But for my first time, I wanted it to be with someone who knew what they were doing.

I'm talking about a razor cut, btw.

My fine, prone-to-be-frizzy hair had always avoided going under the knife, but an invitation to have a cut with Nick Arrojo, a master with the blade, was just the nudge I needed to get over my razor reluctance.

While in his chair, I took the opportunity to interview Arrojo as he celebrates 25 years of his eponymous brand.

MODERN SALON: What inspired you to begin working with a razor? Did anyone teach you?

NICK ARROJO: No, I taught myself and evolved the technique over the years. I realized that cutting tools are like different artistic mediums. You can create a picture with pencil, watercolor or oil, but each medium produces a different feeling.

To me, a razor is like sketching, while scissors are more architectural. They create different kinds of movement and flow.

I’ve cut thousands and thousands of heads of hair, so experimentation is important. It keeps you inspired and motivated. You don’t learn one thing and stop. You learn something and then continue evolving it.

MS: Did you pick up the razor because you were worried about becoming stuck creatively?

ARROJO: No, it wasn’t really about losing my enthusiasm. It was about adding another tool to my toolbox.

After leaving Vidal Sassoon, I went to work for Wella and became one of the heads of its education team. I created a course called Style Freedom, which focused on razor cutting.

At Sassoon, we used to say that as long as you have something sharp, you can do anything. But the Sassoon philosophy was built around precision scissor cutting. Razor cutting couldn’t really evolve within that system because it would have gone against the company’s core philosophy.

Once I left, I had the freedom to experiment. Ten years of scissor cutting had given me a strong technical foundation from which I could explore something new.

MS: How does your approach to razor cutting differ from what many hairdressers are taught?

ARROJO: A lot of razor education involves a guarded razor with a straight blade, and the techniques tend to focus on texturizing.

I don’t use a razor only to create texture. I use it to develop shape, balance, structure and density. Again, it isn’t better than scissor cutting. It’s just another language.

Razor cutting sometimes gets a bad reputation because people aren’t properly trained. I tell my clients that if they visit another salon, they shouldn’t automatically ask that hairdresser to use a razor just because I used one.

Every hairdresser speaks a different technical language. We come from different backgrounds and have different ideas. We can become very fixed in those ideas, but one perspective isn’t necessarily better or more correct than another. They’re simply different.

FINAL WORDS

As Arrojo looks to the future: "We will be continuing to innovate in the areas where we’ve always been strongest: products, education and professional craft. We’re developing the next generation of American Wave, a natural, sustainable waving lotion with next-generation performance. We believe the move toward natural texture and movement, supported by more sustainable products, is going to be a major trend. We’ve also expanded education into digital learning as we look for new, friction-free ways to give hairdressers the tools and opportunities to build successful careers. At 25 years, I don’t see this as the finish line. It feels much more like the beginning of the next chapter."