I need some advice with haircutting

[trixy_20]

I have been going to school now for 6 months and I went through all my classes: hair,nail, and facials. Well now I am out on the floor for good until I graduate but I am TERRIFIED to do the haircutting. I dont know how to get over that fear and just do it. I feel as if I didnt get enough training in the classroom to do haircutting on actual people PLEASE HELP.
Brittany

 

[minky]

I have been going to school now for 6 months and I went through all my classes: hair,nail, and facials. Well now I am out on the floor for good until I graduate but I am TERRIFIED to do the haircutting. I dont know how to get over that fear and just do it. I feel as if I didnt get enough training in the classroom to do haircutting on actual people PLEASE HELP.
Brittany

Hi , first take a deep breath and relax those shoulders, now breathe ,

First things first , do you know all your angles ?
if not go get your book and draw all the diagrams of the cutting angles,

once you have this firmly in your mind cutting is just a simple hand action ,


if the customer tells you to take off an inch always take off a bit less, than what they say
that way you cant go wrong ,
keep checking with the client as you are working ,

The fringe area is the area to look out for take little bits off at a time and tell your customer you are going to do this until she is happy with the amount taken off ,
always leave the fringe area a lot longer if it is wet as it always dries a lot shorter , you can always nip a little off at the end of the cut,

Once you have refreshed all the above things you will feel more confident
Just pretend you are an actor hairdresser and you have learned about cutting and you have studied all your lines and books ,
stop and say to yourself, out loud Now let me think ,
and do just that! think
think about the face shape, think about what would suit the face shape, give the customer a very full, consultation , write it down , use all the guidelines on client consultation, and it will then all come together,
and let yourself be guided by the guidelines ,
keep checking with the client ,


Always have a back up plan eg:
if you really do panic just follow the last cut and take off a smaller amount than what the client wanted , then cut the fringe last after its blow dried,

you can always trim off a bit more afterwards :hug:
now go study some more on the above guidelines and consultation and it will all be fine,
good luck hope this helped


ps a little rescue remedy at first may help calm you so you can think more clearly, :hug: x

.

 

[JDs]

I had a student in my salon a few months ago finishing up her school hours with me.
He hubby is military and requires a high an tight. She was terrified of clipper cuts on guys.



When ever one of my clients came in that required a clipper, I handed them to the student and we discussed the angles, hair thickness etc before she started.

by the end of the month she was whipping those clipper cuts outs like a pro.
She came in with her hubby on her last day and sat him down and cut his hair. I supervised it. At the end, she caught me in the back room and gave me a hug, saying that , that was the very first time she had ever cut his hair without crying.

Moral of the story..practice practice practice. Take Minkys advice and memorize the angles, 45 degree, 90 degrees, 0 degrees.

One thing that I have always remembered from cosmetology school is you must always repeat back and clarify what the client wants. I had one male client in beauty school that said he wanted his hair cut over his ears. I thought he meant UP over.. he meant DOWN over. Boy was he pissed!!

So always repeat back what the client is saying.
This way you will never go wrong.

and always remember: You can always take MORE off..you just can't put it back on if you cut it too short, so keep it on the longer side at first.:wink2:

 

[minky]

Hi, JDs that is so funny LOL :lol: Ill bet it wasn't for you at the time though,

I was cutting a mans short back and sides in college and he moved while I was cutting the arches over his ears with the shears , ,
Well by the time I had finished he had arches over his ears that were big enough to walk through, LoL,


and my Mum bless , had a wonderful spiky Hedgehog cut at one point ,

Trixy , The people that get their hair done at the college understand you are only learning, and they know you all have to learn to cut hair , so dont worry too much, and don't be too hard on yourself hun , we have all made mistakes whilst learning , :hug:

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[Jeni Giles]

There's not a thing I could add- oh wait..remember to breathe!!

 

[JDs]

LOL Yeah minky, that lesson has stuck with me for 26 years now. I ALWAYS go and repeat back to the client what I think they are saying.

the most recent boo boo which was not all my fault was a client who has a very tall forehead, I was cutting her fringe and we were chatting...I got done and looked at her fringe and cringed!! She had been raising her eybrows the whole time and I was cutting to her eyebrows as my guide, Her fringe was half way up her forehead!!!!
We still laugh about that one.

Trixy, You will make mistakes...I still do. But you have got to tell yourself that you are good at what you do, You are a Professional but still human. So expect mistakes. Hopefully they won't be as bad as the one that I did back in cosmetology school.

And you can always say....."Thank God Hair Grows!!"

 

[trixy_20]

Well I have the next two days off of school but I will try all the things you all have gave me advice to do. Thank you soo much you helped me already just by telling me what to do. I really do appreciate it. I go to school on tuesday so I will let you know how everything goes. And thanks for letting me know that even professionals make mistakes that makes me feel better. THANK YOU