Face Framing Haircut: Start Below the Jawline (Avoid This Mistake)

Duration: 7:52 1151 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

The video provides a detailed tutorial on executing a face framing haircut that begins specifically below the jawline, emphasizing precision and technique over speed. The instructor advocates for using very small sections during this demonstration primarily to facilitate teaching and allow for clearer explanations of each step; however, in an actual salon setting with experienced stylists, slightly wider or thicker sections are acceptable as long as the guide remains visible throughout the cut. A critical aspect discussed is determining the initial length by observing where the hair naturally falls from the hand before making the first snip, a method that helps establish the baseline for the rest of the haircut while ensuring the desired shape and flow are achieved immediately. A significant portion of the lesson focuses on understanding elevation in three-dimensional space rather than viewing it as a simple two-dimensional up-and-down movement. The instructor clarifies that starting at zero degrees does not mean holding the hair flat against the scalp all the way to the floor, but rather maintaining an angle relative to the head's curvature so that the guideline remains consistent across different areas of the round surface. To achieve this consistency, stylists must adjust their body position and shoulder alignment to remain parallel with each new parting line, which helps in creating a seamless transition as they work around the head shape without introducing unwanted elevation changes too early on. As the cut progresses toward the temple area and moves away from the stylist's direct view, slight adjustments are made by lifting the hair slightly while continuing to follow the established zero-degree guideline relative to the changing contour of the skull. The instructor advises against bringing up all the hair underneath the parietal ridge immediately, suggesting instead that this lower section be addressed later in the process to avoid creating unnecessary weakness or thinning in those specific areas. Additionally, maintaining a saturated head is highlighted as essential for consistency; if the mannequin dries out during the session, it becomes difficult to maintain uniform tension and line placement, which can lead to uneven results that are hard to correct once cut too short. The video concludes with practical advice on resource management, specifically recommending against using up an entire training mannequin in a single haircut since these tools represent a significant investment for students learning the craft. The instructor shares personal experience about how they used to rush through full cuts when money was less of a concern but now prefers to perform smaller, incremental cuts that focus on mastering technical theory and specific sections before moving forward. This approach not only extends the life of training materials but also encourages learners to deeply understand the mechanics of hair cutting rather than simply following patterns blindly, setting them up for long-term success in their professional careers.

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I like to start my face frame right below the jawline. The way that we're going to work our partings and sectionings is going to be diagonal back. So, we'll work through the head this way. Um, for this particular face frame, I'm going to take really small sections throughout this haircut. Uh, really the reason is just for teaching and have more talking points with you guys. In the salon, I would do a little bit wider or a little bit thicker sections as long as I could see my guide through it. Now, the first thing obviously we want to figure out our length. The way that you determine the length is you're going to look at kind of where it's going to fall from my hand. So, I'll get an idea by holding the hair of where it's going to fall and how I want it to be. And then I can kind of just eyeball it to get my first cut in there. Now, elevation on this first section isn't that important, but if we want to be really consistent, which is what will make us great haircuts, um I'm really just taking this almost at a zero degree angle. And a lot of you guys are probably scratching your head right now thinking zero degree to me is like this all the way down to the floor. That's if you're looking at this as a two-dimensional object. Um and you're just up and down, right? But we're working on a round surface. So the 90° point on the head changes as you move up the head shape. So just because I'm saying this is 0 degrees right now doesn't mean that when I pull hair from all the way back here and hold it down here that that's 0 degrees. And that's something that you need to understand. That's something I want to really drive home in this class is that as we move across the head shape we are going to shift um our elevation to match this zero degree angle. So right here, I bring the hair out. I'm going to scoop it underneath just for control. I look at where that hair is going to fall. I would error, especially if you're new to this, on it being a little long, right? Because once you drop it down and it's too short, there's nothing you can do about it. If you drop it down and it's too long, you can always just take a little bit more off and you'll have a little bit better gauge on it. But keeping the hair there, nice tension. Our body position. So you can see me here. Our body position is as we take this hair out. My shoulders, I want them to be parallel to the parting. So just like this, parallel to the parting. I bring it towards me and I cut my line. Gonna extend my elbow out to follow that line all the way through. But that's the line that we're working with. Shoulders parallel to the parting, parallel to the cut. Work through, cut your line, drop the hair down. Once I comb that out because of that overd direction, you start to already see the angle forming in the haircut. So now what I'm going to do, I'm going to drop down my panel. Take another parting. I'm actually going to go a little less because I don't want to take in that temple area yet. We'll talk about that next. Just like this. Comb this hair nice and tight and away. This is something I want to challenge you guys, especially being a part of this academy now, is to really keep everything nice and clean and out of the way as you're working on the head. So, here, bring the hair over. I'm going to keep everything nice and saturated, too, as I work because again, consistency is what we're going to preach here. And if it starts to dry up, you get less consistency in the haircut. You start pushing lines a little bit. You can see here. Mark it down. There's my guideline. And there's not much elevation change at this point because the head shape hasn't changed too much yet. We're still here. Still at 90. Still taking this at zero. See? Still building that line. Okay. Now, we're going to get into the temple area here. I'm not going to worry too much about the hair that's underneath the parietal ridge. Uh the reason for that is because I'll take that in my last bit and I'll shift it around, but I want to keep that at a nice low elevation. I don't need to bring it all the way up here um and create a weak too much of a weakness um on the weight that's underneath the parietal ridge. So basically I'll take my line take my parting here and I'll go down but then the hair that I bring over I'll let that parietal ridge fall out. Now the head shape is starting to work its way back and away from me. So, instead of being here, I'm just going to slightly lift it up. Scoop underneath for control. Go. I'm just going to continue through A little more elevation. And then the last bit. And another little tip for you guys, this isn't really about a face frame, but this is about a brand new mannequin. Um, and to make your mannequins last because I know that these are not cheap. So, if you're buying them to train with, I always recommend just doing little cuts at a time and understand kind of work your mind through the technical side, the theory of hair cutting, and not just go in and cut bangs right away. I did that a lot uh when I didn't care about money back in the day. Um, but now as I get a little bit older, I'm just thinking about things a little bit different now. So, not trying to use up this entire mannequin in one one haircut. That's pretty much it. If I wanted to lighten up this just a little bit, I can slide through it. Don't need to do too much of that. All right, guys. So, I hope you enjoyed this class, [music] Monday Academy. We're back here every Monday with a new class for you guys. Thank you to everyone out there that is a member of the class. Let me know if you have questions. Make sure you post them >> [music] >> uh throughout the app, the school app. And also make sure you're sharing your work or asking questions or whatever. I want you guys to get the most out of this academy as possible. So until next time, guys, I'll see you on Monday. [music]