Dry curly haircut - how?!

Annika · 05-30-2007, 10:03 AM

For those of you who are lucky enough to have found a good hairdresser who knows how to cut curly hair properly:

I keep reading about dry haircuts, but I'm curious of more exactly how they do it? Quite obviously they can't comb and cut thin sections like they do with straight/wet hair (we all know all too well what curly hair looks like if combed when dry), but how do they do it? Do they just cut on the outside like if they were trimming a hedge?

Up to now I have always cut curly hair wet, because it's easier to handle, then give it a finishing touch after it's dried, once I see what the curls want. I never use thinning shears or razors on curly/wavy hair, always the sharpest scissors. I cut tunnels to give separation and lightness. This works really well, but I'm not satisfied with "well", I want perfect!

CurlyQTPie · 05-30-2007, 02:42 PM

When my hair was cut dry, she picked up individual curls and cut them and then looked at the shape and moved other ones. She did have a comb, but she never combed my hair. Combing my 3b curls dry would have totally messed up the curl patter and just made my hair HUGE. The type of cut was called a "Deva" created by Lorraine Massey and the rest of the CG folks. HTH

Annika · 05-30-2007, 02:49 PM

Thanks a lot! That sounds pretty much like what I do after I have dried the hair, even though it's completely against what I was taught in beauty school - out of five teachers there was one who understood curly hair (he had curly hair himself, go figure!), and his ideas were generally frowned upon by the other teachers. It's a shame that there aren't more professionals who understand the importance of paying attention to the shape and curl pattern!

spacegirl · 05-30-2007, 04:19 PM

Lorraine Massey (who CurlyQTPie mentioned) has classes where she teaches the Devachan way to cut hair. I was a model at one of them and she described cutting curly hair like pruning a topiary. It was interesting to hear her teach. Anyway, I would never go back to getting my hair cut wet. I spent years telling stylists to leave the front longer than the rest of my hair because the front is curlier and when it dries it's shorter than the rest. It was like talking to a brick wall. It makes absolutely no sense to cut curly hair like it's straight, unless you plan on straightening your hair every day.

Hooray for you, as a stylist, to have an open mind about curly hair. We need more people like you!

spacegirl · 05-30-2007, 04:21 PM

Oh btw, You should read "Curly Girl" by Lorraine Massey. She describes her methods of how to treat curly hair in that book. It's very good.

xcptnl · 05-30-2007, 05:25 PM

I just had my first dry cut yesterday - it was so interesting watching her pick and choose what curls to trim. She said that alot of stylist dont like cutting hair dry because it ruins their scissors. Well, that is one reason anyways

2happy · 05-31-2007, 07:11 AM

Another thing I read before (that I do with my own hair) is to cut at the end of the curl. If you look at your curl, it is an S shape, or 2 C's (one backwards) - cut at the bottom of the C. It leaves a nice bouncy curl!

05-31-2007, 07:16 AM

You know, the Devacurl salon in NYC does training sessions every month. And those who are trained get listed as "curl consultants" on their website. Quite a few of the curlies here go to curl consultants. I don't know where you live, but if you ever get to NYC, you might consider it.

Annika · 05-31-2007, 09:18 AM

Thanks guys! I live in Sweden so New York is a bit far away...

I think it would be worth the trip to get the training though, but at the moment it's not possible.
I'm waiting for my Curly Girl book to arrive in the mail, and appreciate all the advice and tips I keep finding on this forum, it's amazing!!