Having a good hair cut is crucial to having good hair days with curly hair. A good hair enhances the curl pattern, frames the face nicely, and works for your lifestyle (length, time, care habits, etc.) The first step to getting a good hair cut is finding a stylist.
There are many ways to find a good stylist. If you spot another curlie with fab hair. Stop them and ask who the their stylist is. They will be flattered and usually happy to share with you. Many web sites for curlies offer salon references from other curlies. If the web sites are popular enough, there may even be some in your area.
Don't just get the salon name though. Get the individual stylist. I've let my mom make my hair appointment at the salon only to arrive and find out that it is NOT with my usual gal. I've suffered through the appointment because of time constraints, and gone to a wedding with my hair rolled up on a Hairdini in a French twist because it was a horror of a hair cut. Let that be a warning to the rest of you!
How to talk to your stylist -
1) Tell them that you want CG friendly products. If they don't have any, bring your own. If the salon has a problem with that, then this obviously isn't the place for you.
2) Tell them that you need long layers at no more than a 45 degree angle. You do not want to look like a mushroom or a cheese wedge.
3) Discuss shrinkage. Curly hair shrinks a LOT when it dries. Our hair will shrink 4 or 5 inches or more from wet to dry. Wet, my hair is nearly wasit length. Dry, it barely comes to my bra strap. Know how much your hair shrinks and explain this to your stylist.
4) Be specific. A trim can be anything from 1/4 of an inch to an inch or more, depending on the stylist judgement. Communicate what you expect a trim to be.
5) Your head of hair has a density - meaning the number of hairs per sqaure inch of scalp. If you have a low hair density, keep your layers longer to avoid the dreaded "wedge head".
6) Ask them to use "no tension" if they are wet cutting your hair. Dry cutting is preferable.
7) Go in for a shampoo and a style the first time to check them out. This lets you get a good look at the stylist in action and lets the stylist get a good look at your hair. You can see if you like them and are comfortable with them and if what they have to say makes sense to you. You can, even more importantly, see if they listen you. If they do not listen to you - RUN!!!
Questions to Ask Your Stylist -
1) Are you a curly? And do you wear you own hair curly? I personally find this one to be UBER important. Anyone who doesn't have curly hair themselves is unlikely to know how to deal with it. Not impossible, just extremely rare.
2) Does your salon carry any CG products? Check to see if the salon has any of the CG lines. If they do, your odds of having a stylist who is familiar with curly hair go up dramatically.
3) Where did you learn to cut curly hair? Ask where they learned to cut curly hair. Odds are, it was some kind of an apprenticeship program.
Hair Cut Faux Paus - Things NOT to Do
1) If you are uncomfortable at all - DO NOT STAY THERE! GET UP AND LEAVE. It is your hair. You will have to live with it for months while it grows back out.
2) Unless the salon says to show up with your hair styled, do not show up with product on your hair for a dry cut. You need to have product free hair for this.
3) Do not check the eveness of a dry cut under tension. Without ever having seen your hair, your head, or your stylist, I can tell you that it will NOT be even under tension. It's supposed to be even when it curls not when its streched out. All of you know that each and every curl is slightly different. Because of that, a dry cut will always be uneven under tension.
4) Your stylist is not a miracle worker. If one side doesn't curl quite the same as the other, a cut isn't going to fix that. If one side has more hair than the other, a cut isn't going to fix that.
