Many people are drawn to cutting hair in layers because it adds flow and buoyancy to a style. However, it can get challenging when you notice the shape starts to collapse. The hair might look even when it’s wet, but as it dries, it hangs differently. This is probably because you’re changing the elevation when you move from one section to the next, and you’re not realizing it. Learning how to control your elevation when practicing layers helps you keep a haircut from going haywire.
Working on a mannequin with damp hair, section off the back of the head into clean slices. Pick up a small subsection and gently tease it up so you can place it between your fingers, lifting the ends of the hair off the head at a consistent angle. Before cutting, just play with the way the hair falls when you lift it up higher or lower. Slight elevation changes make a huge difference in the final length. The closer to the head you keep the hair, the longer it will be. The more you lift the hair away from the head, the shorter the interior layers will be. Playing around with these angles without cutting helps you develop an awareness of how the shape will look.
One of the big problems that occurs is the disappearance of a guide between sections. Students will often cut one layer properly, but fail to tease a small amount of their guide into the next section. Without a visual marker, each new cut is slightly different. The layers will gradually get longer or shorter as you progress through the cut. The fix is easy: always tease a little bit of the previous section into the new one before you lift the hair. That small amount of hair serves as a guide that will help you keep the whole shape consistent.
Doing a short exercise every day can help take the fear out of layering. Take fifteen minutes every day to work across the back of a mannequin head. Lift each slice up to the same height, double-check that you can see your guide from the previous slice, and cut just a little bit. Work your way from one side to the other, doing the same motion every time. Once you’ve cut a few slices, let the hair down and see how the layers hang. If it looks uneven, go back to the spot where your guide disappeared and fix it before continuing.
The more you do this, the more your hands will remember what the right elevation feels like and the more your eyes will learn to spot when things are off. Cutting in layers won’t feel quite so out of control, and will start to feel more like a repetitive pattern. Each slice will connect seamlessly into the next, and you’ll start to see lightness and movement rather than just random fluctuation. Once you develop this rhythm, cutting hair into layers gets a lot easier and more fun.