My Cutting Theory

It isn’t bad hairdressers it's about education.

In beauty school, we are not really taught how to break down a curly or any type of textured haircut. We are told basically that it shrinks 10% to 15% more than straight hair. Depending on the texture you have or are working with, it could shrink between 10% to 25% more, using the wrong tension on the section.

I teach and use techniques I have developed over the last 30 years. I am self-taught but have had the honor of working with and studying under amazing stylists. Applying tried and true cutting techniques and combining them with my theories has created what is being called the “ Maggie Method".

Here is the easiest way to break it down. Think of hair with texture as a rope or piece of yarn that is twisted. If you cut it straight across it frays. If you cut it at an angle it will roll back into itself. So when working with hair that has a texture I feel it should be cut on vertical angles and sliced into to allow the curl pattern to wrap around itself like the rope. And use little to no tension when cutting. When cutting the perimeter finger comb out the hair and see what needs to come off or cut the hair slightly longer than the desired length when the hair is dry. Show the client where the hair is falling so they like the length. Remember that it will shrink and more can be taken off later, but can’t be put back on.

Cutting the perimeter and layers into the hair with a flat sheer in horizontal sections it is fraying out the ends of the hair and creates straight lines so you see and count the layers that have been cut into the hair. And the perimeter never seems to blend with the section above it. Nothing blends and hair tends to just stick out and not fall into the shape you are looking for. So you or your client continue to struggle with flat sections and not enough volume in the right areas. You are looking to create volume and movement where you know there are layers in the hair, but you don’t want to see where they start and stop, you want them to just blend into each other.

I will ask a new client if they feel like one side of the head has a great curl, the other is just puffier, there is more curl inside the interior of the hair but none on the outer layers, and the two sides never seem to blend. And forget about having a bang or fringe area that doesn’t look blocky or square and doesn’t blend with anything.

My solution. Cut the perimeter by point cutting or slicing into the section. Use little to no tension when cutting the hair. Create your perimeter and or guidelines as I have stated dry and in the interior use vertical sections or pie sections only when the hair is wet. Slicing into the hair in vertical sections will allow the outer layers of the hair to fall with the same shape so it will fall evenly threw the sections on both sides of the head. And by slicing into the hair, it is cutting the texture at an angle similar to the rope or yarn so that it rolls back into itself creating the movement that the hair is wanting and laying into the sections blended with no blocky straight line sections that don’t blend with the one next to it. And you’ve taken the weight off of the outer layers so the curl is on the outer sections that you are seeing and not just inside.