My hair
I have coarse, medium to high density, Type 2c waves that were suffering from a great deal of damage from bleach, henna, and hair dye. As a result my hair was high porosity and my curl pattern had loosened significantly. You can probably see in the video below that there is a clear line of demarcation between my virgin curly hair and the damaged hair that had an irregular curl pattern. If the ends of your hair have stopped curling, there’s a pretty good chance you could benefit from getting a haircut. Even if you haven’t colored or bleached your hair, damage can be caused by heat styling if you occasionally use a flat iron or a curling wand. Nothing can completely repair damage, you can do protein treatments or deep conditioning treatments to bring a little life back into your curl, but the only way to truly remove it is to cut it.
Finding a stylist
This is probably the biggest barrier to a great haircut for most wavies, curlies and coilies. We’ve all been scarred one too many times by stylists who claim to know how to work with your texture.
I found my stylist the old-fashioned way, I asked someone with curly hair if they knew a stylist they liked. I’m very lucky that that someone was Michelle Breyer, the Co-Founder of NaturallyCurly, who recommended Shannon Hollis, the owner of Method Hair in Austin, TX.
If you don’t know anyone who likes their stylist, you can find a stylist the new-fashioned way: online. I would recommend reading reviews by other curlies on our Salon Finder to find one in your area. I also know a lot of curlies travel great distances to get haircuts from curly hair experts, for some it’s definitely worth it!
Finding the right cut
Finding a wavy haircut proved to be a challenge because most haircut inspiration on Pinterest features women with curling wand waves and curls. I did my best to find photos of the length and shape on straight hair or “fake” wavy hair, but my stylist Shannon promptly informed me that those cuts were not going to work on my hair. A good stylist will tell you when a cut isn’t going to work! If you have wavy hair like mine, you have probably realized by now that our hair may look straight and close to our heads when it’s wet, but as it dries it flips out and up. Rather than fighting this, it’s best to find a cut that works with your natural wave.
Luckily Shannon had a whole portfolio of curly cuts for me to choose from, and together we chose a cut that I liked, that would work for my curl pattern. If you’re interested in seeing the photos I brought, you can find them on my Pinterest board but as I said, most of them had straight hair. The best source of Type 2c inspiration I found on my search was Karla Deras from Karla’s Closet.
The cutting method
You may be familiar with the concept of dry cutting or Deva Cuts, but this was not a dry cut. Shannon chose to cut my hair wet so that she could see that the shape was even. I don’t have a significant amount of shrinkage so this method worked for me. Once she was happy with the initial silhouette, and when my waves had begun to dry in their natural curl pattern, she went back in with her scissors and shaped the individual curls. She focused on removing weight from the bottom of the cut, an important step for preventing triangle head. Most people don’t have a uniform curl pattern throughout so it is likely that some curls will be tighter (and therefore shorter”> while other curls will be looser and longer. I personally have looser curls framing my face which usually leaves me with awkward long strands in the front, but Shannon took care of that.
She also explained that if I had Type 3 curls or Type 4 coils, her method for cutting would have been completely different. Just as one technique or product won’t work for every curl pattern, neither will a cutting method.
Styling short wavy hair
As a curly girl, we typically feel that we know how to do our hair better than anyone else – stylists included. So admittedly I was surprised when Shannon showed me a new diffusing method and introduced me to new products that I ended up loving. Shannon used her fingers to lightly lift my hair at the roots and point the diffuser at it, this also created a smoother, looser wave at the roots. Diffusing typically causes a bit of frizz, so Shannon followed up with a product I had never tried before – Kevin Murphy Easy Rider Creme. I’ve been using it along with their Killer Curls and I’ve been loving that they give my hair flexible hold that allows me to wear my hair down for 3-4 days by lightly refreshing it with water in a spray bottle in the mornings.
If you’re thinking about cutting your hair I say you should definitely do it! I was really nervous before getting this cut but I haven’t regretted it for a second and my hair just feels so much healthier.
I know how hard it is to find naturally wavy short haircuts, so I hope this helped you out!
