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Clippers versus Scissor Over Comb..

So what’s the difference and can you really tell?

The ongoing question that clients ask: Do you use the clippers or the scissor over comb technique? There is no right or wrong method to use but individual stylists have their own preferences and reasons behind using them, and clients too have a preference so there are some things that you might need to consider about both methods. Here I am going to outline the main basic differences between them, and trying my best not to favoritise !!

clippers Clippers technique:

1. Clipper haircuts done mainly in barbershops or fast moving salons.
2. Gives a blunter sharper look to short hair.
3. Follows the head shape so therefore is you have someone who doesn’t have a good head shape, this will show up more.
4. Fast to achieve, so more clients can be fit into the schedule.
5. Simple choices of clipper guards, depending on how short someone wants to go.

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Scissor over comb technique:

1. Takes longer to achieve as the shape is being built up
2. Can be controlled more when working around strange head shapes or bumps on the head, as the weight can be built up separately to hide flaws as the comb does not need to follow directly onto the head shape.
3. Hairlines can be abit softer and natural looking, blending into the rest of the hair.
4. Most medium high end salons will use this technique, opting to use the clippers to cleans necklines and edges only.

OK, I know, I know, I’m definitely into the scissor over comb technique as I can tell the difference in most cases, I know its great for young kids who want the fade or military look but for me, I prefer a style to look more natural and to have a nicer head shape and build up and to be able to work in a more detailed manner rather than just whipping the hair off. Hey but each to their own!

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Dekko’s Daily Grind – Jason

Asian hair can sometimes be so thick that it can easily look too bulbous and round. On guys hair, this is the case when the sides have been taken down short and then the weight build up is too low, creating a ‘bowl’ look.
Here’s Jason with his old hairstyle..


We decided to go shorter with Jason so that the weight line through the sides can be lifted higher, this not only gives a trimmer look to the face shape, but it gives the haircut a ‘squarer’ masculine look.


As you can see, the top area has been left slightly longer and razored to give it more texture, and the scissor over combed area has been left to blend into the hairline in a natural way and not clippered into a hard outline, which I personally don’t like because especially with coarse hair it can make it look like you have a ‘lid’ on your head.

 

Thanks to Jason for posing for me…
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Natural alternative Styling Products for Curly Hair…

I know alot of you are interested in products that are natural and chemical free, so with the help of Trusha, I wanted to share some product recommendations with you.

Trusha has ‘wild’ naturally curly hair, and before she came to see Joni in Dekko Salon, her hair was pretty big and ‘extreme’. Personally I loved it, but I guess when you’ve been trying to tame the beast for so many years, finding a stylist and products that do that is pretty exciting. You can see Trusha’s hair in these photos, that’s her on the right in the second photo!

Anyway, Trusha used to use normal styling products such as Bumble & Bumble styling cream or Aveda Be Curly but she popped into her local organic store Rainbow’s and found afew products that not only are 99% natural but combined together, works like magic in her hair to give it a soft, natural frizzless look.

The 4 products that Trusha uses throughout the week is:

Giovanni – Leave-In Conditioner – sprayed onto hair onto wet hair.

Alba Botanica – soft hold style cream – worked into the hair while the hair is flipped upside down.

Burt’s Bees – Hair treatment, mixed together with ……

Jason – Texturising Cream – again worked into the whole of the hair while the hair is flipped upside down.

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Trusha doesn’t wash her hair on a daily basis, more like every 5days or so, but on the days she doesn’t wash it she just wets it down, and add these products to refresh the style. (Although not the leave –in again as this can make it too heavy)

Here’s Trusha’s finished look using all these organic products.

One more product recommendation from Trusha, A great sea-spray for a beachy bedhead look – John Masters Organic Sea Mist.

Thank’s to Trusha and Joni for their help in this post xxxxxx

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Soft Perms..

I seem to be talking alot about perms lately, but that’s because we have been seeing an influx of them coming into our salon (Dekko)

Baya came into Dekko to see Jodi Ninomiya about a soft perm, we all know that perms can be disastrous under the wrong technician but I wanted to share this with you to show you how a good perm should look, especially on Asian hair where it can become TOO curly.

This is Baya before the perm, sorry that the photo is abit dark but you can make out that the hair is pretty flat and fairly straight apart from the curled ends:

Snapshot 2009-12-16 23-25-04The rods that Jodi decided to use were large and medium mixed. The perm solution was Definition by Goldwell, it was for Normal Hair and it was left to process for 25 minutes.

DSC00243Once complete the hair is dried using a diffuser so that the curls are not disturbed, if disturbed too much, it can cause the hair to look frizzy as I talked about in my post about curly hair.

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The end result came out great, just enough movement and body without looking too fake or artificial. Well done Jodi and thanks to Baya for posing for this post.

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Fringe Sample..

After reading my post on fringes, Shelley decided she wanted to go ahead and give a fringe a try. Normally Shelley keeps her front area long for a few reasons;

1. She has slightly wavy hair,

2.She felt like her face was too round to have a fringe.

So as shown below, because we kept the length slightly longer, the waves are kept under control and because we gave her a fringe that still allows her forehead to show through, it does not cut the face off and does not make her face look rounder. This shows that fringes can work on most people if you take things under consideration.

Nice change Shelley and good fun.

(before and afters)

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How to NOT look like a Japanese or Canto Popstar….

After living in Asia for several years, one of the things I noticed was how unattractive guys with longer hair looked. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against guys with longer hair, in fact I love it normally, so why is it I found these guys to be so unappealing?

After careful studies of haircutting and techniques and style in Asia I came to a conclusion that satisfies my query.

The method to hair cutting that is predominantly used in Asia is done with a razor, as we all know the razor is a great tool to use on thick coarse hair but the problem arises when the hair is OVERly razored…. resulting in a Japanese or Canto popstar look!!!! (Canto stands for Cantonese)

No offense to these popstars but in my opinion, one should aspire to look more like a ‘rocker’ rather than a ‘Japanese/Canto Popstar’. Overly thinned hair not only looks dated but also too ‘girly’ and ‘feminine’, the exact opposite of what is desired. In other words – Passion Killers!! See below for examples of what I mean……

Now in order to achieve more of a rocker look, the hair should still be razored but in a more controlled way. Hair should look piecey and not too wispy, unkempt yet not gelled looking, done yet not look done! There is such a fine line between the 2 that to some peoples eyes, I could be just talking a load of rubbish, but for those in the know, those subtle and slight differences in hair techniques make or break a look.

And for me,(and I’m sure alot of other women) they make the difference between: Rocker V Japanese Popstar, Cool V Cheesy, Funky V Feminine, Good V Bad and Sexy V Ewww!!!! As seen below……

So for all you guys out there, make sure you ask your stylist to give you a style that give you all of the positive traits and not wonder why women/men are not looking your way !! You have been warned!

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My Pick ~ Black and Brown Combo

 

So I chose this hairstyle for a few of reasons:

1. The color combination is really cool, by combining black with brown, the differences are subtle yet enough to give it a more dramatic effect. The color really brings out the hairstyle which is what good color is all about.

 

2. The haircut is so well done, again with the combination of soft and hard edges, razored and blunt ends, showing up dramatically on strong straight Asian hair.

 

3. Hairstyle is soft yet edgy, wearable in real life, and complimentary to the bone structure of the model. Excellent! Well done!

 

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Dekko’s Daily Grind – Sarah

Sarah is one of those lucky people who has naturally curly hair, although we have often joked about it, as hers is quite soft that sometimes, especially when her hair was shorter, if she hadn’t styled it right, it can look abit like a shampoo and set!!

Luckily with her hair now worn longer, the curls look better with the right cut, and right amount of layers, but as you can see from the before pictures, if the layers are too long including the fringe area, the hair lays much flatter on top and gives too sensible a look.

So after using scissors rather than a razor (as we did not want the ends to look too wispy and dry), we took the layers much shorter on top, took alot of weight out by chopping into the hair throughout but mainly on top and then we sliced the fringe off quite short to frame the face more. We then re-wet the hair after the cut and used Leave-In conditioner throughout the hair and twisted medium size sections and dried it with a diffuser. The overall effect is lighter in weight and a younger funner look! Thanks Sarah!