Men's Cuts at Maxine: The Chicago Cut
MAXBLOG: Expert Advice Straight From The Salon
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 5:00 PM
"You can tell a lot about a man just by looking at two things: his hair and his shoes," says stylist Adrianne Johnston.
They're the first things she notices, at least, and it certainly makes sense. A nice pair of shoes and a good haircut can make a T-shirt and jeans look as good as a suit.
So, footwear aside, what makes a good men's haircut? Stylists Adrianne Johnston and Severn Dorre broke down the art of men's hair cutting for our blog, an art that—as it turns out—is a lot harder to pin down than a lot of our other subjects.
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1. sweat the small stuffFirst of all, "Sweat the small stuff." That's the mantra of stylist Severn Dorre, which is why he continues to build a following of male clients who only trust their hair to Severn. "You're working with a lot less hair than with women, so your margin of error needs to be much smaller." It's about having a strategy and a game plan so that when it comes to points of precision (Severn's all about the details), you know where you're going next. "The perimeter says it all," says Severn. "It's the first thing you see in the haircut and it really says something about the man." So having a clean, decisive line is important. According to Severn, some cuts do call for a little length, in general, on top--as long as the hairline and the transition from hair to skin is perfect. "So many stylists tend to block men off," says Severn, going on to explain that the quality of the cut lies not in what you cut, but what you don't cut. |
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2. make the haircut fit the manAdrianne's of a similar mindset: "The thing that makes a difference really is in the details—it's about tailoring what I do to the individual." The texture of the hair, the client's lifestyle and preferences all must be taken into account. "Walk into an in-and-out hair chain and you'll see that they give every man pretty much the same cut," says Adrianne, "But it's rarely a good fit." When Adrianne first met her client Akash (seen on the left), he was looking for a haircut that was hip without being a hindrance. So, Adrianne's primary goal was versatility. "I wanted to create a cut that was young enough to stay modern, but still have that really classic appeal to it." Basically, the kind of cut that looks polished on its way into a boardroom, but can be tousled into weekend mode easily—think effortless, messy, rocker. |
It's fairly apparent in the photos/videos that Akash has pretty thick hair, so Adrianne used channel cutting to remove some of the bulk and create the overall shape. This gives Akash some length and texture for the messy/rocker weekend look we described above, but still lays flat for suit-and-tie ensembles. She also used a lot of point cutting to keep the edges broken up, then kept it clean and barbered around the hairline.
"When clients come to us (both men and women), it's our job to help them find their signature look," says Adrianne, "A look that's unique to them, that they feel comfortable with, and can style on their own." Part of teaching a client how to style their hair is showing them which kinds of products to use. Here are Adrianne's picks for men:
Shu Uemura
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Kérastase Homme
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Kérastase Homme
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"A lot of men simply don't take the time," says Severn, "If I can give them an hour of downtime, an hour when they're nowhere except the present—that's a gift."
