 Today we're gonna be focusing on basic layering. So a lot of people end up with layering in their hair that looks choppy and there's a reason for that. It has a lot to do with head shape and how your elevation is throughout that haircut. So then that way your lengths change throughout the haircut, which can create steps and make it look like you have choppy layers. So we're gonna work on those seamless layers today. That's why I wanted to do basic layering first. The way that we break down sectioning is to really focus on the head shape. So we've got some different aspects of the head. We've got the parietal ridge, which is this kind of curve right here that you see on the head. We've got our parietal ridge, that comes back. You think of it as kind of a horseshoe shape, right? So you have the parietal ridge that comes along here. Then when we get back here, we're gonna consider this the crown of the head. We've got high crown, mid crown and low crown. That's how we're gonna break that down. Then you've also got your occipital bone, which is underneath low crown, so back here. Then you've got the nape of the neck and the very back. We're gonna section this off, first splitting it down the center. So we'll go straight back with the hair, like that. That is the first parting. Now, if your client has parts on the side, you could still do the center parting. Just understand that as you go to cut the top, you need to kind of be aware of how that hair is gonna lay and fall. So most people are looking to see a center parting at this point. I'm gonna work this through. Now I've got the center part down and I'm gonna work back to this hairline. So what I'll do here is I'm gonna split from high crown down to just behind the ear and where that hairline is. So the line from the hairline here all the way up to that crown. This is all the same density. You see how all the way across here, all the way through the back, this is all the same thickness. Density means thickness, right? Then everything from this point forward is the same density there. So I separate those two things so that when I'm working in the back, I know I'm working in the back, I know I'm working with the same density. When I move to the front, I know I'm working in the front and I'm working with the same density. So I'm just keeping it simple and working through that way. When I go to cut the top, I will separate a little bit more of a Mohawk section, but this back portion in the head is kind of connected to the back. And I think a lot of times when we do that Mohawk section, you get this larger rectangle on the top of the head and then that starts to kind of blend in and we cut the top and the front the same as we cut the back. And if the back is a different density that we're working with and that hair is gonna fall to the back, then why would I connect it into the front? So it's just different ways of looking at it. Doesn't mean that a Mohawk section is wrong, it's just changes my way of going, like attacking it, I guess you would say. Now the back of the head is where I'm gonna start. So what I learned in school a long, long time ago was to kind of go through and cut my baseline first, pick my length and then layer from that point. What I like to do is go from the interior and pick my length on the layer itself as opposed to connecting it all together this way. Then I can always go in at the end and cut my length. So we're gonna work through the top of the section. So I'm gonna start here, take my first vertical section through, then I'm going to work pie shaped sections from that point over. I don't care about underneath the occipital bone, right? So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna work my way out, create the line that I want, and then I'll decide how far or how deep I wanna go into that cut. And then I'll cut my baseline at the end and then you guys will see how that works, right? So we're gonna go through here, again vertical section. Obviously this is more hair than past my second knuckle, but I'll show you guys how we're going to attack that. Now I'm focused on the tip of my finger right here because that is the point in the head shape that I'm looking to control right now. So I'm going to lift that up and cut into it that way. This is where I can decide how long do I want these layers to be. So right here, I'm looking at this. I can see how the head shape, how the hair comes off the head shape. You could go even a little bit higher if you want to, err on the side of caution. Is that what they say? No, yeah. So we go straight up and now I just decide where do I want those layers to hit? I'm visualizing how they fall. When I come through and I start to cut, cut to that first knuckle, then I re-comb. Now look, the head shape's moving away. So if I continue this line, I get a very collapsed look because this is being elevated even more than the front. This is at about 90 degrees. This is maybe at 130 degrees, right? Almost at this point at the very bottom, 180 degrees. So, and what does that mean? 180 degrees is kind of the max where we go with elevation, right? Straight up from the head. So I can then slide my elevation down to continue working that 90 degrees off the head. So we're at this point. And then I could continue working or I can decide maybe they have a little denser hair and I want to remove a little extra, keep a little length towards the base. And that's it. And not cut it so short. So now I'm gonna pivot. If I go from here, I just took this vertical section and now I'm gonna pivot and go here. The rule here is to take mostly previously cut hair, so our old hair or a guide and bring it over to the new section. That'll give me the most solid line to look through in the haircut. So look here. Now I wanna take the guide and push it over to the new section, okay? So pushing away from my body, not pulling. If I pull, then I pull the new section of the guide and then each cut that I'm doing gets the new section longer and longer towards the side. I want it to stay the same, stay uniform. So I push the guide over to the new section about halfway, they're gonna meet. And I come in here and I cut. Yeah, now we're gonna pivot to the next one. Oh, we've now layered the left-hand side of the head. Basic layering, basic concept, thinking about creating seamless weight, like a seamless feel to the layering. No steps, that's how we work. And now I'm going to be pulling because I'm pulling that guideline over to the new section. Everything back, start cutting my line. Just cut a nice blunt line, which gives me the look, the appearance of a healthy haircut, which I think is always good. And it also gets a little bit, some of the density into the hair. So last little bit, the front is, to me, always kind of a separate cut. So saturate this a little bit. Today I'm gonna keep it simple because we're doing basic layering. So we'll just do a basic little face frame. What I'm gonna do is focus on keeping a lower elevation, keeping a little bit extra weight. The higher I lift the hair, the more layering happens and the more weight we remove. I don't really need to do that. So I'm gonna go in here and I'm gonna work just diagonal back, bringing everything to about this point here and cutting my line. Elevation changes everything. If I elevate this up high, I get more layers around the face. If I keep it low, I do a little bit more of a graduation around the face. I could do some slide cutting here, slide through it. I can cut blunt lines if I want it to look a little cleaner. I could do some point cutting. There's multiple options. Today I'm gonna do a blunt line and notice that my finger angle is not quite parallel with the parting. It's a little bit kicked out. What that's gonna do is give me a little extra length towards the inside of my hand. I just wanna push a little extra length to the side there. So you keep bringing hair forward until you run out of hair to cut. Depending on how many layers they have, that could happen sooner. It's a very practical haircut. Nothing crazy. Too fancy about it. Just basic layers. You can see a little bit of face framing. Now we're gonna do the same thing on the other side. This is the beauty of cutting the length at the end because I already cut the back length. I haven't cut the front length yet, but I will connect that to the back. I choose the rest of this length based on where I want it to hit on the face. So for me, I wanted some layers that would come right around the cheekbone and right around the jawline and then kick back and off the face like that to open the face up. So when I hold the hair out and I go to cut it, I visualize where that top piece is then going to hit and that's where I cut it. So the last thing I have to do is now connect the two sides lengths. Now, if you had shoulders, I'd just lift it out just a little bit. Do the same thing over here. This is why it's so good to separate at the hairline as well because you get a really nice firm cutoff where that length needs to be connected. And once I get done blow drying, we're gonna do a little texturizing in there. The quick slip speeds up your drying time, adds a really nice soft texture to the hair. All right, so it's pretty dry. So what I wanna do is section with the clip, separate top and bottom. Next, Paul Mitchell product is hot off the press, helps keep the hair healthy but also has a really good hold as well. So with the round brush, I'm gonna work through the hair and I'm going to start drying the hair at the elevation that I want. So how high, how low. If it's high, you get more volume. If it's low, you get a sleeker, smoother look. So I'm gonna give it a good amount of volume as I'm working through it like this. And then towards the end, I'm going to then put the hair in the back way and slide out so I get a kick and flip off the face. I wanna open up the face a little bit. So by blow drying this forward, it's gonna give me maximum volume when I kick it back to the back. Got the volume in there and now I let it go back. We get that flip. And I just kind of scrunch what the volume happened. Then you can kind of work this hair back and then just kind of get your hands in it, start throwing it forward and see those layers pop. Thank you guys, appreciate all of you. Join the Patreon if you want. Be live with me every day at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Can't wait to hang with you guys tomorrow. We're gonna do another fun cut. I hope you guys enjoyed today and I'll see you soon.