After a haircut, you want to sport an impeccable finish and a hairline that reflects finesse. Usually, it takes a seasoned barber with the help of special T-shaped clippers to edge your hair to such a fine look. The edging technique is done after cutting the rest of the hair. It involves sculpting fine lines on your sideburns, frontal hairline, and to the nape of your neck. Remember, it’s an art that requires an expert hand. You need to make sure that your barber has an edging reputation of sorts before you go ahead for the cut.
Any haircut job that ends with those crisp lined giving you an enviable look requires the right tools. If your current hair stylist/barber isn’t giving you one, it could be that they are using the conventional clipper to polish your haircut; it’s only a specialized clipper that will do the job right. You need to know the basics and how the T-clippers work on different types of hair.
The edge you get will make or break your haircut. You can have the right hair edgers, a good barber with expertise but if the edging is done wrong it could spoil everything. It’s important that before the cutting and edging, you and your barber should prepare the hair for the process. Make sure the edges aren’t too thick or the fine line won’t last long, you don’t have to thin out the entire head but, it’s better done on the edges. To be safe, this should be done by a professional.
Know the Hair Edging Tools
The perfect hair edgers used properly and skilfully will do the job right. It takes fine detailing tools to hack it. These tools include:
- Ultra-fine toothed precision clippers/trimmers.
- Fine detail T-style blades.
- Dedicated wide-blade trimmers for soft and fuzzy edges.
- Narrow-blade trimmers for tricky curves and areas.
Cutting Against or Along the Grain
Barbers have the option of edging hair using a variety of techniques. The two main options are cutting along or against the lay or grain of the hair. At times, its best discussed and agreed by the client and barber. However, there are situations that are dictated by the type of hair in question. For instance, people with curvy or curly hair that isn’t too long will do well with edging along the grain. For shorter hair that is less than half an inch long cutting against the grain will suffice.
Determine the Hairline
At the same time, the hairline length for edging needs to be discussed between a barber and the client. If the client isn’t bothered by the cut, the barber ends to use his prerogative to check the shape of the hair on the head and how far back the hairline should be set and still look sharp. There are head shapes where a barber shouldn’t cut without considering the relationship between the hairline, nape of the neck and the edges of the earlobes
Straighten the Hairline
To achieve symmetrical edging results, the stylist should ensure that the hairline cuts a straight line on both sides. At no point should one side appear shorter than the others. To be safe, it’s easy to use the pen technique. This entails cutting and edging one side and then using track pen to mark the exact line to cut on the corresponding side, later the pen line can be removed using water and soap.
The Mirror Is Your Guide
There are techniques that a barber will use to get that sharp edge line, however, it’s advisable that you see what is happening. Even with a good T-trimmer, you need a mirror to keep track even a barber does. After cutting and edging one side of the sideburns, use a mirror as your trusted guide such that you assured the other side will come out looking as sharp and in symmetry.
Clean It Up
If the edging procedure is to end well, the tools need to be in good shape. The T-trimmers need to be clean, sharp and well oiled. Crude tools will make the edging stressful. Before the barber gives an okay, it’s advisable to screen the work. It’s advisable to check out and cut any runaway strands that may have been forgotten in the process. Even if you can trust your barber to handle the edging, make sure you have an idea about the entire process, read up tips online and make professional hair experts your friend.