Q: I just checked your website, it's really good. I'd like to get Paul Walker's haircut but my barber says that style maybe
won't look exactly the same on me because it seems like Paul Walker's hair grows really close to the scalp, but I don't know how my
hair grows. Is there any technique or treatment to make the hair grow close to the scalp? Any other information about this haircut I
will appreciate it. I'm writing from Mexico. I look forward to hearing from you.
A: Your barber is right in that Paul Walker’s hair does appear to grow “close to the scalp”. What that means is that the hair emerges
from the scalp at an angle, keeping it low to the scalp as is grows. In the photos below, you can see this more clearly by comparing
the photos of Paul’s hair in the longer hairstyles versus the shorter, cropped hiarcuts.
Among persons whose hair grows more vertically from the scalp, when you cut the hair short the hair
tends to stand up more, as it’s usually the weight of the hair that makes it lie down. If the hair is coarse and/or dense, the effect
is increased. Curl in the hair can change the effect, but generally by making the hair “bend” sooner.
(Click to enlarge)
But with Mr. Walker’s hair, notice that instead of a spikier, brush-head effect with his hair cut
clipper-short, the hair seems to follow the contours of his skull. You can even see more clearly-defined growth patterns in the profile
view below. His hair is also very wavy and would be inclined to become more voluminous the longer it grows.
I’m sorry to have to tell you that you really can’t change the way your own hair grows, at least
not without surgical procedures. And surgery is typically only indicated in cases where someone is dealing with a too-prominent hair
stream and the doctor decides to basically “turn” a section of the scalp to redirect the flow of the hair.
Some people have used permanent wave formulas to deal with cowlicks and hairstreams, and you could
try to use a perm service to relax the hair to lie closer to the scalp by removing the side bonds and causing the hair to bend
immediately as it emerges from the follicle, but this effect would only last a few weeks as the hair would soon grow enough that the
“bend” would be raised from the scalp level.
