Q: I have registered and posted at 3 different hair communities and have still received no help. My hair is usually Halle Berry short but I'm growing it out some and I would like to know what I need to tell my
hairstylist in order to get the style I want. I have attached a picture of the style I want. {Editor’s note: photos could not be used here as we have no usage permissions.} If you're old enough, you probably remember
how this style and those similar to it were quite popular in the late 80s and early 90s. The woman in the photos is Chynna Phillips of Wilson Phillips.
A: Even without your photos, I did indeed remember the hairstyle worn by Chynna Phillips in the heyday of Wilson-Phillips music career. Her fine, straight, blonde hair was perfectly suited to the cut and style, which
flattered her fine-boned and delicate features. And many women with similar traits copied her look.
I can, however, see where the average person would have difficulty explaining the way the cut works. As with most haircuts, this one is all about cutting angles and elevation and
creating a specific weight line around the circumference of the head. As for a specific name for the haircut, I don’t know what you could call it by any certain name and be 100% accurate. It shares strong traits with the
classic bowl cut and the wedge but the weight line is higher than a bowl and straighter than the wedge and the lower sections taper. It is close to a hairstyle popular in the late 70s called the Purdey (created for
and worn by Joanna Lumley in The New Avengers), though the Purdey’s official look was more suited to coarser and wavier hair types.
When asking your stylist about this hairstyle, it’s important to take a photo if you can print one that you have and explain these few things:
1. You want the hair to fall to a weight line at a point just below
the top of the ears, and extending horizontally around the head.
2. The fringe should fall to this same length or only subtly shorter
and be textures to create wispy fringe.
3. The hair of the weight line should be held at 90-degree elevation
and cut at an angle to this line so as to create an overlap in the layering.
4. The layers below this weight line should be tapered smoothly
and steeply to the perimeter of the hairline. This can be achieved
often by overdirecting the lower layers to the weight line and
cutting the hair at that point. The perimeter can be shaped as
desired and as suits the individual’s needs.
