Offset Faux Hawk - Trendy Men's Haircut
I recently spent an evening with Austin, a young client of mine, and ended up discussing his hair and his desire for a new look. As a young man (he's nearly 20) he likes to wear his hair short, but wants some "style" in his look. For some time, he’s been opting for the faux hawk style, with the strip of extra length along the center of the top section, but has grown somewhat bored with the look and wanted a change.
Given that he tends to have a short face with wide, expressive eyes and a broad mouth, he needs a style that will offer some balance and prevent his face from appearing too wide. He's recently been losing weight, which has hardened some of the angles of his face, taking it from a rounder look to a more square one. Austin’s hair is in excellent condition, but is baby fine and only moderate in density, which means that it tends to appear sparse with a very short haircut.
Before
Cutting the Hair:
So, I took out my trusty clippers and shears and we set to work. To start, I used the clippers with a Number 2 guard to cut the sides and back to the crown and parietal ridge. Following the contours of the head, I allowed the natural weight line to be apparent. Once the lower sections were cut, I used the clippers, without guard, to edge the perimeter and around the ears, giving the style a clean defined outline on the lower hairline.
Next, I misted the hair in the top and crown sections with a leave-in conditioner and used my comb and scissors to blend the weight line created by the clipper cut. I layered the crown section with a uniform layering technique and plotted the alignment of my new weighted area for the new look. Standing behind the head, I used the right eye as my guide and slowly worked from front to back, layering the side of the top section to create a pointed shape running back along the scalp behind the right eye.
After
The hair to the left of this peak was layered using a steeper angle, blending the lengths from the left side all the way to the peak on the right. I cross-checked the layering for evenness and made adjustments as needed using a scissor-over-comb method, since the hair is now so short.
The styling was accomplished using a blend of wax-based mousse and styling gel, and was slowly worked in using the fingers until the hair began to dry and gain a little more texture. The texturizing effect of the product combined with the side-swept styling helps to make the hair look fuller and thicker.
Afterward, we discussed possibly using hair color to lighten Austin's color slightly and make his hair look thicker by decreasing the difference between the color of his hair and his scalp.
See also: The faux hawk haircut