How to Cut Long, Parted Hair

Cutting long, parted hair always requires you to keep a few key things in mind. Find out how to cut long, parted hair with help from a professional hair stylist in this free video clip.

Video Transcript

Hi, my name is Chrissy Lou and I am a Hairstylist at Birds and Fellas Salon located in the hip and trendy East Village. Today, I'm going to show you how to cut long hair. Now, we already shampooed the hair and it's easier to cut the hair wet especially for beginners because you see more of a defined guideline of where you're cutting. But, be aware that when you dry the hair, the hair shrinks up half an inch. So, don't cut too much off if your client is a little unsure about how much she wants. So, you're going to start off by taking a cutting comb. Cutting comb normally has an angle where the fine tooth is and you're just going to take the fine tooth and you're just going to comb back the hair, just comb it all back. And if you spray a little leave-in conditioning spray, it's also easier to get through the hair. When you're done combing the hair back, you take the wide part of the comb, hold it to the middle of the head behind the ear and just bring it all the way down apart. Notice you got a perfect parting that way. Once you're done sectioning that area, you just comb the hair down and section it away with the clip. I like to use the claw clip 'cause they hold very well no matter where you place the hair. And you do the same for the other side. Now for the back, you wan to re-comb everything just to smooth it out. Comb the hair to the side, take a half inch section, bring the comb over and this is your guideline. Now, we're going to bring the guideline over to the side and to the front. Take a half inch section again, then you're going to do the same thing for the other side. Once you take out the hair from the back, you just section it off. Now you want to take out your guideline from the side. Just un-clip the hair, half inch section again and it matches with the back. And do the same thing on the other side. Now, if the hair gets dry, you can always use a water bottle and just re-spray the hair. So, you're going to take a middle piece to start the guideline and I'm not really cutting the hair. So, you're just going to cut zero degrees. Take the next section, match it up and cut. Take the next section before you go before the ear, match it up and cut. Then you take a little piece of the hair from behind the ear and match it with a half inch piece of the hair in front of the ear; bring it down zero degrees and cut. Now, when you get to the front, if there's any face shaping or layering and it's too short to match to the guideline, you just leave it alone. And we're going to do the same process on the other side. Match it up with the guideline and cut; before the ear and you're going to match it up and cut. And like I said before, if there's any face shaping or layering and it's too short to match the guideline, just leave it alone. So, after you've finished that section, you're going to take another section, bring it down to the guideline. Make sure you don't cut above the guideline or below because then your haircut will become uneven. You continue that process for the back and the sides and once you get to the top, if there's a shorter piece, do not cut. Just leave it alone. And that is how you cut long hair.