View Full Version : Is even hemline possible for wavy hair?
k_hepburn
June 19th, 2008, 07:01 PM
Right, I should be in bed, but this keeps going through my mind, so I have to ask:
Can you get a clean hemline when dry if your wavy hair is cut when wet? Or will the irregularity of the waves forming necessarily lead to a hemline of slightly uneven length?
Thing is, I went to the hairdresser for a cut today. I had gotten tired of my ends looking a bit straggly, and my braid being quite thin towards the end, I had pondered about for a while (following the two week rule) then decided to go ahead and get a cut.
The experience itself was actually very pleasant. The hairdresser was very nice and complimented me on my hair, I got it washed with organic, silicone free products that smelled great, she massaged my head really nicely. When I checked out the end result, I was happy with it. It was a little shorter than what I had wanted, but then, I knew I could have erred on the side of caution when indicating how much I wanted to have taken off, but I didn't since I wanted to really get nice full ends. I checked out the hemline very carefully, since I had been quite annoyed about what I perceived as remaining stragglyness after my last haircut (different salon). It looked good. A nicely u-shaped clean hemline, as I had requested. But then, that was my hairline when wet. Since I was going to put my hair up anyway, I declined having it dried there, wanting to avoid a full-on blow-dry. So I just put it into a bun, towel-damp as it was, and happily went my way.
Only now that I've come home and my hair has fully dried, and I've combed it out carefully, I am slightly horrified at what the hemline looks like. All right, there may be an element of post-haircut-depression to this, but I feel it looks like it had been gnawed off by rats. It's worse than the last time! There are strands that look a good inch longer than the rest, and the rest isn't a clean line either, rather, it's a conglomerate of slightly varying lengths. So, now I'm wondering: will cutting a straight hemline (no layers) in wavy hair always result in this because the hair is bound to dry to slightly uneven lengths (not all waves are formed equal)? Would getting it cut dry be an option, or do those pesky waves dry differently after each wash, so the result might be even more uneven?
The best looking hemline I've had on this in a long time was quite some time ago when I came in with a straight hemline and the hairdresser then did some slight and very skilful layering in the bottom 5 inches of my hair. Unfortunately for me that was one of those looks that will only work when being done on virgin hair (in this case: on a straight hemline). When I tried to get it replicated a second time (about a year later), there was a noticeable thinning of my hemline as a result, so it was obvious that if repeated it would eventually cost me quite a bit of length since my ends would get increasingly thinner with each such cut.
I am really puzzled now. Just what instructions am I supposed to give a hairdresser, if I want a clean even hemline in my wavy hair WHEN DRY?
I really hope you can give me some tips on this, to avoid these pitfalls the next time round.
Greetings
katharine
manderly
June 19th, 2008, 07:05 PM
I don't know that it's possible to get an even hemline in wavy hair, even if you cut it while dry, because every time your hair dries the pattern will form a little differently.
I honestly don't have a problem with this, but since it bothers you, hopefully someone with experience will have a better answer for you.
Good luck.
Anne~
June 19th, 2008, 07:22 PM
I trim my hair wet and have my husband cut straight across. With curly or wavy hair you have no control of what a curl or wave does. But if you you cut it wet you have the weight of the water in your hair to hold it down to get an EVEN cut. Don't worry about it. If you are wavy or curly like I am you will never be totally even when it dries. What are you going to do with your hair down? Stand in one place all day long and not move? No one will notice except for the beauty of you having long hair.
purplebubba
June 19th, 2008, 07:30 PM
How are you looking at your hair when you see the hemline? Are you looking in a mirror?
Was the stylist pulling your side hair to the back and cutting it or was she cutting it with it hanging where it's at on the sides?
These are some illustrations I made a while back. They are meant to demonstrate the differences between cutting hair where it lies and pulling it to another point. If you imagine these lines as being the side and back hair hopefully you'll see how the results vary.
The line on the left is the side hair.
This one shows what happens if you pull the side hair back and cut it where the back hair reaches. This cut will have a straight hemline if the hair is pulled back. But in reality will be like an upside down U shape when you put the hair where it hangs.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/purplebubba/Stuff3/SameLengthDifferentSpotOnHead2.gif
This one shows what happens if you cut the hair where it hangs. This cut will result in a U shape if you pull the hair back. But the hair will resemble a long one length bob if left to hang in it's spot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/purplebubba/Stuff3/SameLengthDifferentSpotOnHead.gif
ETA: Then you add in the waves spring like factor. You might have a straight line but the waves or curls may spring or stretch depending on lots of factors.
walkinglady
June 19th, 2008, 10:12 PM
When I go in, which isn't to often, I prefer getting a trim on dry hair. The beautician I see is able to even my ends up better this way. I have to give her some extra points though, she takes her time and hits every curl and wave slowly. My hemline is straight not u-shaped so that might make a difference.
Elenna
June 20th, 2008, 12:18 AM
2a here too. I always ask for a blunt cut and it turns out ok. I think that wavy hair needs periodic trims to look neat.
Why does your hair end up uneven? Perhaps, a dry haircut would work better for your hair.
spidermom
June 20th, 2008, 08:47 AM
I've never looked at it like that. I get my hair wet-trimmed in a U-shape. This is how it looks straight and air-dried:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/spidermom/straight1.jpghttp://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/spidermom/sig0418.jpg
I think it looks good both ways.
LaurelSpring
June 20th, 2008, 09:00 AM
My vote would be dry. I use to be a hairdresser and its always better to be able to touch up the ends after it dries and you see where its going to lay. If you go in with it pretty close to what it would be normally then she would have a better chance of cutting with the way your hair lays. It might look more uneven when wet but should lay better dry I think. My hairdresser always cuts my hair dry so she can work with the way I have it.
physicschick
June 20th, 2008, 09:27 AM
Katharine, I'm sorry you're unhappy with your trim. Can you make your hair wet again and have a friend check if it's really even? What you describe sounds surprisingly uneven to me, so I wonder if maybe the stylist missed a piece or two. Also, maybe try drying it again and see if the waves turn out differently? Sometimes I have days when I just get really weird waves, and that might affect your hemline.
My hair is always trimmed wet. It's too fluffy and wavy to trim dry. When dried, it looks about as even as you'd expect for wavy hair. That is, it's not totally even, but nobody would think it wasn't blunt cut.
Delenn
June 20th, 2008, 09:41 AM
My hemline's appearance looks nasty when I wetbun, so my initial knee-jerk reaction to your question is to try wetting it and letting it dry without being bunned and then see how it looks. Or I might be misunderstanding what you're describing, but it seems weird that placing it in a bun would destroy your hemline. Sounds like your waves dried funky. My hair is notorious for having a mind of it's own. Somedays I get a nice full hemline and others it looks scraggly, all depends on how it dried.
k_hepburn
June 20th, 2008, 12:41 PM
Thank you everybody for your kind words and advice!!!
I didn't want to give my hair another wash today, especially since I know that tomorrow, after sports, it's bound to be in for another wash. But I'll definitely go with your recommendation to check out the hemline again tomorrow straight after washing it. Then I'll let it airdry, to see what the hemline looks like when my hair is in it's normal state. Delenn, you may be onto something. While I frequently bun when my hair is not quite fully dry yet, yesterday it definitely was rather sopping wet when I bunned it after the cut, so that may just have been what cuased the waves to be more unruly then usual.
By the way - it was rather late when I posted yesterday, and I was drwing a mental blank looking for the phrase "blunt cut". So what I had asked for (in German), and I tried to describe it here as "even" and "straight" was of course a u-shaped blunt cut.
Greetings
katharine
(wearing her hair in a high ponytail today - it's been absolutely ages since I was able to carry (off) that particular style, and it is quite nice to have something different for a change (even though I miss my length).
Oskimosa
June 20th, 2008, 12:56 PM
Growing up, my mom learned she had to cut my hair dry to avoid it being uneven. That's just personal experience. Nowadays when "pros" cut my hair (still think my mom did a better job :p) they spritz it. I think that avoids damage, right? Sometimes they shampoo it first, but when my hair was bsl and wavy, i couldn't tell if it resulted in an uneven hem or not being so thick.
Moiraine
June 21st, 2008, 04:55 AM
I have 3a/3b thick hair. I have my daughter trim it, take an inch off, maybe a couple of times a year. As you can see in my avi my hemline is as straight as I can get it. She wets my hair down, puts her hand on my wet hair on my back, and trims it off. You have to use a very sharp pair of scissors and cut it in one motion:blossom:
khyricat
June 21st, 2008, 06:44 AM
I trim when wet and pulled straight, it doesn't always look even perfectly when wurly, but then my wurls aren't always the same either... and its close enough.....
Ursula
June 21st, 2008, 06:53 AM
I keep a blunt hemline, using Feye's self-trimming method.
It generally looks its most blunt when freshly combed out. If left loose, it tends to form into locks and look somewhat less even. But it still is quite noticably blunt, rather than natural or tapered.
I've trimmed both wet and dry - it depends on how my hair is when the mood strikes me to trim. Both work to maintain the blunt look to my satisfaction.
There isn't much reason to bother with paying a hairdresser for a plain blunt cut. If anything, wavy hair is more forgiving than stick-straight hair of a slight error when self trimming, as any slight uneavenness gets hidden by the nature of waves.
If you do want a blunt cut from a hairdresser (as I did before learning how to self trim) I've found the best results come from pointing to a spot on your back, and saying "I want a straight-across, blunt trim right there. Keep it a completely straight line across, please."
This seems to work best, in hairdresser talk, which is quite different from LHC talk about hemlines and stuff.
purplebubba
June 21st, 2008, 12:04 PM
I've been Feye, straight across trimming for the past few years.
The way I've been doing it is to leave my hair dry. But when I slide the band down to the cutting position I wet down just the tip where I'm going to be cutting. Then I take a fine comb and comb just the tips. By tips I mean no more than the last 1-3 inches. It depends on how much I'm planning to trim off. When I cut it looks like I'm cutting a straight line.
I wear my hair in a ponytail when I'm not home so it's rare for anyone to see my hair down. So if my hemline is not even to other people they'll never know. But as a wavy it's not going to be even all the time because the environment and situation can change the way the hair hangs. The amount of moisture in hair, the temperature, the amount of wave you have, any products you have applied.
Here's an analogy. When they were building the St, Louis Arch they had a last piece called a keystone to place to connect the two halves. They had to spray one of the halves with fire hoses to cool it down because the sun was heating it up enough to have it bend out of alignment.
Hair responds to everything. And the shape of your hair reflects whatever is going on with your hair at a given moment. It's going to do one thing with the sun beating on it and another with a hose spraying it. And what one hair does is not necessarily what all the hair will do.
MadPirateBippy
June 27th, 2008, 03:28 PM
My hemline looks great some days, horrid others. It's all about the humidity- and I agree with the earlier poster that damp bunning can play tricks on the hemline. :)
I'd braid it and let it dry that way- I always have better luck with braid waves in my hemline than anything else.
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