Old stylist told me to stop over-drying hair before cutting

A cosmetologist who's been doing this 30 years watched me dry a client's hair bone-dry before a cut last Tuesday. She said cut it when it's 80% dry instead and my layers came out way softer. Anyone else try cutting damp instead of fully dry?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim.sandra14d ago

I mean, does it really make that much of a difference if you just adjust your technique slightly? Seems like overthinking it to me.

hall.ruby12d ago

Have you actually tried both ways back to back on the same head of hair? Because I was exactly where you're at until I did a side by side test on my sister's hair. One side cut dry, the other side damp. The dry side looked perfect in the chair and then completely shifted when it dried, ended up uneven and shorter than I wanted. The damp side settled exactly where I left it. It's not about overthinking, it's about physics. Water changes how hair hangs and weighs it down, so if you cut it bone dry you're basically guessing where it's gonna land when it's styled.

nora1014d ago

My barber buddy taught me the same thing about 5 years back... I fought it at first because I thought dry cutting gave me more control. But 80% dry really is the sweet spot, especially for fine hair that bounces back when it dries. The weight of the water pulls everything down a bit so you can see where it's really gonna fall when it's dry. I still do a fully dry trim for buzzcuts or really short crops where you need that hard line, but everything else gets the damp treatment now.

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