Curly Hair Cuts: What to Ask For and What to Avoid
Curly hair gets cut wrong more often than any other hair type I see at my chair in River North. Usually it is not a skill problem. Nobody agreed on what the cut was supposed to do before the first section came down.
What to ask for in a curly haircut
Ask for shape rather than inches. Describe where you want volume, where your curls fall flat, and how you style your hair on a normal day. Ask whether your stylist cuts curls dry or wet. Avoid heavy thinning shears, blunt one length cuts on tight curl patterns, and any promise of a curl pattern you were not born with.
Shape is the whole job, length is one input
When someone tells me to take two inches off, my first question is what they want the hair to do. Two inches off the perimeter of a curly head can change almost nothing, or it can drop the whole silhouette into a triangle. Curls do not hang, they stack, so weight in the wrong place pushes the shape sideways instead of letting it fall.
So I plan a curly cut from the outline inward, not from the ends up. I look at where the hair wants to expand, where it collapses under its own weight, and where you part it. Length is the last decision I make. You can see the range of cutting work on our haircut page, and starting prices for every service are listed on our service menu.
Weight removal and length removal are different requests
Length removal shortens the perimeter. Weight removal takes bulk out of the interior so curls can separate and lift. Someone flat and heavy on top needs weight taken and barely any length. Someone with thin stringy ends needs the opposite. Asking for both when you only needed one is how people end up with a shape they cannot style.
Dry cutting and wet cutting
I cut most curly hair dry, or close to dry, because that is the only way to see what I am shaping. Wet curls stretch. A curl that reads at your collarbone soaking wet can sit at your jaw once it dries. On a tight pattern that gap is inches.
When I still cut wet
Looser waves often behave well wet, especially when we are building a graduated shape or a clean line at the nape. I also cut wet when someone wears their hair smooth most of the time, because the cut has to read correctly in the form you actually wear. If you flat iron four days out of seven, say so before anyone picks up shears.
What dry cutting will not do
Dry cutting is a visibility tool, nothing more. It does not change your curl pattern, repair damage, or make fine curls dense. If your curls are snapping mid strand or refusing to clump, that is a condition problem, and a conditioning treatment does more for it than shears will.
How to ask for what you want
Arrive with your hair the way it normally looks. Not slicked back, not freshly straightened, not twisted up since yesterday. I learn more from ten seconds of looking at your dry hair than from any reference photo.
Language that helps me
Useful: I hate how wide it gets around my ears. My curls die by the third day. I need to be able to wear it up. Less useful: a number of inches with nothing behind it, or the word layers on its own. Long layers, internal weight removal, and a heavy graduated shape are three different cuts, and two of them can flatten a pattern that needed the third.
Ask about the plan before it starts
Before I cut, I say out loud what I am about to do and where the shape will land. If your stylist does not, ask. Ask where the shortest piece will sit and how the cut will read on a wash and go compared to a blowout. A curly cut with me runs about 60 to 90 minutes, and much of that is talking. You can meet the team on our stylist page and read feedback on our reviews page.
What to avoid
Thinning shears run through curls
Thinning shears have a place, but dragged through curly hair they leave short broken looking ends that poke out of every clump and take a long time to blend back in. If somebody reaches for them without telling you why, ask.
One blunt line across a dense curl pattern
A single blunt perimeter on thick curls builds a wide triangle nearly every time. The interior has to be opened up before that outline can fall.
Chasing a curl pattern you do not have
No haircut turns waves into ringlets or ringlets into a soft S bend. Genuinely different texture is a chemical conversation, and our texture services page lays out what those services do. A cut can make your pattern behave. It cannot replace it.
Cutting and coloring in the wrong order
On curly hair I usually cut first and color second, because the shape decides where brightness needs to land. Kevin, our master colorist, places balayage differently once the finished outline is visible. If you want both in one visit, say so when you book. Our color services page covers the options, and color prices on its own scale, driven by starting depth, partial versus full placement, and whether a gloss finishes it.
Growing out a curly cut you regret
Do not try to fix it the next morning. A cut that feels wrong at home is sometimes a styling problem, and the second wash tells you more than the first. Give it two weeks. If it is still wrong, come back and say so plainly.
Real corrections happen across visits, not in one sitting. If the interior was over thinned, we let those pieces grow long enough to blend and shape around them in the meantime. A triangle is faster, often one appointment, because it is a weight issue. Most of my curly clients settle into a 10 to 12 week schedule, and a grow out plan runs across two or three of those visits. Each is its own appointment, so a correction plan costs more in total than a single cut.
If your curly cuts never quite work, book a haircut online and say exactly that when you sit down, or call us at (312) 929-2627.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I wash my hair before a curly haircut?
Come in with clean hair from within a day or two, dry and styled the way you normally wear it. Product is fine. What I do not want is second week buildup flattening the curls, or a fresh wet wash that hides where your hair sits.
How often should I get my curly hair cut?
Most of my curly clients land on a 10 to 12 week rhythm. With a shorter shape or heat damage on the ends, closer to 8 weeks keeps it clean. Hair you are actively growing can stretch further, as long as we still take off what is splitting.
Does a curly cut cost more than a regular haircut?
No, it is the same haircut on our menu, not a curly surcharge. What moves the number is the work in front of me. Length and density come first: a dense head takes longer to section and detangle, and more product before I can see the pattern I am shaping. A tight coil hides length and has to be read curl by curl. Scope counts too, because a perimeter cleanup is not the same job as opening up an over weighted interior. A stylist’s experience level plays in too. In a Chicago salon this kind of specialty cutting work usually lands somewhere in the low hundreds, and a multi visit correction can run several times that. We confirm your number in the chair, once we have both looked at your hair and agreed on the goal. Either way, book the time rather than expecting to be in and out.
Can a haircut get rid of frizz?
Partly. Frizz caused by bulk and mismatched lengths improves a lot with the right shape. Frizz from a damaged cuticle needs treatment work instead, which is where bonding and deep conditioning earn their keep.
Can I get a curly cut with extensions in?
Yes, and it has to be cut differently. Blending curly hair with wefts or bonds is its own skill, and it is priced as its own service because it takes longer. Every row has to be blended into your natural pattern, and more hair means more time and more product. A full head costs more to cut than a few pieces at the sides. Our extensions page explains those appointments.
What if my two sides do not match?
Almost nobody has matching sides. One side usually holds a tighter pattern or sits higher. I cut to the way your hair falls rather than to a measurement, so the sides can differ on paper and still read even in the mirror.
