Barbershop Blog

MEN’S HAIRSTYLES AND THE BARBER’S PURSUIT OF TEXTURE

July 16, 2022
Have you ever sat in the barber chair and wondered what the heck the barber is doing? You see them cutting this way and that way, using weird toothed scissors and it all seems a little bizarre? Well, wonder no more because they are likely just trying to create texture and in today’s article we talk about men’s hairstyles, the barber’s pursuit of texture and the weird and wonderful ways in which they achieve it.
Man With Textured Crop Haircut

Why do barbers try to create texture when cutting hair?

Texture is all about volume and movement, the barber will use texture to control the volume and give the illusion of movement when creating a hairstyle. Texture can create a fuller looking head of hair on a man with thinning hair and tame the volume on a man with thick hair. So it doesn’t really matter the hair type, the barber is usually in the pursuit of texture as this is beneficial in so many different ways.


How do barbers create texture when cutting hair?

When it comes to texture in men’s hair styles, the wizardry takes time and practice to conjure expertly and that is why it is a skill that lays only in the realm of the master barber. There is an entire range of techniques that barbers use to create texture in a haircut however some of the most common are as follows.


  • Chipping & Point Cutting

    The barber will hold the scissors in a vertical direction to the hair and snip or ‘chip away’ small angles, creating textured ends rather than blunt edges.
Barber Point Cutting hair


  • Razor cutting

    Using a comb as a guard, the barber drags a razor over sections of hair. This technique is often brought out by the big guns at the barbershop.
Barber Texturising With Razor


  • Twist Cutting

    For this technique the barber tightly twists up sections of hair and then cuts them with scissors. The scissors make contact with the twisted hair at different lengths to gain the desired effect.
Barber Twist Cutting Hair



How do barbers create texture with styling products?

A haircut always ends with the barber asking if you’d like some product to finalise the haircut. Depending on the chosen hairstyle, this is usually the final step in the barbers pursuit of texture and it is achieved with products like sea salt spray, volumising powder, pastes and clays. Often a combination of products is worked through the hair with the hands to obtain the best results.
Styling With Volumising Powder