How to haircut faster and more efficiently, saving time, money, and energy
Transcript
00:00 American salon followers, how's it going?
00:03 We are back again at IBS.
00:05 I'm here with Jay Ramos.
00:07 He's with the wall team and he is doing incredible stuff today.
00:11 He's going to teach us, I'm going to let him explain it in a second, but essentially he's going to teach you
00:15 how you can increase the amount of people in your chair and you can increase the amount of money that you're making
00:21 and you can increase the amount of happiness with your customers.
00:24 So that is huge.
00:25 Tell me a little bit about how you're going to do that today.
00:27 What's going on?
00:28 So what I'm going to show you guys today is that I'm going to show you guys how to eliminate a bunch of steps
00:33 that we normally do when we're fading.
00:35 Now I'm not going to take it down to skin, but what we're going to bring it down to is what we call a dark fade.
00:40 So we're going to bring it down all the way down to a number two guard.
00:43 And normally in the salons or the barbershops, what we're used to doing is we normally start at the bottom
00:49 and we do a two, two and a half, three, three and a half, four, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
00:55 If I could show you guys how to cut down a bunch of those steps, wouldn't that make sense?
01:00 If I could show you guys how to cut down a bunch of steps and be able to get it done faster, get the fade done faster,
01:06 eliminate lines of demarcations.
01:08 Yes.
01:09 We just save a bunch of time.
01:11 Initially, if we take about 30 minutes on a haircut, we cut down to 15, 20 minutes.
01:15 And at the end of the day, all that means is that we save time.
01:18 We can be able to get more customers in our chair.
01:20 And that means more customer means?
01:22 More money.
01:23 More money.
01:24 Time is money.
01:25 Can never be more appropriate than in the salon.
01:28 Jay, thank you for being here.
01:29 I'm going to let you go ahead and take it away.
01:31 He's already started, so he's got half of his model done, and he's going to show us how to get this lip on the other half as well.
01:36 So thank you so much.
01:37 Great.
01:38 So what I did was, for the viewers out there, so I did half of his head already so you guys can see the after.
01:44 So that way I'll just do the before.
01:49 If I step away, you guys can see how this side is shorter.
01:52 And then we're going to take all this hair off.
01:54 So the first thing we're going to do is we're going to pick up our Wahl Cordless Magic Clips, my favorite clipper.
02:02 And we're going to start off with a number six guard.
02:04 We're going to make sure that we place that guard on the blade, make sure we get the click.
02:09 And the first thing we're going to do is we're going to comb out the hair, making sure we take out all the knots out, seeing the natural hair fall.
02:16 The second thing we're going to do is we're going to slightly angle our customer's head away from us.
02:22 So what we're going to do is we're going to start right in front of his ear, turn our Cordless Magic Clip on, and use a technique that I call parallel to the wall.
02:31 A lot of times when we cut hair, we tend to follow the curvature of the head.
02:36 Also, sometimes we kind of scoop out.
02:39 The thing is that if we want to get these steps done, and we want to get this technique right, the more we scoop out, the more of an umbrella look we're going to have.
02:47 You know when you cut hair and you have your customer looking like an umbrella look? We want to avoid that.
02:51 So this is what we're going to do. Parallel to the wall, straight up, and that's it.
02:59 Straight up, comb the hair back down.
03:03 This is the only motion I'm going to be doing.
03:11 Right behind the ear.
03:13 That's a lot of hair.
03:15 It worked out perfectly because he came to me and said, "Can you cut my hair? I want to cut it short."
03:22 He says to me, "I want to change my style."
03:25 I'm like, "Listen, dude. This will be perfect for a Facebook Live that we're going to be doing. Can you please hold out until then?"
03:31 He's like, "Yeah, man. Of course."
03:33 American Salon appreciates your patience.
03:37 So yeah, if the viewers out there are watching, all I'm doing is just going straight up and down.
03:42 I'm not going too fast so you guys can get a good look at what I'm doing.
03:48 So do remember a lot of times, we want to buy habit. We kind of want to go like this.
03:53 What I tell people is if you want to get this technique down, a good tip is take your comb, put it right above the ear, take half of your guard,
04:02 place half of it on the comb and the other half on the head, hold it on top, just go straight up.
04:09 Straight up and down because what happens is this gets you in the habit of that motion going up and down.
04:14 See, as soon as I took the comb away, my hand did not change by going in or out.
04:20 So if you're having a hard time not following the contour of the head, I suggest you do that.
04:25 That's an awesome kind of foolproof technique that I can't accept if you're able to have techniques like that to guide you.
04:30 Yeah, because like I said, a lot of times we just want to go like this.
04:35 And remember, we're not doing an undercut.
04:37 The only reason why I parted his hair this way is that I got a nice clean parting.
04:41 I did a U-shaped parting and it takes all the hair away from the ear that I'm concentrating.
04:46 So Bob has this five-step thinking process, not a five-step method, five-step thinking process.
04:53 So five-step meaning the first step is where's my shortest?
04:56 My shortest is down here.
04:58 Where's my longest?
04:59 My longest is up here.
05:01 My third, where's my transition area?
05:03 My transition area is right here.
05:05 Fourth, do I need to add texture?
05:08 And my fifth is do I finish it with product or maybe I need to go over and take off any straggly's?
05:15 So it's a great method to apply to all your haircuts if you're trying to figure out exactly how you want to do it,
05:20 what you want to do to accomplish your haircuts.
05:23 Nice.
05:24 So when we get down here, we're going to work side.
05:30 But when we get to the top, again, remember, it's always straight up and down.
05:43 So a third technique that I'm using is reverse graduation.
05:47 Now remember when we learn how to fade, we use graduation to fade, meaning one, two, three, four, five.
05:52 Reverse graduation is the opposite, five, four, three, two, one.
05:56 So I'm starting off with a six.
05:57 Remember I said we can take a number six guard and place it on our way.
06:01 So if I'm using reverse graduation, can you help me out?
06:04 What would be my next guard?
06:05 Five.
06:06 My five, right?
06:07 Yes.
06:08 But since we're working on this special technique, this also allows us to guard skip.
06:12 So if I say, are you using a six, we can guard skip.
06:16 So that means we can skip our five.
06:18 So we go to four?
06:19 We go to four.
06:20 Awesome.
06:21 So basically just then and there, we saved ourselves one big step.
06:25 Because now we don't have to use our five, and because we have our customer's head tilted slightly away from us,
06:30 and we're using parallel to the wall technique, now we can eliminate our five and a half and our four and a half.
06:36 Oh, wow.
06:37 So that takes out three different blades that you would normally have to cover for this.
06:41 100 different guards.
06:42 Yeah.
06:43 Wow.
06:44 So here we go.
06:45 I'm not on Criss Angel, but I can guarantee you that this four will blend into the six.
06:51 As long as I have my parallel to the wall technique, have my customer's head tilted slightly away from me, watch and observe.
06:57 Remember?
06:58 [Blade being sharpened]
07:15 Again, guys, we're doing this in slow motion so you guys can get a good visual for when you want to try this back at the shop.
07:21 [Blade being sharpened]
07:30 And that buzzer is so quiet.
07:32 The flippers are so quiet.
07:33 Oh, yeah.
07:34 That wall magic clip.
07:36 Sorry, the wall cordless magic clip, I should say.
07:40 Lithium-ion battery, rotary motor, has a continuous running time of 90 to 120 minutes.
07:48 Don't get that confused. A lot of people say, "Well, 90 minutes and it's done."
07:52 No. That means if I took my clipper and I turn it on and I left it anywhere between 90 to 120 minutes, that's when the battery will die.
08:01 But I usually tell people, "You can get a good seven to eight haircuts out of this clipper before you even plug it in."
08:09 That's awesome.
08:13 I'm almost done with my four. I'll turn them around a little bit for the back part.
08:19 So some of the viewers out there that are watching, now that you know that we can guard skip, you can say what the next guard would be.
08:29 Remember, we started off with the six. We skipped the five. We're working with our four.
08:36 Then we're going to go down to the two.
08:39 Yep. You got it.
08:40 Nice.
08:42 [Clipper noise]
08:57 So this is just one of those ways that technique, you don't have to have all the different tools in the world.
09:02 You don't have to have all the different stuff in the world or all the time in the world.
09:05 If you get these little tips of technique, you can really help yourself advance in your career.
09:11 100%.
09:12 I mean, it's always recommended to get every single tool under the sun because the more tools you have, the more you're not just limiting yourself.
09:20 Because remember, especially with wall clippers, there's always a certain tool for a certain job.
09:24 Now, I don't want to get too much into these because I don't want to take up our time with the technique that we're doing
09:29 because our wall cordless magic clip comes with a crunch blade technology, meaning it has a staggered tooth blade.
09:35 Meaning at the cutting blade, there's one tooth that's small, one tooth that's big, one tooth that's small, one tooth that's big, and so on.
09:42 And what that does is it helps us blend.
09:46 Yep.
09:47 It helps us blend a lot easier.
09:48 Makes it look smoother.
09:49 Yep.
09:51 So like you were saying, we went from a six, skipped our five, went to a four, skipped our three, and then we're going to our two.
09:57 Two. Love it.
09:59 Make sure that we hear the click. That's real important.
10:01 Because a lot of times, we don't hear the click, we just place it on, and when we start cutting, it can pop off.
10:06 And then we're just--
10:07 It gives me a heart attack just even thinking about it.
10:09 I also want you guys to realize that at no point in time did I ever open my adjustment lever.
10:14 That's a big one, too.
10:15 Yeah.
10:16 This whole time, the adjustment lever's always been closed.
10:18 So again, we're going to start off in front of the ear.
10:21 Make sure we redistribute the hair.
10:24 Make sure that our head is tilted slightly away from us.
10:27 Still using the same technique, parallel to the wall technique.
10:30 We're not changing, we're not rolling the curvature or swooping out.
10:54 Right behind the ear. Super clean.
10:58 You can see this up close and personal, right?
11:01 Yeah.
11:02 There's no lines of demarcation.
11:05 I'm going to bring it in and show you guys up close.
11:07 How smooth it is.
11:13 It's blending just like you said it would.
11:20 And a big reason, too, that this is able to happen is because of the type of blade that I have on here.
11:26 Yeah.
11:27 Like I was saying, a lot of times we're in the shop and we're changing our guards, we're opening, closing, changing.
11:34 We'll have a hard line of demarcation.
11:36 We'll take that one and then we'll bring it up even higher.
11:39 I'm almost virtually done.
11:41 So we can see here is my longest part, here's my shortest part, within here's my transition.
11:47 At no time have I ever opened my adjustment lever.
11:50 Every single time it's always been closed.
11:53 It's great.
11:56 I've got to tell you guys, I'm trying to do this as slow as I can just so you guys won't miss any steps.
12:08 Or I won't go too fast.
12:10 But usually when I'm in the shop I'll definitely be a lot faster.
12:15 So how fast can you normally knock one of these out of the shop?
12:18 Excuse me?
12:19 How fast can you normally knock out one of these haircuts in your shop?
12:22 Well, depending on the haircut, every haircut is different.
12:24 Some haircuts 20, 30 minutes, 40 minutes.
12:26 Right.
12:27 But mainly if I'm doing this particular haircut, not counting the top, I'll be able to bust out the bottom part in 5 minutes.
12:34 5 minutes.
12:35 5 minutes.
12:36 And how long would it take if you used every one of your guards?
12:40 Well, how long would it take if I traditionally did how I was taught in school, barber school, or probably 15 minutes?
12:49 Oh.
12:50 Yeah.
12:51 Just remember if I were to start with my 2, I would do a 2, then I would do a 2.5, then I would do a 3, then 3.5, then 4, and 4.5.
13:01 So right in there we just added a whole bunch of other steps.
13:05 When we do it this way, we eliminate all those extra steps.
13:10 And remember guys, we're trying to work smarter, not harder.
13:14 So this is me going about at normal pace in the shop.
13:21 You can also see that I'm still not changing my technique.
13:26 It's still parallel to the wall, but I'm just speeding it up so you guys can see this is how I normally do it at the shop.
13:31 And if I were to take my hand away from my client and you'll see that I'm still in the same rhythm motion,
13:38 that's because I've practiced this so much where I don't have to try to force myself to kind of go up and down, up and down anymore.
13:46 So I kind of got a down pat.
13:48 [Breathing]
14:14 So then from here, if you wanted to, you can even take it down shorter.
14:18 When we start working with our shorter numbers, anything smaller than a 2, this is when we have to stay true to the old steps.
14:25 It gets a little difficult trying to guard skip from a 2 to a 1 to a 1 to a 0.
14:31 So from here, if you did want to take it even shorter, you would have to go down to a 1.5 guard.
14:37 And yes, wall makes 1.5 guards.
14:40 So place that, still have my adjustment lever closed.
14:45 Now what I would use another technique if I were to get this down shorter, I would use a C-scooping technique.
14:52 I'm going to get this a little bit closer so we can see.
15:00 So you guys notice now the motion that I'm going in, it's kind of going in back and then following the C, coming in and out.
15:07 [Breathing]
15:34 If you're working with any squirrels or cowlicks, especially in the nape area, be sure to turn your clippers going in the opposite direction.
15:41 Always going against the hair growth.
15:43 [Breathing]
15:49 So I'm literally finished.
15:51 Again, if you did want to go tighter, what we do is the same motion, the C-scope technique.
15:56 Come down with a 1.5.
15:58 If you want to go tighter, 1, 1.5, 0, so on and so forth.
16:02 But yeah, literally I would be done with this up in the shop.
16:05 I would finish him up with his edge up and then I would cut the top and then I would just connect it, blend it, and then we're good to go.
16:10 That's awesome.
16:12 Well, Jay, appreciate you showing us everything today.
16:16 It's going to help everybody make everything get good for their future.
16:19 Of course, man, of course.
16:20 And now, if you can, just do, for the people who have just tuned in, what we went through, and you can watch this again, it's going to be posted on our Facebook.
16:27 Tell them about what you did today and why you did it.
16:30 Sure. So what I did was I used a couple of different techniques.
16:33 My main technique was parallel to the wall.
16:37 So what that means is that if I were to take my clipper here, mainly a lot of us, when we cut hair, we kind of want to follow the contour of the head, right?
16:48 So what I tell people is put your comb against the head, half the blade on the comb, the other half on the head, and then you get that, you get the motion going up and down, which is parallel to the wall technique, which is this.
16:58 So we start off with our six, and because of doing that, we did a couple of techniques.
17:03 We did reverse graduation, and we also guard skipped, which is big, and I think you're a little surprised because of that, right?
17:11 So we went from a six, skipped a five, went to a four, skipped our three, went to a two.
17:15 And we also skipped our five and a half, three and a half, four and a half.
17:19 We skipped all those halves, and for the viewers out there who don't know what a half is, in the industry, when we have our blade closed, that's a zero.
17:26 When we open our blade, that's blade open, or a half.
17:30 And when we fade, usually we do two, two and a half, three, three and a half, four, four and a half, et cetera, et cetera.
17:37 So there's so much talking that you're able to get rid of.
17:41 Just eliminate, no reason.
17:43 And speed through the process, still have a great shape on the hair that the client's going to be happy with.
17:48 And you're also, I mean, nobody wants to be sitting down all day long.
17:51 I love talking to my barber as much as the next guy.
17:54 But people also are busy, they got things to do.
17:56 And you've got other people to see and chairs to fill, and you can rotate and see so many more people this way.
18:02 100%. Just think about this, guys.
18:04 If you're able to see 10 minutes on each haircut, and six haircuts, that's 60 minutes.
18:09 That's a whole hour.
18:10 What are you going to do with an extra hour at the end of the day?
18:13 You could book two, three more customers.
18:15 That's more money, right?
18:17 Yeah. So the other thing we wanted to do is, we probably have some viewers who speak Spanish.
18:22 Can you give them a quick rundown in Spanish of what everything's going on?
18:25 So what I was told, this is the first time something in Spanish is going to go down, right?
18:29 Yeah.
18:30 That's awesome.
18:31 Yeah, first time on our Facebook Live today.
18:32 Alright.
18:33 [Spanish]
19:01 [Spanish]
19:23 There you go, bro.
19:24 Thanks, man.
19:25 Thank you so much.
19:26 My pleasure.
19:27 So you guys, go follow Jay on social media.
19:30 He's tagged in our posts.
19:31 Go follow Walt.
19:33 Check out everything that we're doing with American Salon.
19:35 We'll be up there all day.
19:36 Come back and ask questions, too, because we'll be able to contact Jay and make sure that he's answering them for you.
19:42 So if you've got questions, send them our way.
19:44 Thank you so much for your time, and we'll be back a little bit later today with more.
19:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]