Sam Villa: 5 Cutting Tips For Texturizing The Crown

5 Tips For Creating Texture & Volume At The Crown
When industry icon Sam Villa (@samvillahair) shares his best haircutting education on creating texture, you snag his best tips and share them with the rest of the BTC fam! And that’s exactly what happened during Sam’s hands-on class at Redken Symposium 2019 in Las Vegas—scroll to learn techniques for sectioning, reverse graduation and cutting to build volume and texture in the crown area. 

1. Use A Zigzag Parting
Start the technique by creating a zigzag parting high in a horseshoe section at the crown and isolate with a clip. Let the client’s hair determine the placement—the height will affect the perimeter of the cut. Examine the client’s texture and density to prevent fighting their natural texture.

2. Sectioning On Fine Hair
Here’s how to create texture on fine hair without removing too much length: Create a zigzag parting along the entire hairline, then isolate using clips. Never cut the hairline! Then, use the length of the hairline as your guide and cut inward. Not only will this technique maintain weight at the hairline, but it will also allow the client to keep length.

3. Reverse Graduation
Take 1-inch horizontal sections starting at the crown and work from short to long. Move from the crown to the fringe using reverse graduation and alternating cutting from short to long, then long to short. Continue this pattern all the way to the fringe.

Pro Tip: Isolate the alternating sections with clips to create a visual map.

4. Scan Cutting Technique
As you work from section to section, Sam recommends scanning the hair—using the tips of the shear and moving through the section, keeping the hair in front of the shear and never in the middle. This creates a visible guide of what direction you’re cutting in.

5. Comb Trick
If the comb is getting in the way, comb through the section then place the corner of the comb in the pocket of your thumb. Fold the comb upward and use your thumb to hold in place.