Builders have blue prints.  Coaches have play books.  Hairstylists have headsheets and diagrams. 

Eric Fisher @ericfisherhair says that a diagram is essential to visualizing a haircut.  “You must understand the foundation of what you are preparing to build. You don’t hang pictures on a wall or decorate a room before you have a building.”  Eric’s Tuesday night classes (which are held weekly for the assistants at Eric Fisher Salon) focus on one ‘basic’ haircut per week.  A critical part of this class is a discussion about the haircut and diagramming it out so everyone can see the sectioning, partings, and techniques being utilized.  Once that step is mastered, stylists do a consultation with their client and thoroughly examine their headshape, bone structure, hair density and texture.  

Alex Ioannou @alexioannourtrio, owner of Trio Salon in Chicago and former Artistic Director of Sassoon, says, “The (haircut) diagram AND text is like a recipe book. If you want to bake a cake, you follow a recipe. Once you understand the steps and memorize what’s next, you can handle the baking on your own, sometimes even adding a little of your own spice!”  He admits that while there are thousands of haircuts and one can’t possibly learn and memorize them all, the basic fundamentals are all you need. Become a master chef in cutting and the rest will fall into place.

Both Fisher and Ioannou are proponents of writing down the description in a way that if someone read the text and followed with the drawings, they would understand the process and be able to recreate the haircut.  “It’s a lot of extra work, however, successful people do the things unsuccessful people don’t want to do…so get your headsheets out, and think about each step” Ioannou says in conclusion.