Take a short road trip out of any metropolitan area and America is still primarily countryside and small towns. For the last few years, the Americana spirit has made its way out of those small towns and into the lives of the rebellious youth in many large cities.
Denim shirts, worn-in boots and accessories made of bone, leather and rock can be found in hip neighborhood boutiques. Popular radio is flooded with the sounds of the Deep South (Black Keys and White Stripes) and Appalachian Mountains (Mumford & Sons and Lumineers). High-end barbershops are also thriving due to the passion for classic designs.
The Sam Villa Americana Men's Haircut Collection takes the heart of this movement and demonstrates three men's designs that are current, wearable, and adaptable to any clientele. The design focus is around precision clipper and scissor over comb techniques blended with modern textures and contrasting lengths.
Read below as we'll walk you through three step by step haircuts from the Sam Villa Americana Men's Haircut Collection.
Tools of Choice For These Step By Step Haircuts:
- Professional Dry Cutting Shear
- Reversible Blending Shear
- Professional Ionic Hair Dryer
- Row Finishing Brush
- Short Cutting Comb
Step By Step: Americana Men's Hairstyle #1
Design/Cut:
- Create a long rectangle detachment just above the round of the head (round the corners of your rectangle in the crown area).
- Using the Sam Villa Signature Series 7 Dry Cutting Shear and the Sam Villa Signature Series Short Cutting Comb, cut the lower portion scissor-over-comb using the thickness of the comb as a guide for length. Switch between the wide length of the comb for removing length and the fine teeth for detailing.
- Take a one-inch section down the center of the top section stretching from the crown to the forehead to create your guide for the top.
- Elevate the section straight up 90 degrees from the top of the head and cut from shortest at the crown to longest at the front hairline (approximately 2 inches at the crown to 5 inches at the hairline).
- Continue taking parallel sections using the center section for a traveling guide and continue the same elevation until you reach the detachment at the round of the head.
- Utilize a weave cutting technique with the Sam Villa Signature Series Blending Shear in the top section to create strong contrasts of short and long pieces. The short pieces also help to support the longer pieces for fullness in the crown area.
- Blend the hairline down to the skin with a clipper for that retro barbershop finish.
Finish:
- On towel-dried hair, apply a small amount of Redken for Men grip tight holding gel directly to the root area.
- Blow dry hair back using the Sam Villa Professional Ionic Hair Dryer and hands to stretch the root area to create volume.
- Apply a half pump of Redken rough paste 12 working paste evenly throughout the top and dust Redken powder grip 03 mattifying hair powder through the root area to create a strong matte finish base to support the height of the pomp.
Hot Tip: To switch up the style on this shape, allow the top to fall off to one side and work Redken for Men dishevel fiber cream throughout for a casual lived-in look.
Step By Step: Americana Men's Hairstyle #2
Design/Cut:
- Section everything below the round of the head carefully, following the natural diagonal back flow of the head and dropping down just below the occipital.
- Using the Sam Villa Signature Series 7 Dry Cutting Shear, build a strong graduation with scissor over comb technique.
- Once a strong weight line is established, come back in and work a skin fade technique with an adjustable clipper that blends quickly to the weight line to leave a visual edge.
- Section everything in the round of the head.
- Taking vertical sections, elevate to 90 degrees from the sides of the head, no over direction, with a strong graduated finger angle. Use the length from the lower panel as a guide for your shortest length and work longer towards the top.
- Release the top section of hair and comb into its natural fall with a strong side part.
- Taking the same vertical sections, over direction, elevation, and finger angle, continue the graduation to leave a strong weight line at the top of the shape.
- Continue the graduation to leave a strong weight line at the top of the shape.
- Take vertical sections across the top of the head, elevate and over direct straight up to the ceiling and point cut a flat cutting line across the top - length is about 3-4 inches.
- Refine the finished shape with the Sam Villa Signature Series Blending Shear. Come back through the shape with the same section, elevation, over direction, and finger angle and take one or two cuts through the ends.
- The key is to leave the strength of the shape in tact while softening the outside edges for wearability and versatility.
Finish:
- On towel-dried hair, apply Redken for Men grip tight holding gel all over.
- Comb into natural fall.
- Use a Sam Villa Signature Series Short Cutting Comb and the Sam Villa Professional Ionic Hair Dryer to blow dry hair into its natural fall.
- Comb the front edge up and back to get the swept feel on the front edge.
- Finish with Redken for Men polish up defining pomade for high shine and control.
Hot Tip: To blend skin fades into a beard, lay a Sam Villa Signature Series Short Cutting Comb flat against the side burn area with the fine teeth of the comb right at the disconnected point. Keep that point against the skin and lift other end of the comb away from the face creating a reverse fade. Use a clipper to cut the hair away on the outside of the comb.
Step By Step: Americana Men's Hairstyle #3
Design/Cut:
- Part off a rectangular detachment just above the round of the head and clip this hair out of the way.
- Utilizing the Sam Villa Signature Series Blending Shear, work with a scissor over comb technique to create an even finger length all over below the detachment.
- Detail the perimeter with the Sam Villa Signature Series Blending Shear for a very lived in texture.
- Release the upper detached area.
- Cut this top panel using vertical sections, 90-degree elevation from the shape of the head, and no over direction. The cutting line follows the shape of the head and the length is about 2-3 inches.
- Standing in front, take horizontal sections, elevate and over direct the hair straight forward to an imaginary wall and deep point cut a flat cutting line to create the cropped off fringe area.
- To soften the detachment, slide cut between the two lengths just enough to create a touch of blending without losing the visual impact of the detachment.
- Deep point cut throughout the rest of the shape for visual texture.
Finish:
- On towel-dried hair, spray Redken Curvaceous Wind Up reactivating spray.
- With the Sam Villa Professional Ionic Hair Dryer on low airflow and low heat, use fingers to scrunch in a random curl texture while drying.
- To further separate the texture after the hair is dry, use Redken maneuver working wax on fingertips to define the ends of the curls.
Hot Tip: Detachment doesn't always have to be extreme or even plainly visible. In this haircut, it helps to collapse the weight at the round of the head and allow for more length in the top rather than blending the two points together.
