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As a client it can be very confusing to go into a salon and know what to ask for, especially if you don't have the technical background and words to back you up.

With this post I’m hoping to help make it abit more clear about the different types of Bobs available and what to expect and how they will look. Of course a post about Bobs is not complete without the mention of Vidal Sassoon, (the king of bobs). I had the privilege of training and working in Sassoon's in the 80’s and I definitely feel like I got the best training that a stylist can ask for. The 80’s was the time of strict structured shapes before razoring and texturising became so popular, so most of the haircuts were extremely technical, so I felt this helped me with my bob situations. So anyway, I’m using some original Sassoon Classic pictures as well as other examples to help with my explanations and opinions.

The 4 types of bobs I will talk about are shown below with Classic Sassoon pictures:
Classic One Length Bob(2 versions shown) Bob with Layers(medium length and layers)
Bob with Graduation (Classic Nancy Kwan bob for Vogue) and the Graduated Bob.

Classic One Length Bobs:
Great for people who would like a simple cut with no layers to it. (One length means that all the hair is brought down and cut to visually look like one length at the bottom.) Works great if you already have straight smooth hair but it you have any texture to it, it would need alot of blow drying to get the sharp look. For people who have very thick hair, the one length bob is not advisable as it would look very heavy and triangular at the bottom half, therefore adding too much width visually to their cheek area. Length can vary from hairline length to the top of the shoulders, and what can also vary is whether the bottom part is cut blunt with the scissors or razored through giving it soft edges like Gwyneth Paltrow’s. Here are afew other samples of One Length Bobs:


Bob with Layers:
This is something you could ask for if you like the look of a bob shape but your hair is too thick to have the classic one length, Layers can be added to your hair and can vary from short to longer fuller layers. Length too can vary from hairline to top of shoulders. Can be done on straight, wavy or curly hair. Afew more example of Bobs with layers on Nicole, model and Cathy done by Joni at Dekko:




Bob with Graduation:
This Bob shape is one of my favorites because not only is it a sharp defined shape, but it is fantastic and almost a must for making fine thin hair look fuller. (Graduation means to build up weight from short to long creating a fuller shape) It is also a flattering ‘all age’ shape that in my eyes, will never date. This one is where the bob appears to be one length but in fact there is graduation in it, much more at the back and then blending into the sides. The graduation that is put into it can be either very subtle or much more exaggerated (think Katie Holmes with her bob), if the hair is cut well then even without the blow day, the shape will hold and form a fuller look, this technique/style can be done on straight, wavy or curly hair. Here’s Katie’s as well as a couple of clients, Rachel and Simone from Dekko:




Graduated Bobs:
Last but not least this one is the shorter version of the Bob. The difference between this one the others is the back. Rather than having a straight clean line like the others, this one works the hair short into the nape from the occipital bone and follows your natural hairline into the nape. Asian hair in particular have a harder time with this one because the hair is usually coarser so it can stick out wildly, whereas with the finer hair and hairlines, this style can look very soft and feminine. It has a much stronger look because of the length, for me as soon as you mention Graduated Bobs, Louise Brooks (20’s silent movie star) and Mary Quant (60’s fashion icon)come to mind. Most clients who ask for the jaw/cheek level bobs needs to understand that if your natural hairline is longer than your desired length then you will have the graduated shorter part in the back, I know some of you will call it a ‘step’ and alot of people don't like it so short so please be aware that you will have the ‘step’ look if you go for the cheek level bob. Also be aware that your natural hairline shape will have an impact on how short the back goes with this style as you have to work with it. Here’s Louise Brooks, Rachel Lim from Dekko, and Mary Quant:

My pick Ted Gibson

Cute little haircut by Ted Gibson. I personally like and chose this because it’s so nice to see Asian hair sliced and diced up to give it texture and movement without overly razoring or thinning out of the hair. Nice refreshing everyday look that can be utilized on alot of clients.



Here is my 2nd round of haircuts to show you from Dove Palmer, I have chosen another 10 fantastic looks for you to check out : )

Dove Palmer is Creative Director for Vidal Sassoon Advanced Academy in London, UK. He also ran the Masters Academy for them too and has made 3 DVD step by step videos as well helped in contributing at least 12 haircut pictures for the Academy Photo collection. I came across Dove's work on Facebook and instantly LOVED the exquisite work done by him. Funnily enough Dove turned out to have the same mentor as I did back in the day. Stacey Broughton (also from Sassoons) has been his mentor since he went to work for Sassoon's. I definitely spotted the Stacey traits in the haircuts.
I have so many different styles to show you that he has done over the years that I have decided to split them up into 3 slide shows so that we can make the most of showcasing his work. Dove's specialty seems to be on Asian hair, whether its because he tours to the Far East to do seminars so much (and for up to 4months at a time) or maybe its because his wife has so many friends that needs to utilise his craft, I don't know, but whatever it may be, I'm so happy to be able to show you his creative work on Asian hair. Here is part 2 of 3, I will show you the last one at a later date so look out for more of his precision
cutting : )
Thanks Dove for letting me share with my readers.

TRUE OR FALSE:
Q: Should you brush your hair 100 times a day to give it shine?


FALSE!
A: There are NO benefits in brushing your hair 100 times a day at all, in fact the only thing this does is to cause some split ends, make the hair flyaway and potentially weaken the hair strands by pulling the hair out of the follicles. I figure the myth must come from people brushing the hair so much that it causes the hair to look greasy and this is mistaken for shine??


Margot came in to see me at Dekko while she was visiting from Hawaii. Margot hadn't had a haircut for quite some time so her style was completely gone, and with her hair being on the fine side it needed something that had abit more ‘zap’ to it! It was good that Margot works in the creative field and is able to have her hair abit more on the fun side. Here’s Margot when she came in:

I decided to try to thicken up the hair and give it a more definite shape. We went for an asymmetric shape, building up a ‘bobby’ type of shape but with some disconnection throughout the top layer to make it stand out more. The front area was already short so I decided to take it even shorter to bring out her gorgeous eyes more and make her look abit ‘doll’ like..

Here's the cut afterwards… Amplifier was used and the hair was just dried with the fingers to get more lift and a volumising spray was used afterwards to mess it up abit.

Thanks Margot, for posing and letting me post : )

Crystal Fixative Lacquer #7 by Davines:

Davines hairspray


Nowadays I don't tend to use Hairsprays much, I’m not too keen on the stiff looks it gives to hairstyles and I don't like it when hair doesn't move much. The only time I use them on clients is when the hair is very fine or its really strong weather outside and the style needs to keep well.


So if I had to choose one that I do like right now its the Davines Crystal Fixative Lacquer. I know I seem to pick alot of Davines products as my favorite but this Italian Company seems to have got quite alot of styling products just right, there's alot to choose from so you really have to sift through them but once you find the good ones, they really are good. This hairspray is soft to medium hold, doesn't leave the hair looking lacquered and brushes out easy without leaving white bits behind in the hair.

When using hairsprays and other texture sprays, lift the hair up for best effect, don't just spray on top of the hair, it will leave it looking abit stiff whereas if you spray underneath, this will give longer support and hold for the heavier layers.

I’ve been so excited to share this article with you all : ) The shoot for the section for Asian Hair Offenses was one of the most fun shoots ever!


Hyphen magazine is a non-profit Asian American magazine that features everything from politics to new stuff. You can subscribe to them by going to
Hyphen Magazine.
The full article isnt online yet but I thought I would post this screenshot of my double page spread for you..

Thanks to quite afew people for making this happen:
Lisa Macabasco, Margot Seeto, Andria Lo and Erica Jones from Hyphen for all their hard work, and thanks to Patrick from SoyBaby Photography and Elaine Fujji for the make up in the Hair Offenses section. Models include Seanathan, Ga Wa, Mary Ann and Tamara. And of course Thanks to Scott Klassen from Dekko Salon for his help in styling the mall fringe for me.
Enjoy….


Picture 1
Picture 15

A VERY VERY HAPPY 2011 TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE, THANKS FOR FOLLOWING MY BLOG, I HOPE TO CONTINUE TO FEED YOU WITH ALL I CAN, SO ENJOY IT INTO THE NEW YEAR!!!!