This is a picture of Jessica Lang from last season’s American Horror Story. I fell in love with her haircut and marveled at it every episode. I have done variations of this on numerous women and it always results in a surprisingly exciting and drastic change without sacrificing a lot of hair.

So many females where I live on the coast in San Diego California wear their hair very long and casual. “It has to fit into a pony tail” is the main restriction. No one really stands out as an individual as far as I’m concerned. They all look terrific when they leave the studio with hair I’ve blown and styled, but long hair takes time and effort and I don’t see many women around town looking like they’ve put that effort in on their own. Still, most clients sit in the chair and say they’d like a change to their hairstyle, but are reticent to sacrifice any length. This is why I love this cut. Let me break it down for you:

The first thing I say is, “We can keep the length”. Well, maybe that isn’t exactly true. You can hang on to most of the length is more of a truism. Since the front becomes more open, you need balance with the length in back so you don’t end up with the dreaded “mullet”. So now we’ve established confidence because we still will have “long hair”. The shape in back will change from either the straight bob line, or if it was severely “V’d” to a softer “U”, rounding towards the shoulders. This trim will add weight and lessen the amount of layering, which translates into less styling time.

The next confidence builder is we will be keeping long layers and preferably the long bang. If we don’t already have the long bang, we don’t trim the fringe this cut so we already are making that big change. Where the cut becomes unique is when we angle the side hair from the bang length to the back section, whacking off the corner that was just hanging in front. This opens up the whole neck and collar bone and the hair “hugs” in, very soft, stylish and feminine.

Obviously there is more to the execution of this cut (every client’s hair and head is unique), which is why you need to come and see me!