Once, when this author was working the Long Beach hair show, I watched James Morrison of Toni and Guy cut shattered disconnected hair on bright-faced models. I had already seen, in prior shows, the Sassoon Team cut similar looks, but James really stamped his presentation with uniqueness. At the time, I was stage cutting for Wella and drew my own crowds, but my work was never at the level of James Morrison's.

Why, I thought to myself, was I languishing as a journeyman, but James and those like him were pumping out sheer brilliance at the same shows I was working?

I watched James dry the look - with the appropriate TIGI products - and listened to him discuss when and upon whom this look would be most appropriate. And then, whilst he recapped his cuts, James did something I had seen time and time again from other great artists but never understood its significance: he dry cut the hair again. This time his shears passed lightly over the entire cut, inside and out. He sectioned the hair with his fingers and slide through the cut with the barest tips of the scissors. His shears fluttered over the outermost surface of the cut as if he were polishing it to a high gloss.

The cut was now spectacular - an original work of art which drew huge applause. Slide cutting techniques others used to add texture and movement to hair were being rendered with an almost casual deployment to fit the cut exactly to the face and body. It was a revelation to me that changed my work entirely. This observation caused me to spend the next twenty-five years perfecting the polishing James so effortlessly employed. James, too, improved on this finishing of his work.

I am not entirely sure James Morrison or any of the other great haircutters are aware of what they are doing. Cuts, while mechanically pure, are elevated to ethereal by soft finishing upon dried looks. I am certain that, when added to the end of cuts, the varied methods of polishing with scissors can reproduce the work of artists like James Morrison.

In the next months, Capelli d'Oro will reproduce some of those techniques in a series of short videos. We will ask local Northwest hair mavens and artists that perform at our trade shows to reveal the techniques of cutting and styling that have elevated their work. We are excited about this new direction for our Team and look forward to your response.

Edward Paul - Capelli d-Oro©2009

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