Ponytail Haircut – A How-To

I’ve talked before about how I cut my hair with the “ponytail” method (posts are HERE and HERE).  Which is basically an easy way to give yourself a layered haircut.

I was asked to show a pic of how I cut my hair.  My camera is on the fritz right now, so I can’t do an actual picture, but I thought that I would do a basic digital representation of what I did and give you a how-to.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ponytail Haircut How-To:

How high you place the ponytail will determine how layered your hair is.  If you only want a small amount of layering, then only place your ponytail a few inches above the nape of your neck (at the back of your head).  If you want it really layered, like I did, then you want to place it as close to your forehead as you can get it.  You can place that ponytail anywhere in between those two points to get the cut you desire.  Just as long as you make sure that you get the ponytail in the center of your head (centered between your ears).  I would recommend that you start off farther back then you think you’ll want, so you don’t cut off more then you want.  If you already have layered hair, then play with it to see where your current cut tends to fall, and go from there.  Once you know how it do it, it is really easy, so it’s no big deal to throw it back up and do a re-cut if it isn’t what you want.

I’ll show how I did it so you get the idea.  Remember that you can customize it anyway you like it.

 

STEP 1

Comb your hair to make sure it is tangle free.

 

STEP 2

Bend over and comb your hair so that it is coming toward your forehead.

 

STEP  3

Gather your hair into a ponytail as close to your front hairline as possible (or wherever you chose to place it).  You’ll probably have to take some time to comb it all smooth.  But it’s important that it is as smooth as you can get it.  Make sure that the hair from the nape of your neck is straight over the top of your head (your center part line) and not off to one side.  This pic doesn’t really show it that way, but you will need your nape hair to go along the top of your head and not along the sides.

 

STEP 4

Locate the hair from the nape of your neck.  Your nape hair will probably end quite a few inches above the rest of your hair (especially if you don’t have layered hair already) so don’t be surprised.  You will want to make a blunt cut so that the rest of your hair matches that length.

 

STEP 5

Now do the actual cut.  Remember that you want to cut it straight across so that your hair is all one length.  You’ll need to make little sawing motions with your scissors until you are all the way across.  TAKE YOUR TIME!  This isn’t something you want to rush.  Make sure that your scissors stay level so that you don’t end up with a crooked line.

You might want to re-comb your hair into the ponytail to make sure that your cut is even and you don’t end up missing a section.  Even if you do miss a section, or even if you cut it crooked, it isn’t all that big of a deal.  You won’t notice that much once the hair is down.

 

STEP 6

Now you can take your hair out of the ponytail and comb it down straight.  You will end up with hair that is layered from front to back (also known as a V or U shaped cut) and also layered from top to bottom.

 

My hair is at my lower back, and my layers start an inch or two below my jawline.  Again, you can place the ponytail anywhere along the top of your head to get the amount of layering you want.

 

ENJOY!