“Do you know any place where I can get a good dry haircut,” a friend asked me a few weeks ago on WhatsApp, apparently hoping that a beauty editor would give her a good recommendation. I confessed to her that I didn't quite know what it was — other than, I assumed, a haircut done with dry hair. And naturally, I asked her why she wanted one. “I want to get good bangs done,” she wrote, “and I've heard that's the best way to get the perfect shape.” When I saw her later that week, she was sporting stunning '70s-style bangs, achieved with a dry cut.
The dry-cutting technique has been around for a while, but it's experiencing a resurgence because it apparently offers perfect results for the 'wash and go' trend that's so popular these days. So if you don't like to blow dry or spend time styling your hair, it could be that the dry haircut is ideal for you. Here's everything you need to know about this hairdressing technique so you can consider whether to ask for it at your next salon appointment.
Just ask Cara and Margot…
A dry cut is exactly what the name implies. The hair is cut dry, not wet. This allows the stylist to see how the hair falls and moves naturally in real time. To give you an idea: your hair is completely dry when they take the scissors out, because when it's wet, it stretches. Think of your hair after a shower, longer, heavier and temporarily altered. As it dries, it shrinks, bends and takes on its final shape. If you get a wet cut, this movement happens in real time. When you cut dry hair, it's already virtually defined, so your stylist can see the exact length and shape.
"The main difference between the two types of cut would be that the texture of wet hair is much more flexible. This allows the cut, especially on straighter styles, to be much more precise. Wet hair can give a feeling of greater control, but you have to be careful because the result when dry could change, especially with wavy hair and hair with curls," says Wilma Sortino, hair health expert and Education Manager at Llongueras. "However, dry-cutting shows the actual fall better, especially in the volume and natural texture of the hair. The dry cut could be more faithful to how the person wears it. However, you have to keep in mind that it requires a very precise technique so that the lines of the cut are uniform".
For the expert, curly and wavy hair clearly benefits from the advantages of this technique. But there is more. "If we dry-cut curly hair, we can see how each strand falls, and this prevents the cut from looking different when it dries. This can also be the case with fine or fragile hair, because the manipulation is minimised and the natural movement of the hair fall is better seen, and in bangs and very visible areas, where it is necessary to control with a point of precision to give it a perfect final shape. It is also recommended for a change of style, when we want to further customise a cut, because in this way the stylist can adjust the weight, volume and direction of the cut on the fly".
But as Sortino points out, if we want to cut hair dry we have to make sure we master the technique. "To dry cut we have to use a very proper technique to know how to texturise the hair, especially what are curls and wavy hair," he warns, “in fact, the biggest mistake is that the haircut is not well executed because the technique is not controlled. For example, cuts with sections that are not well defined would prevent a good response of the natural fall.”
- Predictable result: "Dry cutting provides greater precision and a predictable result because you can see exactly where you are going to cut from the very beginning".
- Personalisation of the cut: "It allows you to design the haircut in real time according to the shape of your face and hair type.
- Provides volume: "It allows you to create volume and movement without too many obvious layers, which gives a lot of naturalness, especially for fine hair."
- Comfort: “It is more comfortable because the cut keeps its shape longer and tends to grow more evenly. In short, dry cutting can offer a more natural, more personalised result, and is especially useful if you don't want any surprises when blow-drying.”
A version of this article originally appeared on Glamour (Spain).
