EASY Butterfly Layers Haircut Tutorial

Hi, welcome to the channel. I am Summer. Today I'm going to be showing you a step-by-step tutorial for creating the beloved butterfly haircut. I have done this cut in the past on my channel. However, I'm going to be showing you an entirely different technique this time. Using this technique is going to make it easier to achieve that final look. You're gonna be able to get that perfect, flowy angled face frame that makes this cut so fun. With that being said, let's get started. All right, so we are just gonna hop right in today. First things first, I'm going to be using a leave-in conditioner. This is Ouai's leave-in conditioner that I'm gonna spritz all through her hair. What this does is it just helps to hydrate the hair and sort of prep it as a nice, I mean, they're not meant to be a cutting lotion, but it just gives it some nutrients. Overall, like for at home, anybody, leave-in conditioner is a must. First thing you put on your hair out of the shower, and it's great to put in your hair before you're cutting it, whether you're in salon cutting a client or you're on your own at home. And I'm just gonna comb that through. The reason why I love Ouai's is it's great for any hair type but for fine hair in general, it's not gonna weigh it down as much as other leave-ins, so I'll leave that linked below. And before I get her sectioned off, I wanna explain, I mentioned in the intro that I have done a butterfly haircut before. I've done various butterfly haircuts, but I'm gonna be simplifying this one with the way that I take my sectioning. The very first one I did, it creates a great butterfly haircut. I love that video. But it is definitely more, I would say intermediate to advanced as far as how you do all the sectioning and the position of your fingers. So this one is gonna give you still a great butterfly look, but at a much easier way to achieve it. So what I'm gonna do first is we're just sectioning off right at that ear. So you wanna be just behind it, and that's gonna get combed back. And I'm gonna clip this hair very easily just to hold that out of the way. And I'm gonna do the same on the other side. So you'll just have two clips holding everything in. And if you wanna try to secure them really well, you can. But you just want this secured back so you're not touching it. So we're going to be starting with the front. And the butterfly is known for that really nice, perfect angle that flows straight into the back. You have a ton of movement in the front, but you maintain a longer medium layer in the back. So what we're going to be doing is we're first gonna set our guide, and we're just gonna take a triangle section at the arch of the eyebrow. You could go just barely wider if you want. We're gonna do that on both sides. And you wanna make sure that they're as even as possible. And what we're going to be doing, so you're gonna comb that straight down, and we're gonna be setting our guide for all of the face frame in the front. Now, I find a butterfly typically has more longer face framing pieces. I've definitely seen some where they're shorter. We're gonna be doing more of a medium to longer today. So I'm gonna cut them just about right at her lip. I'm gonna go right at the top of her, I'll go longer. Always go longer at first, contradicting myself here. And we're gonna comb this straight down with the wide side of our comb. I'm not trying to like pull it super tight. While it's really flat, we're gonna come in with our fingers. We're gonna twist once, twist twice, twist twice. And we're just gonna pull it down. I'm below her lip here, and I'm just gonna point cut into that. I'm gonna let that out, comb it straight down. And then I'm gonna pull this down with the wide side of my comb, take a look. I need to nip just in this corner. And that just helps set our guide to move into the rest of our face frame. And then what we will be doing when we create our face frame, we are gonna just lightly corner this a little bit more. So that's why I did leave it longer. But all we're going to be doing now, I'm gonna start on this side of her head. So I'm gonna clip this side out of the way so that doesn't get cut or jeopardized. I'm gonna turn her a little for you to see. So to create this face frame, you're gonna constantly be moving this hair sort of in like a triangle section. So this first guide, we have what looks like a triangle. And as you move through the back of the head, you're still gonna have that shape of that triangle in mind when you're cutting. And what I'm gonna do is we're gonna lift the hair here where it leaves, where the comb leaves the head, and I'm gonna section off this top section. Or not so much section it off, I'm gonna comb this hair underneath back because we're gonna start with this top layer first. So what you're gonna do is you're gonna come in, grab that first section, and we're going to be over-directing everything to the other side of the face. So in my original butterfly haircut, I was coming and bringing everything out. Let me show it on this camera, sorry. I was bringing everything out and sort of up and creating an angle to create that face frame, but that can be really challenging to make sure your angles are right every single time. So we're going to be combing this and we're gonna pull it all the way across the face, almost to just barely past the edge of the eyebrow. And what you'll see with your original face frame guide, instead of connecting it to the very front, we're gonna be angling that out so slightly. So what you're gonna do when you comb this over, you're gonna see where that face frame ends. So I can see my guide is right here with my comb. I have my fingers at an angle and I'm gonna be blending in down to where that guide is from the top. So you're still gonna hold your hands at an angle like I did in my original butterfly. So think of you have this guide here that's at a slight angle when you're standing on the other side of the head. You wanna mimic your fingers to match that angle. So we're coming over past the edge of the eyebrow. My guide is here. I'm coming in and we are cutting down into that guide. So we're moving quite a bit of length here. You're gonna take your next guide. You're just gonna keep coming straight down. So again, you have your line here and you have your guide here, keeping with that very mild triangle theme. And then what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna comb the hair down and I'm gonna reclip this hair cause it's falling and I'm hitting it with my comb. So you're combing this top hair all the way down. You're coming across the face, past the edge of that eyebrow. Try to keep your fingers at an angle like you did with your section. I can see my guide here. We're gonna come to the guide and then just cut right in to that. So what the over-directing does is it helps you ensure that you're getting that nice angle and it also preserves the length because as you're over-directing all this hair forward, you're moving into basically, this is a stationary guide. So when you over-direct everything forward, you are always maintaining the length the further back you move on the head because that has to come forward. So you get these nice shorter pieces in the front that flow back in to the back of your hair. And when we get into the back, I'm gonna show you how to trim up the length and all that good stuff. But as you comb the hair straight down, you can see you create this nice, easy, perfectly angled face frame and you're just gonna continue doing that. So we're gonna grab our next section. And again, we're working with this top layer first because if you try to grab all this at once, it's gonna get a little overwhelming. So try to work in that top section first. So we're gonna take our next piece so we've still taken it at an angle. We have a little bit of a longer piece here right now. And again, over-direct. I am using the wide side of my comb for this. For one, usually combing the hair, like when you're over-directing, it's easier to use the wide side of the comb because you get a little bit more hair in there at a time because you gather up more hair as you're doing a over-directing stationary guide. So you're just gonna come through. I can see my guide. Again, fingers are at an angle. We're past that eyebrow. Come in and just slide down following your guide. So now that we are getting closer into the head, we're gonna start bringing in or further back on the sectioning. I'm saying weird things today with my language. We're gonna start taking some of this excess length. So you're gonna still come up at the top and you're just gonna go straight down into that. Still try to maintain that angle. And again, you're just gonna be combing and over-directing. Over and across. And cut. I'm gonna grab this longer hair. So we're moving further down a little bit with our angle. So as you get more length, you're gonna be cutting further down on the head. And you're just gonna continue following your guide. At this point, as you get into the longer hair, you're gonna start feeling like you're doing more of that classic face frame, but you still wanna take your parting the same, a little bit at a time, and just constantly over-directing. Grab all this hair. You're moving further down the head. Still pulling over to that same eyebrow point. I did not pull over as much that last section, so I'll show you how to check for that if you feel like you forgot to over-direct. And now we are to our last section. Coming, pulling straight over, and cut. So now what you'll do is you're gonna come in, and from a side view, you'll be checking out how your angle and face frame is looking. So I need to remove a little bit more length here. So all you're going to do is you're just gonna comb the hair straight down like you would for a regular face frame. And I can see it's just right in here. I need to just nip that a little bit shorter. And I'm gonna leave that for now. So look at this nice, swoopy angle we're gonna have. And now what we're gonna do is we are gonna move into our layering. So if you were to leave this as is and not layer it, this hair was all one length when we started, it's gonna be too heavy to have that nice, flowy feel that a butterfly haircut does. With a butterfly haircut, you always see the swoopy style, so you need to come in and layer this up a little bit more. So now all I'm gonna do, let's first re-spritz her, is we're just gonna go in horizontal sectioning, so straight across the head here, and we're gonna bring it straight up. So we're coming straight up with that horizontal parting, and we're just gonna be twisting our hands. So we're gonna follow this shortest piece. We're just gonna go straight up with it, and you're gonna cut down into that to create a little bit more layering. So this is gonna remove some more weight from the hair, but you're gonna still maintain that nice length that you have. So you're just gonna do that all the way down the head, and at some point, you might not have enough hair to cut, you may, but just small enough partings where you can see your section. You're gonna come straight up, twisting those fingers up to the ceiling. Follow that guide from your shortest point. Scissors are at an angle, and cut. So as we've moved to this very bottom two pieces, we aren't probably even gonna have anything to cut. Little bit of baby hair. So now to add just a little bit additional layer and to sort of cross-check, what we're gonna do is take similar sections to how we did with the over-directing, so just triangle-based sections, but a little bit bigger, and you're just gonna, so you can see I've got my section here, and there's the front, and you're gonna come forward, twisting, and just slightly blend in. You won't have as much to cut at this point. Angle that forward. You're gonna come out, twisting up, and just cut out at those ends. Perfect. So that's created a little bit more shape in the hair, and what I'm gonna do is now repeat the same exact steps on this front half of the hair, and then I'm gonna show you guys how to blend in the back. Before you start your face frame on this side, you'll notice you're a little bit shorter here, again, because we came in and we cut off that corner of the face frame, which we're gonna be repeating on this side. So I wanna remind you, you wanna take your sectioning where the comb leaves the head, and you're gonna section that off because you're gonna cut this first. It makes it a little easier before you move in to this additional length. So I'm just gonna comb that back out of the way, and we are going to take our first parting. So again, thinking that triangle theme, and with the wide side of our comb, and you know what? I'm gonna clip this out of the way so I don't touch it. So again, we're coming across the face. You wanna bring it to the edge of that eyebrow, or the edge of the eyebrow. I see my guide is here in my comb. Now, instead of slivering down, you can if you feel comfortable with that. I'm just gonna cut directly up into it instead, and my hands are at my angle, and that helps take off that little baby corner to shorten it up, and it'll blend in nice with the other side. Take your next section, angling forward. Try to keep that triangle thought process in mind, and we're just gonna be doing the same steps we did before. you're gonna be starting your angle further down the head. You don't need to over-direct it and cut from the top. I see my guide up here. Come from the piece at the bottom, and cut right up into that. So now what we'll do is take a look at that angle we've created. So nice. And I probably need to bring up this length just a little bit more, same as the other side, but before I do that, I'm gonna let out this other hair. So, actually no, I'm gonna layer it first. That's what I'm gonna do, because that removes a little bit of the weight. So we are gonna show you that from this angle this time, and then what you're gonna do, horizontal parting, just straight across the head. You're coming straight up with it, and now it's going to be fingers down, knuckles up towards the ceiling, and you're just gonna cut from your face frame up into the hair to create a little bit more layering. Next section, all the way up, twisting, and cut. And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna be coming semi-triangle-themed section, straight forward, twisting, and just cut that hair that sticks out. So I opted to do my layering first, even though I feel like I am gonna have to bring up the length a tiny bit, but what it does is it just removes some of that bulk for me, and slightly will take care of the length in and of itself. Just a little bit to cut. All right, so now at this point, we're gonna let out the face frame from the other side and take a look to see how it's matching up. Now, I don't want you to get frustrated if you go to let the hair out on one side, especially the secondary side, so it's a little bit easier and more natural to glide down on one side and to cut up from the other, but sometimes that makes it a little bit more challenge to make it perfect for the first go-around. Face framing, butterfly haircut, however you wanna say it, to match these up is time-consuming, so don't think you're gonna always get it perfect the very first cut. This is why you wanna go back in and check. You don't wanna rush your client out the door because nobody wants an uneven face frame at all. So all you're gonna do is just comb the hair straight forward, and like I said, I definitely need to remove some length, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna bring that hair to the center of the head, I'm gonna bring it down, and I'm just gonna cut so I know where my baseline is, so matching it up to the other side, and then you're just gonna go back similar to how you were, over-directing this hair across the face, and you're just gonna shorten it up where you need to, so right in here, so don't cut that length there at the bottom. You're just gonna blend in those pieces in the middle, and then what you'll wanna do, I repeat this every haircut, but I stand in front of the client normally. For you guys, I do it here, and I'll just bring this to the center, and you match it up, and you see if there's any pieces that are off, and you would even those out before moving into the back, so I'm gonna do that really quick. So I think she's a little bit longer still here, so I'm just gonna be pulling this forward, and as I pull it towards me, I'm twisting my fingers here, so I can just see a little bit of the curve, and angle of the hair, and I'm just gonna lightly point in this middle section. My shorter piece is here, the longer piece is here, and I'm just gonna even that out some. Not a lot, just a little bit, and I will leave that for now, until after I get it blow-dried, because it's looking good for me right now. So now we are going to move into creating our back layers, which is going to be very simple. Again, a butterfly is meant to have lots of movement in the front. You wanna think of the front as like the flowy wings of your haircut, gliding in the wind, going in to your back section. So all we're gonna do to create our layers, because again, we want these back layers to still maintain a more medium to long feel. What you're gonna do to match it, is I'm going to come straight across the head here. I'm gonna spritz her down again. You always want the hair to be fairly damp when cutting, evenly saturated. If it's like too dry in one section, you're gonna sometimes maybe get unevenness with your haircut, so always re-spray the hair when you need to. So I'm gonna come straight across the top, and you don't wanna take too big of a section at first, because this is going to be your guide into creating the rest of your layers. So I have this here, and what you're gonna do, is you're gonna grab the top section of your front pieces on both sides of the head, and all you're gonna do is you're gonna bring the hair and over direct it almost into the center, and instead of cutting horizontally, so instead of cutting this straight across, you're actually going to be cutting vertical. And you're gonna do the same thing where you're twisting your hands up, like you were when you were creating those top side layers. So you're gonna come in, hold this hair straight up, fingers pointing to the ceiling. And again, we're over directing the hair on both sides. So again, think of this like a little triangle here. It's angled in on both sides to the center of that head, and we are angling our fingers up and blending in with that front layer. Grab your next section, small sections. You do not wanna take all this hair at one time. You wanna be able to easily see. Comb all this hair up. You can use the wide side of your comb again because these are, while you're still being able to see through to your guide, it's a lot more hair at a time. And again, you're gonna over direct this to the center of the head, and you're gonna be angling straight up. I need to turn her for you guys. So what I will do is where her part is, I'm moving her all over the place, where the part is, that's where I'm going in with my fingers here to grab the hair. So we're at the center of the head. So you would come in right at that part line, and you're angling it up and try to stay level in the part. So fingers are at an angle, scissors are at an angle when you cut, so you maintain a nice angled line. And what that's going to do, because you're over directing this hair all the way up, again, this is a stationary layer, same as our front. When you over direct something to one area, you are maintaining the length, the further either back you go on the head or down, because as we go down, we're not gonna have all this hair that's always gonna get cut. So that's what's gonna create that nice medium to long layer. And so actually, fun fact, I'm cutting this, next week's haircut tutorial is going to be a version of this haircut, but done in ponytails. So I'm actually cutting this back hair with the idea of somebody who would have their hair in a ponytail when they're going to cut, because you're over directing the hair all to one area. So next week's haircut tutorial, I'm going to be showing you a version of this cut, but done with ponytails, which is more ideal for those who cut their hair on their own at home. And then I'm gonna be doing like a breakdown of comparing the two cuts of like ponytail tic-tac-cut versus like sectioned off haircut, like we're doing today, that I think you guys will really enjoy. So make sure that you look out for that. That'll be posted next week. And at this point, I don't know that we'll have any hair to cut. We do not. So I'm gonna let that all fall out. And so what we're going to do now is all I'm gonna do is skim through the rest of these layers in the back to just add a little bit more movement. We're still maintaining that medium to long layer. We're just adding a little bit to it. So I'm gonna grab this hair, taking decent sized sections, and we're just coming out, twisting, very similar to how we did the front. And you're just cutting that hair that's left in between. So next section, coming out, twisting. That baseline is still falling, and cut. All right, so now that we have created all of our layers everywhere, it is time to take a look at the perimeter because you are going to have to blend in the sides to that back because right now we have a bit of too much of a disconnect. The butterfly, I feel like, is meant to have a little disconnect, again, because you're flowing into that back, but we need to just soften this line up a little bit because it's just gonna look weird if you don't blend it in. So all you're gonna do for that is somewhat similar to your face frame, but we're not gonna be pulling it over and over-directing as much. We're just gonna comb the hair straight down. And what you're gonna do is just follow the guide of your face frame into that back length. So I see my angling is starting in here, so I'm just coming down. I'm angling my fingers and cutting right down into that length. And you're just gonna work till you get basically till the back of the hair and you have no more angling to create. See, that already softened it up a little bit better where this was too heavy right in here. You can see the difference. You have a little bit more softness, where on this side, it's just a little too bulky. So we're gonna repeat on the other side. Comb that hair straight down. I got a little bit of an angle here I had to cut. And just work down the hair, blending up into that face frame as you move into the back section. And then what we'll do is comb all this hair down again. And I kinda wanna soften it a little bit more. So I'm gonna come from the top of the shoulder almost, all this right here. You want it to flow into that back. It doesn't have to necessarily be like a crazy point, but again, you think of it, this is the body of the butterfly and these are the wings that are going into that back. And we need just a little bit on this corner. Okay. So now that we have created all of our layers, we have the length that's evened out, it angles and flows nicely, especially from that side view. Look at that. I love it. I cannot wait to dry it. What I'm gonna do is give it a really nice, swoopy blow dry. I want you guys to leave me a comment if you would like to see a full blown tutorial on how to dry the butterfly cut to get that like perfect movement throughout it. And I will film one for you guys if that's something you wanna see. So be sure to let me know in the comments, but for now I'm gonna get her blown out and then we will show you what it looks like dry and if we have any dry cutting to do. Okay, we have her dried and styled. I'm always so happy with it. I love a butterfly. So as you can see, you just have this very nice face frame that flows into that back length because again, we over directed so we got this really nice angle. So what you would wanna do is just go through, check the face framing, check through the hair, see if anything is uneven. If it is, you would just get it snipped in those areas. But when you take proper sectioning, you typically should have a very nice haircut at the very end. So I'm gonna give her a final spray and get you guys out of here so you can see the final result. Here we have our finished and final look. You can never go wrong with a butterfly haircut, I swear. I love how it came out. Remember, when you are layering your front, you wanna make sure you are over directing across the face. That's going to allow you to easily get that hair, that nice angle that the butterfly is known for. We have that nice swoopy face frame that glides into the back with plenty of movement from those layers we created in the sides. And in the back, you have those medium to long layers that blend everything in so nice. Don't forget, next week, I'm gonna be doing this same cut in ponytails, which is easier for those of you at home, but I'm going to be comparing it to this cut today to see which one comes out better. And once that is done, I will post it right here for you to check out. In the meantime, be sure to check out my original butterfly haircut right here and tell me which one you prefer better, this version or the one I did today. Thanks for watching and I will see you on the next one. Bye.