Scissor Cut Men’s Slick Back: Essential Technique & Step-By-Step Instructions

This haircut is about as classic as it gets. It's not overly complicated, it doesn't require a huge amount of skill. I'm going to show you my exact method right now so that you can learn from me and have the know-how to cut and style hair just like this. So let's get going. Very important for a whole head scissor cut is a lot of water. So I want to wet the hair down fully and then I'm going to separate it into two halves. So we'll separate the back from the front. And right now all we're going to do is work on the back in two different ways. So this is the first way. We're going to take sections as wide as the comb across the back of the head and then we'll lift them all out and cut them. So starting right in the middle, I'm going to pick up my first section. So I want to find out where the shortest point of that is and then I'm going to take down the hair below that a little bit shorter So I have a nice smooth constant length from the crown all the way down to the bottom of the neck. But I'm bearing in mind that I need to keep enough hair so that it flows when I blow dry it. And this is going to be really important at the end of the video. I really want to share with you the styling tips in this haircut. It's something that's often forgotten but I'm going to share with you some really important barber tips when it comes to styling this. But the main thing is we get that constant length that's going to be kind of uniform all the way across the back. So I don't have any more hair in the comb than the width of the comb so I'm kind of putting the comb in and flipping it out rather than dragging up a big pile of hair. Once we've done that, we can start taking horizontal sections across the back of the head. You all know this technique by now. It's my favorite scissor over comb working from the top down towards the bottom. So I'm just following that length that I cut around about the crown. But look at the fingers. Okay, this is the key. I'm flipping the comb over. So when I slide the scissor in, I'm just flipping the comb. So the scissor goes in and I flip the comb. Now you can come back and watch this bit. It might seem very fast but just slow it down and try and copy that because that's the key to getting this technique right. You can see that I actually work quite fast using this technique. When I'm working professionally, this is kind of the speed that I would normally work and I am very steady with the comb. It just takes practice and I think if you do this about 10 times, then you'll be as quick as I am. You actually have a lot of control. I could make this slightly tighter if I wanted to taper in at the bottom. Okay, a slight angle. This isn't directly down. I'm kind of following an angle down towards the nape of the neck but I'm not getting too tight around about the nape. The nape being this area at the bottom where all that fluff is. And I will be addressing that fluff and there's important information in that for you to know. But for the side, let's separate the top out of the way and comb the side down. Now more of these vertical sections, the width of the comb, I don't want any more hair than that. I don't want big massive broad sections. Only what the comb can manage and that's going to make it much neater. So again, I'm just trying to follow that length from the top to the bottom. I want to kind of like smooth it out and make a nice length. A length that can still be blow dried. So if it's too short, we won't have any movement on it when we go to style. I'm going to tidy this work up with more scissor over comb going in this direction. Going with the flow of the hair. It's always better to go with the flow I say. But remember when you're cutting, if you make it too short, you won't be able to blow dry it or have any direction on the hair if you want to use product. It's going to be difficult for you to move the hair if it's too short. The hair will want to stand straight out. So always think about how much length you want to keep. Try combing it around a little bit. Having an assessment, just your best judgment on how much hair you think you need. Okay, and that's the best way I could describe it. So let's take some more sections here. These vertical sections. We'll take this hair down. Remember I want that shape that is quite uniform, maybe slightly closer towards the ear and retain the flow. Now when I was doing this haircut, my client was absolutely adamant that he wanted to have his beard shaved off completely at the end. But you'll see, I actually think we should keep the beard for this style. And I'll let you tell me what you think later. But before that, I want you to tell me where are you up to with your scissor work? How are you getting on? Can you do this technique? The scissors you're using, are they bending the hair? If they're bending the hair in between the blades, it's possible that they're not tensioned correctly. So try and get your tension correct on the blade. I think that's really important. You don't want to be getting any wrist pain. And if you feel like you're working too hard with the scissor, then it's not optimally tensioned. You can adjust that little screw in the middle to either loosen them or tighten them yourself. So cut away from the ear when you're scissor cutting around ears. And now let's address the top again. Lots of water again. I always like to keep it completely wet so that we have control. And I'm thinking, what do I need to remove from the top for a nice shape? I feel it's a little bit rounded on the top of the head. So let me show you what I mean. Remember we had this shape that we were making, and then it's getting a little bit higgledy-piggledy on the top, a little bit messy. So I want to even it all up. And I'm just going to take sections across here. This is me getting up towards the top of the head. And I'm just making it nice and even. It's a bit more uniform. I'm going to keep it longer on the front. I'll show you how to do that as well. I do enjoy cutting hair like this. Scissor cutting is becoming really popular. If you're lacking in your scissor cutting skills, really, I encourage you to learn because right now there's a huge movement back towards longer hair. On top, I'm going to make an assessment now, right? Let's pick this up. We'll keep going towards the front. I'm trying to figure out where the high point is. I think the length of the fringe is fine, but I want this area out of the middle here, okay? See, that's short enough. That's the length I want for the flow. But on top, it would be a little bit kind of pointy. I want to take some of that length down on the top. Let's reduce it in the middle. So these are what you would call profile sections because we're kind of looking at the client's profile, a profile of his head. So what I'm doing is I'm just picking them up. I'm getting closer towards my chest there and now I'm going to come over across towards you and towards the camera and I'm going to bring that point down in the middle. Not a huge amount of work on the top here, to be honest. Okay, real quick, if you're watching this and you're just getting into cutting hair, you need a solid pair of scissors and these are seriously a great place to start. They're made with a high quality Japanese steel, which basically means they stay sharp longer and they give you really clean, easy cuts, no tugging or uneven lines. The blades have the special curved edge called a convex edge. So even if you're still learning your technique, it helps make your cuts smoother and more controlled. They are super beginner friendly. They also come with this nice leather zipper case so you can keep them safe and in top shape when you're not using them. If you're learning to cut hair at home or thinking about going pro, these are a great investment to start with. The link's in the description if you want to check them out. Now back to the video. So with the trimmer here, I don't want to get really tight. I basically want to blend the length of the beard into the long hair. So I'm using my comb and I'm teasing the hair up around the sideburn, matching into that beard length. Okay, we just want to make it neat without, you know, creating a severe taper. Think about, you know, a classic look. Not everything has to be like a really tight taper fading from the hair into the beard. Think about the suitability for your client, okay? And I feel like this is more suitable for my client than a tight taper. Look at the fluff. I'm not removing all this fluff. I'm going to shape it, okay? Because the way that this fluff is, I feel like it's part of the haircut here. It's quite dense. And I'm going to make it really pristine. If I start taking that up too much, I might end up having to make a neckline, which I don't want to make. I want to make it kind of natural. I want to look like it's being cut but not being cut. So I'm going to shape it a little bit. Like basically pull the trimmer over it and shape it without touching the skin. So I'm just kind of like leaving some of that fluff there. Same on the other side. You can see this, I'm shaping it. Without destroying it. Now you wouldn't do this on every neckline. Sometimes you'd make it much neater. Now this is really important. On the hairdryer, I've got three heat settings. I'm going to go for the middle setting, okay? Which is quite hot for short hair for men. If you're blow drying hair, you want to blow dry it as hot as you can because you'll get more control. But on short hair where the air is hitting the scalp, you want to be on maximum medium heat. Now that heat will manipulate the hair, okay? It's going to dry it out. But what you'll see me doing is, I'm going to use this cold shot button. So once I get an area dry, I'm holding down the cold shot and I'm drying it with cold air. And that's going to really add shine. It's going to hold the hair in position. Now only cold shot it once it's dry. Don't cold shot it when it's wet. That's really going to help with the styling of this haircut. So switching from hot to cold, medium to hot heat, then to cold. Now what I've done here is, I've switched to a small radial brush because this hair is lying flat and I need to lift it up to try and get some air across it. If it's too flat on the head, it's going to take me forever to dry it. Now I'm also drying it in towards the middle, okay? Because this is where I want it to flow. I want the hair to flow into the middle. Sometimes it used to be called a DA. A DA. I'll let you look up what a DA is. So I've got a nice flow. This is what I want. I want to be able to put my fingers through the hair. This is ideal. No product at all, just to blow dry and it's flowing perfectly. This is it with a little bit of pomade. Now what do you think keeping the beard? I think it works better with the beard. Nice with the pomade. Let me know what you think. I hope you enjoyed the video. Good luck with your scissor cut and I'll see you in the next video.