Getting a vintage haircut: what to ask for?

[cherry lips]

Edit: I wouldn't mind looking like a first lady if it's Jackie we're talking about!

 

[MissHannah]

Just wanted to show you all my hair when it is completely unstyled - just left to dry naturally - so you can see the cut.

Unstyled:

Styled:

 

[miss_killin]

Your hair is gorgeous MissHannah! Do you pincurl your hair?

 

[Darhling]

I need a dvice from the girls with very thick hair and lots of it!! As the entire universe knows ( ), I am going to the hairdressers on friday and have thought about asking for a middy or middy plus. The only problem is I can't picture my hair only 4-4.5" long!! It will turn into an afro on me! at the moment it is about 12.5" long and perhaps taking 4-5 inches of will be enough.

The girls with similar hairstructure to mine, what have you done?

 

[Inky]

Darhling, your middy can be as long as you want it. I've been working on growing my hair from an ear-length bob to past my shoulders for a year and when I finally went in for my middy two weeks ago, I did not want to sacrifice length, or get layers, so my stylist just gave me the u-shape of the middy.

Oh, and I have the kind of hair that my stylist says is too thick and too much of it. She always has to go back to mix more color no matter how much she thinks she made

 

[lazydaisyltd]

Just wanted to show you all my hair when it is completely unstyled - just left to dry naturally - so you can see the cut.

Your curls are so perfect, Hannah! You do a wonderful job.

 

[miss_killin]

I have long super thick hair and when I finally get into a stylist I'm just going to ask for the "U" shape and maybe a few layers around my face. We'll see how it turns out!

 

[Shirin]

Styled:

Wow, I'm in aaaaaawwwwwweee. I hope one day my technique will be as good as yours, first I think, I need the right hair cut!

 

[dgenevieve]

I have an appointment to get my hair cut this week, and I found this thread so helpful. I don't think I'll confuse the poor woman with the vintage cutting diagrams (I also don't want the responsibility of always styling my hair one particular way), but I'll bring in that awesome picture of Lana Turner's U-shape cut, as well as a few others, and hope for the best! If it's not hideous, I'll post pictures in the hairdos thread.

 

[Blondie]

A question for the hairdressers ...
Am loving Dita's hair in this pic, how do you think it is cut and set ??

 

[Blondie]

bump

 

[Tourbillion]

I am not an expert Blondie, but it looks like a bob to me. Maybe it is a bit of a U?

I can't tell how she curled it there, but it is probably a wet set.


The one thing I know for sure is that my hair would never do that no matter how I cut or set it. If I cut my hair that short it takes on a mind of its own.

 

[Goldfish]

These videos were just uploaded by youtuber LisaFremontStreet; for anyone who wants to know how an unstyled middy looks in motion, watch them

The 'Middy' Haircut

Styling the 'Middy'

Hope that helps someone.

 

[December]

I just printed off loads of photos of hairstyles I liked and showed it to the hairdresser.

Luckily, she is a very good hairdresser and actually went for the cut I asked, rather than doing the "This will look better if we razored it a bit here and added some highlights here and maybe give you this layered fringe too" thing that all the trendy hairdressers do.

I had absolutely no idea what to ask for, but she studied the photos carefully to work out how they had been cut, and my hair turned out perfect

 

[MissAmelina]

These videos were just uploaded by youtuber LisaFremontStreet; for anyone who wants to know how an unstyled middy looks in motion, watch them

The 'Middy' Haircut

Styling the 'Middy'

Hope that helps someone.

Great vids! Thanks! I have that book...next time I am taking it in...and now I will know how to explain it!

 

[msrsimpkin]

After a lot of debating with myself, I've finally decided to get my hair cut. Yes, it's appalling, but I haven't been to a salon in about 3 years. Not even for a trim. So, as you can imagine, my hair is in terrible condition.

I also decided, despite my hesitation, to get a vintage (or at least vintage inspired) haircut. I just wanted to thank everyone here for putting my mind at rest. I wanted to get a middy cut, but was terrified of going that short, but I'm glad to read that you can have the middy cut to any length.

The only thing I wanted to ask, is if there's a limit to how long you can take the middy? Like, if you get a very long middy cut, would it look a funky when unstyled, as the shape is unlike the modern cuts, or would it still look acceptable? And does anyone else have a longer middy cut?

 

[MissAmelina]

I posted this in the "show us your hairdos" thread too, but I thought it would be appropriate to post the pics here as well, so people can see what a "by the book" middy looks like....the stylist even used a tape measure to make sure the layers were accurate.

My stylist was very young and when I first showed her the diagrams she looked like a deer in headlights but as we went over them together she assured me she knew how to do it and gave it her best shot. I just told her to stick to them, and that we would see "what's what" as I only had a vague idea of what to expect.....and i assured her that if it looked wonky I would not be angry...it's just hair, and it grows. (My hair thickens up like crazy when it is layered, so I never really know what's gonna happen.) It is a tad more "shaggy" in the back then I was hoping for---I think she may have pulled too much of the crown section forward to cut with the bangs, instead of cutting it in the back with the nape hair.

BUT, it feels *much* lighter and should be easier to curl.

It is SHORT compared to the drawings in the book, and gives you a bit of a bubblehead. I knew it would be pretty short after watching
the middy tutorials from above, but it still surprised me. Here's before the cut and after.

I won't have a chance to set it for a day or so, but I will post again when the time comes. I think it is going to be alot of fun and will grow out nicely too. And if not, I will just cut off the back and bob it.

 

[Elaina]

If I'm not mistaken, Veronica Lake had 10" layers for a really long middy. As to what it looks like unstyled, my kid sister thinks I have emo hair.

I need to go back and get an actual middy, and I'm going to do that today or tomorrow, actually. I hate trying to get them to do it, and so I go get a real one once a year or so and have my mom trim it up. Right now, it's a modified middy with about 8" layers to it, and I have no had it cut in any way in about 4 months so it looks awful since one side of my hair tends to grow faster then the other.

 

[Inky]

I have gotten the u-shape cut the last few times but now that I see more actual middy cuts with layers I am wondering if I should layer. I really have not been satisfied with layered cuts in the past so I am hesitant to go that route.

Do you think layers are necessary? I'm going in for color and more shaping on Sunday, so I guess now is a good time to ask! I am not cutting it shorter, I do want to keep it about this length.

Here's my most recent hair:

 

[MissAmelina]

Yeah.....I think the layers were *much* longer in many of the old glamour photos.
Mine is a traditional middy from Ivan of Hollywood's book......meaning, it is 3 3/4 inches at the nape (tapering to 4 inches at the sides of the neck), 3 inches at the sides, and 4 inches at the top front, grading to 6 at the top back. The drawings are very deceiving. I think the finished drawing for the standard middy looks more like 6 inches on the sides, for instance.

I think next time I might just scrap the book and bring in pictures of how I want it to look styled, and I would probably encourage others to do so as well. As romantic as having this original cut seems, I don't think it is very practical....and there might be easier ways to achieve the looks. But I might change my mind once I know how to style it.