Haircut & Style- Modern Curtains (My Favourite Haircut)
Modern Curtains Haircut
This look has got to be one of my favourites and for good reason. This is a hairstyle that is highly customizable and allows me to utilize a wide range of techniques to achieve the look. If you're wanting a similar haircut, then let's unpack this one together and find out why it's a great choice!
What to ask for:
Simple Answer:
"Short back and sides with a disconnected top and styled into an off-center part."
Long Answer:
Much like the classic taper, this haircut can be fine-tuned to match your personal style, hair texture, and face shape. This was a popular style worn in the 90s by actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Johnny Depp. That variation featured very long hair on top that sat over shorter sides (but not short by today's standards as the hair industry was mostly dominated by stylists and not barbers, more on that in a bit). It was styled to split near the middle and frame the forehead, and gave off an effortless, casual look with a little bit of a youthful spirit. The style went out of trend in favour of shorter and more masculine styles (as barbering started to rise back in popularity) and has hit a resurgence in the past few years as more and more guys have decided to try growing longer hair.
Why am I geeking out so much over a haircut?
As someone who is honing his craft, I want to know as many techniques as I can so that I can have a broad skill set. I would argue that this haircut can utilize a multitude of approaches depending on the client's needs and wants. I mentioned that the 90s version was done mostly by stylists, who did not have the same comfort with clipper cutting and going short with the hair. They would prefer softer looks and gravitate towards a unisex style for clientele as they would cut both men's and women's hair [1]. Following that, barbering saw a comeback in the past few decades, where the focus was only on clipper cuts and getting the hair to look short and clean with sharper lines. Scissors were not the priority for this at all, and you'd get a basic trim on the top if anything. Now, today's standard of barbering combines both clipper work with advanced scissor work and this haircut is the perfect place for someone like me to do both at the same time.
I would suggest that the sides of this haircut should be kept short and the edges are lined to give sharpness to the final look. I think the look is best when complemented with a taper. A fade is a possible choice too for any edgier look. The top is kept long and can fall to around eye level, and you want a looser finish to this section to bring out that carefree and effortless vibe. However, the degree of shortness can vary and I think the more length, the better this style can look (within reason). The top can be blended with the sides, but I think the look works best with a slight disconnection as that allows for more overall length on top for more versatility in styling.
This haircut can be adapted to suit almost any hair type ranging from straight to a little curly. Softer textured hair can keep more length on the sides and can be sculpted with scissors to allow for the hair to be styled backward and have a visual flow to it. Meanwhile, more stubborn hair (coarse textured) can be taken in shorter with clippers and can still have a very clean finish. The Korean Two-Block Haircut is a version of this hairstyle that involves clippered sides and a disconnected, longer top that can be styled in various ways. However, they tend to have the hair styled in a bowl-cut, and that is what it may look like when you don't do anything to it. To address that, I often utilize a few different texturizing techniques to ensure the hair doesn't sit heavy and can move around freely. This will depend on hair density and texture, but mainly I want to break up the shape enough so that it won't want to fall naturally into a bowl on your head.
Depending on how long you keep the sides, you may find that a bit more time is needed for styling as you want to get things flowing backward. The same goes for having a disconnection in the hair, as that needs to be styled as well to prevent it from being too much of a bowl-cut. I'd say this haircut and style unfortunately requires a lot more effort for styling than what most of us are used to in order to achieve the desired finish. Those with wavy/curly hair however may find that the process is less of a hassle, as you already have a natural texture to the hair that won't appear particularly heavy without styling.
A wavy variation of the modern curtain haircut.
How to Style:
As I mentioned, this one is a little trickier to style with a blow dryer. This is because this hairstyle actually has 2-3 degrees of global direction to keep in mind. The first is the parting of the hair. When choosing your parting, I would recommend going with something that's a little off-center as opposed to directly in the middle or too far to the side. This specific look is not meant to be symmetrical, but it is also not a simple side part. Once you've decided on the parting, it is time to address the second degree of global direction which is to blow dry the sections towards the back. I would suggest starting on the smaller section as you simply need to brush it backward while blow drying and it should sit well in place pretty easily. The larger, heavier section however requires a bit more finessing as the hair will want to fall down and not backward. My tip is to break this section into two smaller parts: the front, and the back. You'll first focus on blow drying the back section backward and you want this to be smoothed down with little volume. Using a brush will help with controlling the hair. Then you'll tackle the front section where you can do more of a loose blow-dry towards the back, using your fingers more so than a brush. You want this section to still fall a little from gravity so you don't need to work it as much.
Once things are mostly dry, you can start working on adding local texture. I would focus mostly on that last section we were dealing with, where you can begin to scrunch the hair and give it a bend while hitting it with heat. Remove the heat but keep it scrunched while it cools so that it will keep a bit of waviness. Try to intentionally scrunch the hair so that the bend will flow away from your face instead of towards it (much like how you see in the featured pictures).
Notice how this side of the haircut doesn’t cover the forehead, but the other side does (as shown in the previous picture). This side (the smaller side of the parting) is mostly styled towards the back.
For wavy/ curly hair, you can follow my guide for wet setting the hair by keeping these key points in mind:
-Global direction is still an off-center part, with hair loosely brushed to go backward. Let it dry in this position before addressing the local texture.
-Local texture involves gently brushing hair backward to break up the wet look. Once done, position the hair in front to fall a little forward.
-Alternatively, you can keep the wet look by taking a few pieces of hair and having them come forward before letting things dry. Once dry, hair will appear wet due to the product and you maintain more defined waves/curls.
Recommended Products for this Style:
For Straight Hair:
For Wavy/ Curly Hair:
TIGI Copyright Firm Hold Curl Cream
or
If you are looking for a new barber who can combine scissors and clipper work, then consider booking your next haircut with me!
