Maths and Science of Trendy haircuts

Women are known to spend long hours in hair salons due to how complicated their hairstyles are. It is ,therefore, not surprising to see long queues and long waiting periods at these salons but will you believe that some men spend more than two hours to get a clean haircut and beard trimmed?

This period does not include waiting time as it is the actual time needed to get a trendy clean shave with matching beard.

To arrive at these styles, barbers use concealers, clippers, combs, brushes, perm kits, dyes and curly creams.

You may call the process “Maths” because barbers must know how to draw straight lines and curves across the face and the process involves mixing hair dyes, and perming kits is not too different from what happens in science labs.

Last Wednesday, this reporter visited the Men’s World Spa, a hair salon at Mallam Abease near Gbawe in Accra.

A trained beauty therapist, Ms Benedicta Essien is the CEO of the salon and has been in business for a decade.

She said her outfit was originally a unisex saloon with speciality in both male and female hairstyles but she decided to focus more on men due to the increasing demand of grooming services by men.

“We attend to some women as well. These days, women also wear haircuts and they come here to get it done but majority of our clients are men who come for different grooming services,” she said.

“Touching on the current haircut trend for men, she explained that more men are becoming conscious of how they look and so like women, they are ready to spend more time and more money on their hair.

Ms Essien specialises in massage, pedicure and manicure and currently employs about 14 workers who work at her two facilities.

“The salons are very busy on weekends so my barbers take off days during the week days so customers do not have to wait for too long on weekends. 

The process

Social media marketing
She said most of her clients are followers on social media who have seen before and after videos of works done at the salon, saying “we are active on Instagram and Facebook and most of our clients walk in with designs they have seen on our pages.”

Trendy haircuts
A barber at the salon, Gideon, explained that currently the most popular haircut is “three steps” or “TI”.

This haircut takes an average of an hour and 30 minutes to complete. It involves shaving to desired length, perming, washing, highlighting sides with concealers, dying, washing and styling.

To get this right, a barber must not only know how to give a cut but also understand hair texture.

Gideon explains that the texture of hair will determine how quick the perm kit will work and how fast the dye will come out.

During the dying process which is not limited to the hair only but beard as well, the stylist must know which parts to fade so the dye is not obvious.

The model Gideon worked on was Andy and according to him, he always made time to get his desired style.

Before

“If you want to look good, you must be patient and ready to spend long periods at the salon,” Andy said.

These trends are popular but not all men are willing to spend long hours at the salon.
Nii Ayi told The Mirror that the styles look good but he did not see the need to wait for hours for a haircut.