If there is one thing I dream about on a daily basis, it’s having long, luscious, full hair. I know people with thick hair types have their complaints – it takes forever to dry, it’s difficult to style, and it’s a lot to deal with on hot days – but I swear, dear hair gods, if you’re listening, I would never complain. I have fine hair, and although it has many upsides, I still find myself lusting after styles that are much fuller than mine.
Over the years, I’ve found that the right products and a good haircut can take me a long way. It’s taken a lot of trial and error, but for the most part, I think I have a fairly good handle on what styles work well for me. Then I learned about the contour cut. The term, which was coined by celebrity hairstylist Andrea Henty, is all about getting a haircut that’s personalized to you.
When I had the chance to have Henty cut my hair, I jumped at the opportunity, and I wound up with one of the best styles of my life. Keep scrolling to read more about my experience.
Experts Featured in This Article
Andrea Henty is a celebrity hairstylist and owner of Bomane Salon in Beverly Hills. She is located in Los Angeles.
What Is a Contour Cut?
A contour cut is essentially a personalized haircut complementing someone’s features rather than going by general face shape. Henty tells PS that she first started calling it the contour cut when she started noticing the slimming effect of the correct haircut for people. “If you think about it, you get your clothes tailored, so why wouldn’t you get your haircut tailored?”
A contour cut doesn’t have to be a huge chop. “Sometimes it’s just little tweaks; it’s not necessarily a big change, like the Rachel cut. It’s just taking into account someone’s facial features and what is going to complement their particular face,” Henty says.
She always starts a consultation by asking her client what they like about their features. “I might think someone has an absolutely flawless face, but they might think they have weak cheekbones, or they don’t like their nose or their jaw,” she says. “I usually start the conversation asking what they feel good about and then go from there instead of asking what they don’t like.”
From there, Henty takes into account every detail. “Hair type comes into play, especially with layering. If someone has very frizzy or curly hair, you really want to be conscious of the layers and how you’re cutting them,” she says. “A lot of the time, I like to cut hair when it’s dry or air-dried, so clients will come in with freshly washed air-dried hair so I can really see the texture, especially if they’re curly-haired clients.”
She starts out by doing a rough haircut on dry hair to make sure it looks perfect at its natural fall, then she washes it, blow dries it, and refines the look from there.
If you want to request a contour cut from your stylist, Henty advises bringing a photo of a haircut you like on someone who has a similar hair type, including thickness and texture. An important note here: bring just one photo. “Don’t bring three,” she says. If you do, it’ll be less certain you’ll get the look you want. From there, talk about the features of your face you like, so your hairstylist can work on accentuating those areas through your haircut.
My Contour Cut Results
When I visited Henty at her salon, Bomane, we started with a consultation, during which I explained to her that I’m trying to grow my hair out, but I wanted it to look fuller and accentuate my chin. Typically, my face looks kind of “long,” and I wanted to do something about making it look fuller and, I guess. . . shorter? Henty gave me a completely dry cut, got rid of all of my dead ends, and then cut some shorter pieces in the front to give me more of a curtain bang.
After shampooing and conditioning, Henty prepped my hair using the Line One Hair Weightless Detangler ($33) and then blew it out and put it into the Dom Dom Metal Hair Rollers ($48). We let it cool in the rollers, and then Henty took them out to reveal what was probably the best haircut of my entire life. (My hair was only marginally shorter, but it was bouncy, it looked full, and it somehow made my face look good even after I washed all of my makeup off later that night.)
Before I left, Henty topped everything off with the Line One Hair Remedy Oil ($35), and then I was ready to bop out the door. If you’ve been searching for a haircut that’s perfectly tailored to you, ask your stylist about a contour cut – you won’t be disappointed.
Renee Rodriguez (she/her) is a staff writer and social producer for PS. She writes across all verticals, but her main areas of expertise focus on fashion and beauty content with an emphasis on reviews and editor experiments. She also produces social content for the PS TikTok and Instagram accounts.
