Hair

[andygates]

A female-to-male transsexual e-friend is ready for her first male haircut and is agonising over where to go.  Now, I think she should go to a men's barbers and get a cheap-ass clipper job, because that's what most men do.  Going to a stylist is going to get her a butch haircut, not a male haircut.  She doesn't want to look like a butch dyke, she wants to look like a bloke.  Thoughts?

Comments

[arabis.livejournal.com]

Well there's also the 'buy clippers and do it yourself' option. I'm sure skean can give loads of advice about that :)

I suppose the question is whether she wants the haircut of a male that cares about their hair, or not. Sure a cheap clipper job is an option - and might be worth experiencing (once, at any rate).

Another option might be to look at a hair magazine for a pic of a style she likes (most of them have at least a small section of bloke hair) and take that to a stylist. A decent stylist, who understands what she's after, might able to make her hair look more male than the cheap clipper job would do.

But it's a bit hard to say without knowing what she looks like etc. Also, without knowing what the difference between a butch and male haircut would be.

[sciolist.livejournal.com]

A set of clippers is about 20 quid from Boots. I still use mine despite growing my hair into a longer style that is considered daft, or trendily pre-raph, by varying observers. Clippers are useful for beard trimming, also.

It seems from eyeing my co-workers that clip-jobs of various lengths are in reasonable vogue right now. If his/her head and face-shape are too delicate she does risk looking waif-like and SineadO'Connor-y though.

But yeah, clip jobs definitely make a visual impression that's arresting, but they're colder in winter. Buy a woolly hat, too.

[skean.livejournal.com]

The trouble I had with clippers (once I'd got passed the "check the number before starting" bit) was the crease on the back of the head. I find them extremely difficult to get an even cut all over with. If someone else can help the cutee, its probably easier, but for some reason Liza refuses to help me out :-) Maybe the more expensive clippers with swivelling, contour following heads help there, but I got some duty free things.

Hair type also plays a part I'd say. Very fine hair can look fuzzy and wispy and cute, unless you chop layers into it and coarsen it up a bit. Which is a bit more sophisticated than I can do with clippers.

I object to the "most men go to a men's barbers". I mean, you lot all work in IT, so what would you know about hair styles? ;-) (thought I'd get my kicks in first). There is nothing wrong with going somewhere like Toni and Guy (OK, apart from the cost). But, make sure its a quieter one - they don't tell you, but they have 2 sort of appointments. In busy and/or smaller salons (e.g. Bath), its a half hour for men. In quieter and/or bigger ones (e.g. Bristol) its 45 mins.

I've never seen a guy turn up with a picture that he wants done. However, I have seen people choose styles from a magazine in the salon. And done that myself last time.

What I object to most is you seem to pay the same whether you say "numr 2 all ofer, mate" and spend 20 minutes or go into detailed discussion over style, have layers cut in, texturise it, use the clippers here, 3 types or scissors and a straight razor.

I think Toni and Guy are perfectly capable of doing a masculine hair style, whether its a buzz or something longer. They're not so great with blokes with long hair though, so definitely something shorter.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Fair enough pretty-boy, you'd know :)

And yeah, I have a tuft in my occipital crease that takes ages to get out, too. Le sigh.

[n-decisive.livejournal.com]

Question: Does she want to be referred to as "she" still, or "he" now? Because I'm thinking that if the pronoun change hasn't happened yet, your friend might still be in the early stages of transitioning, and if that's the case, getting a stylist to do the cut might also provide transition to those who need the visual changes to help them remember there *is* a change.

One day, I will re-read a paragraph like that and it will make sense. I know what I mean, anyway. Feel free to quiz me on what exactly I do mean if that was garbled.

[arabis.livejournal.com]

Does she want to be referred to as "she" still, or "he" now?

Yeah, I was wondering that too - but stuck with "she" because that's how andygates referred to her (or him).