You don’t need to be a beauty journalist to understand how impactful a good haircut can be. Whether it’s a shoulder-skimming bob or a choppy longer style, how you wear your hair impacts your facial features and even the way clothes look on you.
Despite this, I have long been low maintenance to a fault with my hairstyle. I let it grow long, and then as soon as it verges into Wednesday Addams territory – every six months or so – I have a few inches cut off. Simple. But over the years, as my hair has lost volume and fullness at the hairline, long, one-length hair in a centre parting does me no favours.
So I booked in to see Sam McKnight, who is arguably Britain’s most successful hairdresser. He was Diana, Princess of Wales’s go-to stylist in the Nineties and was responsible for cutting the famous crop which became her signature post-divorce look.
Nowadays, he’s the go-to cutter for Kate Moss and Jodie Comer, and works with a host of other celebrities besides, including Sienna Miller. McKnight’s eponymous haircare line, unsurprisingly, has a cult following.
Here, McKnight shares his go-to tips for bringing some more vitality and volume to your hairstyle, and the subtle tweaks to request next time you visit the hairdresser:
Blunt ends, but not completely
“When you’re cutting off length from your hair, you want to keep the ends blunt, but slash into the ends a little so it’s not completely even,” says McKnight. The trick here is to create a micro layer softening the edges of your haircut, which will encourage the ends of your hair that are ever so slightly shorter to spring up. This means you’ll instantly achieve the illusion of volume as your hair dries. “It’s not a layer but it gives it a softer edge,” explains McKnight. If the hair were completely blunt and straight at the bottom, gravity would take over and weigh down the hair even more.
Invisible ‘micro’ layers
“Long, heavy hair has had its day,” McKnight tells me. “With very long hair, you have one or two ways you can wear it, but it’s it.” I fully agree: I thought longer hair would be more versatile to style, but in fact there’s not much you can do with it apart from wearing it down, if it’s properly styled, or throwing it up in a bun because it’s annoying (this is my usual go-to).
Instead, McKnight is a fan of long layers that gently encourage more volume in fine hair, rather than shorter layers that take away much-needed weight through the mid-lengths and ends. “Invisible layers flow into the hair really well and when the hair is dry, they gently spring up within the hairstyle to add bounce,” explains McKnight. He often cuts the hair wet to begin with, and then tweaks the style when it’s dry, “to see how the hair behaves and how it falls”.
Instant cheek bones
You’ve probably heard your hairdresser talk about face-framing pieces or “feathers” around the front part of your hair. If placed correctly, these feathers in fine hair can quickly open up the face and give the appearance of more chiselled cheek bones. “Razoring or using scissors to create feathers down from the chin can be incredibly uplifting for your features,” says McKnight. If you have shorter hair, you can begin these feathers shorter, which many hairdressers call “curtain bangs”.
A different parting
Sounds simple enough, but the quickest way to modernise your hairstyle is to change the parting. “If your hair has a tendency to go flat, you don’t want it to be stuck in just a centre parting as it will make the hair look even more flat,” advises McKnight. I have always been committed to a centre parting but a side parting gives instant oomph. “A side parting is more soft and flattering, while a centre parting is extremely hard to carry off,” he adds.
The right styling products
“It can be tempting to throw lots of product in your hair to add more grip, bounce or volume, but all that will do is weigh it down,” explains McKnight. The trick is to use the right products in small amounts. If you want lift and volume at your roots, a spray such as the Cool Girl Superlift Volumising Spray by Hair by Sam McKnight is excellent. Spray it into the roots when your hair is damp and blow-dry it in.
“If you want more of a general soft volume all over the hair, use a mousse,” says McKnight. Modern mousses such as the Full Texturizing Foam by Living Proof are light and easy to use, giving volume but also leaving in lots of movement in the hair.
Try these...
Elvive Hydra Hyaluronic Shampoo £3.50 by L’Oréal Paris; Elvive Hydra Hyaluronic 72h Rehydrating Conditioner £3.75 by L’Oréal Paris
Full Texturizing Foam £15 by Living Proof; Love Me Do Nourishing Shine Oil £32 by Hair by Sam McKnight; Cool Girl Superlift Volumising Spray £26 by Hair by Sam McKnight
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