Hair Tattoo: how relevant is this art haircut?

Each hairdresser has his own taste and vision of the relevance of a particular type/element of haircut or technique. But in this article we asked our judge PRO Beauty Battle Hair barber, master of men's haircuts, founder of TheSketch barbershop network Maxim Stifler about his opinion - is Hair Tattoo a trend? We also talked about the place of color in barbering and which competitive work will definitely attract the judge’s attention during the evaluation.

We remind you that PRO Beauty Battle Hair 3.0 will last until April 22. You can read all the terms and conditions of participation here .

Maxim, please tell me, is Hair Tattoo a trend or not?

I would not classify this as either a trend or an anti-trend. It's like an element of a haircut. Let’s say that in our barbershop, clients don’t ask for this element, and the barbers, accordingly, do such haircuts infrequently.

But perhaps there are barbershops that specialize directly in such haircuts. They need to be carefully looked after and updated frequently, because such haircuts grow over quickly: after about 2 weeks, the Hair Tattoo needs to be shaved again so that it looks cool and the pattern is clearly visible. Therefore, Hair Tattoo has always existed, but its relevance is very individual. However, it cannot be called a trend.

Do you remember the period when Hair Tattoo exploded in barbering and was very popular among clients?

I can say that when short haircuts were popular, when the usual hair length on top was up to 1 cm, and everything on the sides was shaved (the same boxes), people really liked to experiment, including with Hair Tattoo. One way or another, after 2 weeks the client needed to update his haircut. And if the wrong pattern was shaved or you got tired of it, then you can shave even shorter and remove the pattern. But clients with longer hair, who are accustomed to long haircuts, almost never decide to do this.

How are things going with color in barbering now? Are clients asking for it?

It depends on what to take into account: barbershops or beauty salons. Beauty salons have always had coloring. In barbershops, this trend is only growing; more and more clients come with requests to dye their hair. If earlier highlights were popular to look cool, but not strange, now people are ready to paint their entire head in a bright color and take it easy. The question here is that not all barbershops do color, but very often the barbers + colorist work in tandem, when the client first gets his color done by the colorist and then comes to the barber for a haircut. I think this is an ideal option.

From your personal experience: how often do you come across barbers who can color your hair well?

Often enough. If it is lightening, ashy, toning, masking gray hair, then very often. But it’s no longer more complicated. You need to contact colorists.

We are currently hosting PRO Beauty Battle Hair. Will the work look brighter and more beautiful if the haircut is supplemented with coloring or a Hair Tattoo? What should a competition entry be like, in your opinion?

I believe that all aspects are important: hair color, technique used by the artist, makeup, clothes. All these elements must come together.

In one of the past circles, I saw competition entries that were performed on the heads of mannequins. It’s more interesting to look at work on a live model, since real hair behaves differently. Therefore, everything mentioned above is important, plus a high-quality photo, which must be taken with good lighting.