Experiment with different widths to see what looks best on your face. If you have long hair, tie it back in a ponytail so that your sides look clipped, then hold the center part over your head or twist and clip it on top of your head. This should give you an idea of what you might look like.
The exact size and shape of the side sections will depend on the width of your center section, which will run vertically from your front hairline to the nape of your neck. Work on keeping the center section the same width all the way down as you draw your C curve on each side of the head. The curve should come quite naturally as your comb inclines up towards your crown and then down towards the nape of your neck. Do this on both sides of your head to make 2 equal side sections and the 1 section on top, which will be the peak of your hawk.
If you’re cutting a faux hawk yourself, you may be best off using the clippers method as it will be difficult to see the back of your head well enough to cut your hair with scissors— not to mention you’ll risk cutting your fingers. If you do use clippers and you don’t want the sides of your to just be one length, you can use a mixture of clippers and scissors to do a blended fade. This involves using 3 levels of clipper guards and then blending the lines with scissors. If you’re using scissors, wet your hair before you get started. Keep your hair dry if you’re using clippers.
Even if you don’t accidentally cut your fingers, you might end up with an uneven cut if you can’t properly see what you’re doing. If you would prefer to use scissors to cut the side sections of your hair, consider asking a friend to help you out.
You’ll move from one vertical strip to another until you’ve completed the entire side section, and then you’ll move to the other side.
Some stylists recommend positioning your non-dominant hand so that your thumb is pointing outward in the direction that you are moving (in this case, towards the back of your head). For a right-handed stylist, this means your left hand’s fingers should be pointing upward on the left side of your head as you cut with your right.
For thin or normal hair, you can get away with cutting all of the hair at the same distance from the head. To get a sense of what this means, hold the flat side of a comb against the head and then move it outward between 1 and 2 inches, keeping the comb completely vertical — not tilting in or out. This is how you will move down a vertical section of normal hair when cutting it. If hair is quite thick, you may want to cut it shorter to longer moving from top to bottom. To get a sense of the direction in which you’d cut, hold the flat side of a comb next the head, pull it out from the head between 1 and 2 inches, and tilt the top of the comb slightly inward. This is how you will move down the vertical section of thick hair when cutting it.
If you have sideburns, use a comb to brush the hair in one direction and then trim it so there’s a clean line; then, brush the hair in the other direction and trim it again. If your sideburns are quite thick, you can brush them up with a comb and slightly trim the tops of them. Just make sure that there are no bald patches in your sideburns before doing this, otherwise you might make them more obvious.
You may need to give it a quick comb-through if it’s tangled.
Once again, you’ll move down the strip from top to bottom, going either shorter to longer if you have thick hair, or all one length if you have fine to normal hair. This time you needn’t worry as much about the strips of hair being perfectly vertical, as you’ll be texturing your hair.
Unless you already know what sizes you want, consider starting with a #2 (1/4-inch) guard for the bottom, a #3 (3/8-inch) guard for the middle, and a #4 (1/2-inch) guard for the top of the side sections of your hair.
Do this as slowly and smoothly as possible to avoid making any mistakes.
Do this around your entire head until everything looks blended.
Again you’ll be cutting in vertical strips, but this time the up-down direction will be from your crown to your forehead. Make sure that you’re maintaining enough length in this section as you cut. [4] X Expert Source Nick ArrojoMaster Hair Stylist Expert Interview. 9 September 2021.
To ensure you’re cutting correctly, comb each layer of hair over so that it lies flat on your head, and then cut it even with the first layer you cut. Make sure that you’re cutting each layer as it lies flat on your head. This is different from your previous cuts, in which you held the hair out from the head. The hair must lie flat on your head, otherwise you’ll risk cutting all layers the same length, which you don’t want for the center part of your head.
Grab small sections of your hair between your pointer and middle fingers, and cut into them with scissors. Cut down at an angle instead of straight across; this will give you more of a textured, fun look. [5] X Research source
When doing this, don’t cut the entire chunk of hair — just a few snips into the section of hair that you hold between your fingers will be fine. If the back is still quite full, you can do what is called “channel cutting”, which involves running the scissors through the hair at a diagonal angle as you cut. This can be particularly helpful at the back of your hair, particularly if you have trouble reaching back there, as you only need one hand for channel cutting (the one holding the scissors).
One way to easily add some texture is to gently twist a chunk of hair and then, holding the scissors at a diagonal angle, gently running them against the hair twist to add some texture. Don’t close the scissors completely over the twist, otherwise you’ll just cut the chunk of hair off instead of giving it a pointy, razored look.
If the sides of your hair are still a bit long, you can use the styling product to tame them down a bit by pushing them forwards or backwards. A common tip from stylists when applying product is to start at the back of your hair. That way if you use too much product, your hair won’t look overly greasy.
