There are tons of side hustles that college students can do, and one popular one that will get you off screens and talking to people is cutting hair. While cutting hair requires a little more training than other types of side hustles, it’s very rewarding and can even lead to a career. If you want to learn more about hair techniques like how to hold the right tension when cutting hair, keep reading.
What Is Tension?
If you’re just starting your hair-cutting side hustle, you may have only heard of hair tension a few times. Holding the correct tension when cutting hair is one of the foundations of hair cutting. It’s the formal term for securing a client’s hair between your fingers as you prepare to cut. Most people who cut hair hold the hair between their index and pointer fingers, pulling it either straight up or straight out. Keeping it at a 90-degree angle will help keep the tension as you cut.
Why Is Tension Important?
Knowing what tension is and how to hold it correctly is important for cutting hair because it helps you maintain the proper angle for the cut. While you can cut without tension, it’s difficult to design a specific style without it. A good rule of thumb is to forgo tension when fixing a problem or removing weight and use it when aiming for a specific style. If your client doesn’t have a specific style in mind, you can decide between the two, but you’ll get a crisper angle with tension.
How Can You Hold the Right Tension?
Now that you know what tension is and why it’s important, you need to know how to hold it right. As we mentioned above, holding a piece of hair between your fingers, most likely your index and pointer fingers, will create tension. You want even tension so that the hair is cut at the same angle and gives the right effect when you let it down. You’ll get even tension by keeping the section of hair between your first two knuckles and not rolling it over. If you let the hair slip further between your fingers or roll it over one of your fingers, that can be a problem. Your tension will either be too tight or too loose for you to cut the hair at the desired angle.
Now you know what tension is, why it’s important, and how you can hold tension properly while cutting hair. While you’ll need to learn other hair techniques and vocabulary as you make hair cutting your side hustle, knowing and understanding tension is one of the most important ones.
