Credit: Lauren Cunningham, Stylist
Hair
‘The Rachel’ haircut is being revived yet again, but this time we’re calling it a C-cut
2 years ago
2 min read
The viral ’do is doing the rounds, but does it work on unwieldy hair? I headed to Hari’s to find out.
With waist-length locks and an often untameable mane, taking part in the latest haircut trends is often out of the question for me. The number of times I’ve walked into the hairdresser armed with images only to be sent packing – sweeping side fringe, pixie bob and shaggy cut, all still a pipe dream – is hard to count.
But is the latest viral ’do any different? Absolutely. And it can work for a wide variety of hair types, lengths and tones.
Called the C-cut, it’s been dubbed the latest revival of ‘the Rachel’. You know, Friends’s Rachel Green’s famous cool-girl cut that had every hairdresser in town drowning in requests back in 1995. And our collective love for the style hasn’t waned; it takes a spin back around hairstylist circles every now and again (read: rather regularly), with new variations making it a touch more modern.
But, compared to the original above-the-shoulder style that even Jennifer Aniston admits was hard to maintain, this modern adaptation is much more low maintenance. So what has landed the C-cut with its lettering label, and how is it different from the original?
What is the C-cut?
“A C-shaped haircut is like the letter itself,” explains Michael Gray, creative stylist for John Frieda. “It creates an elongated effect by being shorter in the front and longer towards the back, thanks to beautifully executed long layers that start around the chin, hugging in towards the face and falling down to the perimeter.” So it really is a say-what-you-see kind of style.
Also called the curve cut, this swooping face framing is what the style is centred on. “[It] highlights details of bone structure specifically towards the jawline,” adds Michael. Which, for me, someone with more of a round face, worked wonders in elongating my face and accentuating the angles I didn’t know I had (hello, cheekbones).
Instead of curling back as it would in a bouncy blowdry, the strands sit slightly over the sides of the face, hiding the outer edges and ears to make it look longer and narrower while adding focus to the eyes, mouth and nose. And curving in just below the jawline – or just above, depending on how far you go with the design – it also adds a shadow, making for a sharper, more structured face shape, which I’m certainly not complaining about.
But putting the focus back onto the face isn’t the only benefit: it also boosts the body, movement and fullness of your locks. The long layers can also be taken around the back to build the hair outwards instead of your one-length cut, making it rather magical for those with finer hair. And anyone after longer locks is also in luck, as the gradient from front to back only accentuates the length, giving the illusion of longer, thicker locks at any angle you look from.
What happened when I got a C-cut
The first thing to note with any haircut is that you need to feel confident and comfortable with your stylist. While I may moan about being turned away from my dream hair designs in the past, putting faith in the experts who explained why those styles would look more like a nightmare with my hair texture, length and tone only worked in my favour in the long run. Although the box bob may look beautiful on some, on others (myself included), it would look like an oversized ball of frizzy fluff, which is certainly much less chic. And here at Hari’s, the hairstylists will always tell you which styles will suit you and which ones need to be said farewell to, no matter how much you might like it.
Sitting down with Polly Miteva, stylist at Hari’s, and flicking through various C-cut photos on my phone, one key trend popped out: most of these versions all had a sweeping fringe. Sadly, I didn’t need yet another hairdresser to tell me why my thick, curly locks could only cause trouble when cut that short, so we adapted. According to Polina, focusing on “creating the curved layering to frame the face, to achieve the flattering C-cut trend with a soft U-shape through the lengths” was the way to go.
Taking the texture into account, we kept the layers slightly longer to make maintaining them low maintenance yet still making a statement, Polina explained. And low maintenance was music to my ears as someone who air dries, slaps on some products and shoots out the door. “Adaption is key whenever a client requests a trend cut,” Polina stressed, “so we’re achieving a version of the look that will suit the client.” And we couldn’t ask for much more.
Who can have the C-cut?
The beauty of this trending hairstyle is that it works for a wide variety of people, so long as you have hair that falls around shoulder-length or longer. For folks with finer, straighter hair, you may want to make the C-cuts even higher, starting around the cheekbones or even adding a fringe to increase the dimension. For those with thicker locks, like me, or wavy and curly strands, you want to lean into this length, as Polina suggests. Keeping the weight will stop the curls from springing too high up, while the layers will give a beautiful gradient effect that accentuates your natural hair texture compared to one block length.
How to style the C-cut
Maintaining the style is relatively simple by blow drying forwards and curling inwards with a round brush, such as the Moroccanoil ceramic round brush (£18.45, Lookfantastic.com), adding a root booster for volume at the head, like the John Frieda volume lift root booster blow dry lotion (£6.99, Sephora.co.uk) and finishing off with a lightweight hairspray or anti-humidity spray. Sounds easy? It is, making for a minimalist haircare cut that still packs a punch.
Images: Lauren Cunningham
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