When styling hair at home, many women tend to make them more voluminous at the roots, but the tips should remain obedient and not stick out in different directions. According to most people, this is what an ideal hairstyle looks like. And this effect can really be achieved, but only after processing the tips with special scissors. This is milling. In our article, we will tell you all about this method of hair treatment, dwell on what tools it is used for, consider its basic techniques and give some useful recommendations from professional stylists.
What is milling?
This method of hair processing is very popular and is often used in modern hairdressing practice. Milling is the thinning of curls with special scissors. Depending on the purpose of the hairstyle, the procedure is performed along the entire length or in separate sections, most often at the tips.
Milling can give the following result:
- volume increase;
- styling facilitation;
- hair volume reduction.
Depending on which haircut is being performed, different milling techniques are used. The correct choice of each of them allows you to get the desired result. In any case, the haircut takes on the right shape and natural look. Milling can be combined with simultaneous shortening of hair.
Necessary tools
Hair milling is not performed with conventional scissors. Otherwise, it will not be possible to thin out the strand, but only cut it off. Haircuts will be ruined.
At the school of hairdressing, special tools are allocated for this procedure:
- Thinning scissors. At first glance, they look like a completely ordinary tool. In fact, one of the two scissor blades is made in the form of a comb with thin teeth with recesses, due to which the hairs are cut off. This procedure is performed only on dried hair after styling. At home, milling hair is quite difficult. It is important to be as careful as possible so as not to cut the strand completely.
- Thinning razor (blade). The principle of operation of this tool is quite simple. First, the curl rises vertically, then the razor moves along the entire length of the strand from the roots to the ends. The procedure is performed on wet hair. It is important to stretch the curl well.
Types of Milling
There are thinning curls at the roots, at the tips and along all lengths. The latter method is often used when cutting with thinning hair. Depending on the desired result, a different number of slices of one strand with scissors is used. What is each of these types of milling?
Basal thinning of the strand is performed, departing from the surface of the head by 2-4 cm. In this case, milling allows you to increase the volume of hair at the roots, create a hairstyle, and facilitate styling. The procedure is performed oblique or straight sections.
Milling the tips makes the hairstyle more accurate, allows you to smooth out the irregularities of the haircut, provides a smooth transition.
Thinning over the entire length is suitable for very thick hair. The procedure is performed with both straight and thinning scissors, as well as with a special razor. The same type of milling is used to create a ragged haircut.
When is it better to refuse milling?
The thinning procedure is far from always beneficial for its condition and general appearance of the haircut. In the following cases, professionals do not recommend milling. This will only ruin the haircut and will not make it possible to do the right styling.
So, milling is not performed:
- on thin and rare by nature hair with a rough structure;
- on curls weakened after perms and discoloration;
- on curly hair with curls of different lengths;
- if the haircut does not provide thinning, for example, we are talking about a classic square.
But this does not mean at all that in all other cases, milling must be performed at 100%. The procedure is carried out at the discretion of the master and at the request of the client.
Milling Techniques
Thinning strands are used both externally and internally, as well as on both sides. The first method is performed in short haircuts, the second on long curls, and the third if the hair is thick and stiff. The strands are highlighted with a comb, and then, using scissors, an insert is made from a certain side.
The hairdressing school identifies the following milling techniques:
- Jag files: scissors are introduced into the strand at a certain angle at regular intervals, as a result of which the slice has a uniform structure in the form of cloves. It is used for finalizing haircuts and thinning bangs.
- Poynting: a traditional haircut and milling with scissors with a serrated cut from the middle of the strands to the ends.
- Slicing: thinning with a sliding motion along the selected curls.
- Plucking method: cut strands at different heights.
- Method of a tourniquet: twisting the strand and cutting the tourniquet in several places with the tips of scissors or with a special razor.
- Purposeful insertion method: the ends of individual small strands are cut to different lengths. The technique is used to create a torn effect and ensure the natural mobility of hair.
Tip milling
This procedure is carried out in order to make the hair cut line softer and smoother. The advantage of milling hair, or rather their ends, makes it possible:
- simulate the shape of the haircut;
- provide an attractive and natural look;
- focus on the texture of curls.
To evaluate the result of thinning hair, you should compare the photo before and after performing the technique. In most cases, the filing process justifies itself.
Thinning over the entire length
Hairdressers perform radical milling for people with both thick and thin hair. In the first case, we should expect a decrease in volume, and in the second, on the contrary, it will increase.
Thinning hair along the entire length is used quite often. In this case, the strands are pulled, and slices are performed either horizontally, or from the roots to the ends with the help of a blade, or in a semicircle. In this case, the curls slightly disintegrate and bend up.
Properly performed milling looks natural and does not spoil a haircut or hairstyle at all. As a result, hair is easy to style. Without professional thinning, the haircut lines look quite rough, which does not allow you to achieve the desired effect when creating a hairstyle.
Recommendations of specialists
When milling hair, you should follow certain rules:
- the procedure is performed on dry hair after the completion of the main haircut;
- in order to give the hair a natural look, before thinning it is necessary to take a free lock in your hand and remember how different its volume is at the roots and at the ends;
- in order to achieve a uniform haircut structure, it is necessary to maintain the same rhythm when working with scissors until the end of the procedure.
It is important that the master who performs the milling has a sense of proportion, especially if the hair is not thick enough by nature. Only in this case, thinning will bring the desired result, and the haircut will look more accurate and voluminous.