The 'Calligraphy Haircut' Is Perfect For Adding Volume To Fine Hair

If you have fine or thin hair, you have likely spent a lot of your personal time trying to give it some life and volume. There are many different ways stylists recommend adding volume, from teasing the roots to blow-drying your hair upside down to rocking certain hairstyles specifically for finer hair. Not to mention the endless products that promote fuller, thicker-looking hair made with specific haircare ingredients. Some stylists even recommend focusing on your health to add thickness to your hair. The professionals at Matrix say that eating greens can help as well as biotin-rich foods like beans, eggs, and salmon.

But if you already keep a pretty healthy diet and have tried every product and tip under the sun, you may want to consider getting a haircut. Celebrity hairstylist Ted Gibson told Who What Wear that for most people with fine hair, getting the right haircut can make all the difference. For years, people believed that layers were the solution for achieving the look of thick hair but after many left the salon with layers that didn't quite make a difference–or worse, made their hair look choppy–experts came up with a new technique. And it may be just what your fine hair needs.

The word calligraphy may sound fancy, but the calligraphy haircut is actually quite simple. According to InStyle, the technique, while new to Americans, has actually been around for over two decades after German hairstylist Frank Brorman created it. Since it began to make its rounds in the states, stylists everywhere have learned the technique as a surefire way to give their thin-haired clients an immediate boost of volume.

When getting a calligraphy cut, your stylist will cut your hair at an angle, but what is different from other haircuts is there are no scissors or razors involved. To get a true calligraphy haircut, a calligraphy pen is used. Jamie Wiley, a celebrity stylist and global artistic director at Pureology, told InStyle that a stylist will stroke your hair with the pen in up-and-down movements on an angle, creating fullness in every strand. In fact, this type of cut can give your hair 300% more fullness — a dream come true for all those with thin hair.

The biggest reason someone gets a calligraphy cut is to add volume, but there are a ton more benefits to this cutting method than just more thickness. When using the calligraphy pen, each strand of hair is cut at an angle, which allows product and moisture to get into all parts of your hair much more easily. As celebrity hairstylist Clariss Rubenstein explained to Real Simple, this not only makes your cut last a lot longer, but it also prevents unwanted things like split ends and breakage.

Plus, this haircut isn't just for fine hair. All hair types can benefit from a calligraphy haircut and those with fine or thick hair or even those who just want to cut bangs should consider it. Unfortunately, though, you can't just go into any salon and ask for this cut. Not only does the stylist need to have the calligraphy pen on hand, but they also need to be certified in the technique. Once you find your stylist, you'll be saying goodbye to traditional scissors and hello to the beauty of calligraphy.