-So I'm really nervous. Change really freaks me out.
I'm terrified. I'm just gonna channel that into excitement.
I'm Sunny, and I'm getting an undercut today.
I've been trying to figure out what to do with my hair
for the longest time.
I've been growing my hair for donation for about seven years.
It's been, like, years and years
since I've expressed myself at all with my hair.
I haven't done any heat styling, like, literally nothing
'cause it needs to be really healthy to donate.
I love that I can continue being myself with this undercut.
I can continue rocking the topknot,
but it's gonna look elevated.
It's gonna look like I tried
and not look like I didn't try,
which is usually what it looks like.
-I am Valerie, and I am a hair stylist here at Hairrari.
A gender-neutral barbershop
is some place that anyone can come in and feel comfortable.
When they look in the mirror, they really,
truly feel like themselves.
We feel like the industry is so binary and standard.
For me, like, hair is just endless.
You can do anything and everything and never get bored.
Me and Dre are gonna collab today on this look.
-Hi, I'm Dre, and I'm a barber here at Hairrari.
I typically specialize in more precision-type haircuts,
so, like, really tight fades.
I do designs.
Hey, Sunny. -Hey, Dre.
I am super excited for you to cut my hair today.
Heck yeah. What are we doing?
-I am hopeful for a nice, angular, like,
undercut with some geometric designs and color.
-Sick. Let's do it. You have a lot of hair.
-I do have a lot of hair.
-We're gonna do, like, a triangle-shaped undercut
with some little flares at the edge
to make it look like an arrow.
To start, create the section,
which usually takes the longest.
You have to see that the tip of the arrow matches up
to, like, the center of the neck
and use that as a reference point as well as the ears
you can use to make sure it's symmetrical on both sides.
Once you have a clean section,
wrap it in a little rubber band
and we're gonna snip it off with scissors.
Once the bulk is off, we can start to buzz.
I typically start with a number 2.
That is my standard clipper attachment to begin an undercut
because if you go longer than a 2,
there's too much hair to work with, with the design,
and then anything shorter than a 2,
you won't be able to really see what's happening
because it will be too short, so there won't be any contrast.
Once our canvas is clean,
we're gonna use, like, a barber pencil,
which is basically like an eyeliner pencil
or like a crayon kind of to draw out the design.
We're doing the mosaic, so it's gonna be like
triangles, super scattered, and, like, abstract.
When doing the designs, I have to be careful
because the trimmers that I use are super sharp,
so the skin could turn a little red.
So you just have to be really careful
with the bleach application afterwards.
Sweet'N Low sweetener -- if you mix it in with the bleach,
it's a lot more gentle on the scalp.
So that's usually what we do to prevent any kind of
chemical burn or scalp irritation.
Once it's all edged out,
we should be ready to bleach and tone and color.
-So once Dre is done with the undercut,
I'm going to bleach it.
Let that process until it is
the color of the inside of a banana.
And then once we get that color, we will rinse it out,
pre-tone it,
and then after that, we will color it with some fun colors.
We will use smaller paint brushes
to paint the style on, like, pretty specifically.
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It's pretty crucial to rinse with very cold water.
That's gonna prevent it from bleeding
and running together.
And they'll stay separated and vibrant that way.
After that, we will start with the styling of the updo.
I'm gonna crimp her hair to give some texture.
It will help with also giving some volume.
Doing, like, two braids up the back.
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Doing, like, a little anchor in the middle.
Make a little bun with that anchor,
and then I'm gonna kind of, like,
twist all the braids around to do a braided topknot.
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Alright. You ready to see your new hair?
-Yeah, I'm super stoked. -Alright.
-Oh, dude, yes. -Isn't it awesome?
-That's beautiful.
Oh, my God, that's just what I wanted.
-Yay. -I feel like one of those
cute little stained-glass windows.
I'm stoked. -Yay, I'm glad.
-I absolutely love it.
I had no expectations.
I just came into this really excited
to see creatives be creative, and I'm super stoked.
It feels very textured. Like, you can feel the design,
which is, like, wild to me.
So on the back of my head I have a birthmark.
And actually a lot of people have the same birthmark
in pretty much the same place,
and a lot of people call it a raspberry or strawberry.
And I think it's actually pretty cute
because it just blends in with all of the jewel tones.
-I think it went awesome.
I think Sunny is the perfect model for this.
I'm so glad that they were willing to do an undercut.
We had creative freedom
and we kind of just, like, built off of each other
in the design that Dre and I decided to do.
-This undercut is probably not going to change
my everyday hair routine,
but it is going to elevate the results of said topknot.
-Undercut designs typically don't last
more than two to three weeks,
although it's a great two to three weeks
to show off your hair.
But yeah, it is super temporary.
That's what makes it more fun
because you can change it up really often.
-I'm so glad that I decided to take the leap into an undercut.
I feel super free. I'm super excited.
And if I need to look conservative,
I can just put my hair down.
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