Flattop

The flattop is an icon of old-school men’s hairdressing—a cut built around a perfectly flat, square top and precise layering on the sides. This course shows you how to turn this technically demanding style into a repeatable and fully controlled process, from the fundamental shaping to the final freehand scissor finishing touches.

Mikołaj Maćkowiak guides you through the entire process step by step, starting with what he calls the longest and most important part: preparing and styling the hair to achieve extreme stiffness. You’ll see how to mark the highest point of the head as the axis for the comb, how to determine the length of the top based on a reference strand from the bangs, and then how to create a “sketch” of the entire shape with a clipper on the comb before moving on to blending the sides and finishing the look.

In this course, you'll learn:

• Two-step styling for maximum hold – why a styling spray alone isn’t enough, and when to add a cream to make your hair stand perfectly straight.
• Work with the highest point of the head serving as a stable support for the comb—the key to creating a perfectly flat surface.
• Use a specialized "flattoper" comb to create a precise "outline" of the entire hairstyle before layering the sides.
• Creating a fade in a straight line that complements the square geometry of the flat top.
• Comparing work on a flattop to trimming a beard—how thinking of the shape as a sculpture makes freehand work easier.
• Finish styling and apply wax only to the sides and bangs, so as not to weigh down or "flatten" the top.
• A simple trick for removing the zero line: turn the trimmer upside down and use it that way to clear the path.

After taking this course, you’ll stop avoiding the flattop in your salon and start seeing it as a controlled craft rather than an unpredictable art form. You’ll learn to create a perfectly square shape based on the client’s head anatomy, and precise styling will become your most important tool for achieving a perfectly flat top.