It’s 2023, the age of TikTok and Instagram where social media is a driving factor in hairstyle trends. Before social media, influential people like the Beatles were the inspiration for hairstyles, but today TikTok influencers like Josh Richards set the trends. And the trending haircut for teenage boys is the curly mop top haircut. This top hairstyle is characterized by longer hair that’s low maintenance but with a textured appearance, also known as a wet mop. In this article we will go through the steps to creating this style using a Feather Plier Razor. You can follow along the steps on this post or view the full tutorial on JATAI Academy. Russell Mayes, the Director Content for JATAI, is an excellent educator who explains step-by step how to give this popular haircut.

1. Start your sectioning with a center section to the occipital bone and then from the occipital bone to the mastoid to separate the bottom out of the back.

2. Taking the center section, comb everything straight down and with long broad stroke, go back and forth across the section with the Feather Plier Razor. Slowly, gently, methodically try to graduate the section so you get a little bit of stack. But you don’t want a lot of weight.

3. Repeat on the right and left section. Bevel the sides a bit but leave the hair a little longer towards the middle. Check the lengths on both sides to make sure it’s even.

4. Take the next flat section from the occipital bone to the top of the ear. Now go through and channel cut the section. By channel cutting one direction and then cutting the length off the opposite direction, it will give more separation of curl and removal of weight. The goal is to have light airy texture on the ends with a lived-in look. The only way to achieve this is to channel cut with the razor.

5. Now separate the front of the head from the back of the head which is the high point of the head straight down to the high point of the ear. Elevate the hair off the peak curvature of the head. Continue to channel cut the sections in one direction and then cutting across the other direction.

6. For the front, take the first flat section around the hairline to the section right behind the top of the ear. This allows you to have a little guide from the back. Come the front section down to the length that you want. In this case, it’s the tip of the nose. Channel cut the section and cut across the section as before but be very diligent and methodical with your approach. You don’t want to just go in and shred the hair.

7. Continue to work the remaining sections in the same way until you run out of hair to cut.

8. When finished, use some curl cream and ribbon out the curls to force the hair to curl together to have a nice soft texture. Take your time and get the curls to clump together. It goes a long way to fight the frizz. Use a diffuser to dry the hair or let it air dry.

And there you have it! This curly mop top haircut is versatile and can work on straighter hair textures as well. To watch the full tutorial for free on our website, click here. No need to login or sign-up. Watch it instantly!

Note: The Feather Plier Razor is an advanced haircutting razor that should be used with caution. Since the handle uses bare blades you can easily cut yourself if you’re not careful. Be sure to practice and get adequate training before attempting to use it on a real client. To see the Feather Plier Razor, click here.
You can also, use a Feather Styling Razor which uses guarded blades to achieve similar results. Since the blades have a guard, they will not cut you. You can check out the Feather Styling Razor here.