This post may contain affiliate links, read about our editorial promise
A how-to by hairstylist Gilbert Pickett, owner of Salon Mio Mio in San Francisco.
Photo from No Time to Die film poster.
Rough, rugged and one badass mother f$&@#r is what I think of when it comes to Daniel Craig. In my opinion, the best James Bond since Connery, Craig brings out the darker side of James Bond that has never been seen before. With No Time to Die the next Bond movie coming out in October, he is going to be the it man this season. Daniel's portrayal is all about mystique along with his impeccable style wearing Armani and Tom Ford suits.
While his look appears sharp and effortless now, when it comes to his hair he has had many misses over the years.
Now that he’s older his strong, square chin and deeper “character lines” need some softening. Daniel has a receding hairline and finer hair – much different from his youth. A lot of men are self-conscious about their hair receding and feel like it's a non-stop train to losing it completely. But this isn’t the case, there are many products out there – Rogaine (topical) and Propecia (pill) are successful – but you have to use them daily and once you stop, your hair will continue receding.
But, if the way of lotions and potions are not for you, don't despair, a receding hairline can be sexy. There are many ways to work around it that don’t involve a comb over. The number one worst thing you can do is try to fight against it. Many men assume if they cut their hair short, it will only make their balding more noticeable, but surprisingly the opposite is true. The longer your hair, the more pronounced your hairline becomes.
These days Daniel keeps his hair pretty much the same all the time so that it fits with the image he’s created. As a hairstylist and the owner of Salon Mio Mio in San Francisco, I know a few things about the power a change in image can have for a man, both physically and emotionally. I believe it's important to experiment with your hair throughout your life and more importantly to listen to your hairstylist on what style will best fit you. We ask our financial planners what they recommend based on their years of experience, we should find a great barber or stylist and trust them in the same way. As we get older and more successful we need to look the part and the hair of our youth is no longer going to work for our big boy jobs and current hairline realities.
Let me break it down for Mr. Craig's hair. When Daniel was younger he had his hair long, blonde and feathered which worked for the time. If you look at Daniel's latest hair style he keeps it short on the sides and textured on top. Texturizing is the process of cutting different groups of hair at different lengths, and can make fine hair look thicker. The different lengths and jagged pieces give the hair depth which, in turn, makes it look and feel fuller.
There are various tools and techniques like thinning shears, straight razors, and point cutting with scissors that create texture. I use at least two of these techniques in every haircut. Knowing to utilize these methods and tools based on your specific hair sets your hairstylist apart from those who just cut hair.
Let's talk lingo…It's almost impossible for you to walk into a salon or barber shop and start speaking hairstylist/barber lingo because of the many different training methods. But, there is some fundamental language that all stylists can figure out whether they were taught the Vidal way, the Toni and Guy way or the Badda Bing Badda Boom School of Well You Know a Haircut way. Explaining a shape is universal like square, rounded, asymmetrical, longer here, shorter here, clean cut or messy.
As stylists it's important to look at the shape of your head in order to create a haircut that works best for you. If you’ve noticed why you look at someone and you think something's not right but you can't figure out why, it could be their haircut is fighting against the shape of the head. Daniel's is an oval shape, which tends to be the shape that most styles will work best with. His haircut is a rounded cut rather the a square cut.
Imagine your head in a box and the sides of the box go straight up, like a Mad Man haircut or Hipster clipper cut, that's a square cut. Now, imagine the corners at the top of the box carved off, that is rounded. Daniel’s haircut is rounded towards the top of his head.
For clippers, Daniel’s hair seems to be a #2 or 1/4 of an inch clipper guard with a very short taper at the bottom. I always like some sort of taper, it looks more polished and put together. The sides and toparecut with scissors with a technique called “scissor over comb,” which is a technique that places the comb against your head while moving up and cutting in a rapid fashion to simulate clippers. This gives a softer look as to clippers that gives a sharper cleaner, more defined cut.
Hair Styling Products to Use
It can be worn messy, spiked up, or clean cut and parted to the side. If you have fine hair like Mr. Craig, check out Quicksand by Hanz de f*cko. It's a gritty paste that adds thickness and texture while being completely matte finish instead of shiny. It allows you to get the natural-looking ruffled effect Daniel's got going on in some of the photos.
For a more put-together, combed style, use a lightweight grooming cream to get some control without making it super shiny or hard.
→ Wondering how to cut your own hair for a similar cut? Check out our full guide!
