I’ve been wearing my hair curly for about six years now and have sampled my fair share of cutting styles. There’s the traditional, blow-it-straight-and-trim-away cut. There’s the wet cut (a technique I always felt left my hair shaped a little oddly). And recently, at Devachan Salon in New York City, I tried the free-form curly cut. My hair was left dry and curly for Denis Da Silva, co-owner of Devachan to work his magic. “We leave the hair curly because it makes the most sense,” says Da Silva. “We can see were the hair needs volume and shaping and what a cut will leave us with.” When I sat down, Da Silva spent the first few minutes analyzing my current shape—a big halo of curls with bangs. He gave it a thumbs up (whew!) but said I needed a little more volume in the crown (“The crown gives your hair its shape,” he insisted). So as we chatted about how he’s spreading the Devachan techique throughout his native Brazil (through partnerships with local salons), he snipped away at my curls individually. He didn’t trim the crown of my head at all, saying that he’d like to let that grow in, but focused his work on the longer sides (my hair had started to get a little mullet-y). After a delightful wash and super gentle detangling session, my hair was dried and Da Silva went in for a few finishing touches. The result was perfection. The curly cut seemed to prevent that dreadful “they cut too much!” moment. My hair was just he right length and a fabulous shape.