initially boxed in and then cut to final form when designing the top. The hair on the top of the head can be styled clipper or shears over comb or free hand with a clipper.With the clipper or shears over comb method, the comb is inserted in the upright hair at the desired length and the hair is reduced to this length by means of clippers or shears severing the hair above the teeth of the comb. Freehand means the clipper blade or guard does not determine the cut hair length but rather the distance the cutting blade is held above the scalp sets the cut length. The barber selects the most complementary final form for the top according to face shape, skull shape, frontal hairline, and facial features within parameters set by customer instructions. Specifically, the short pompadour front can be made higher or lower, wider or narrower and can be flattened or arched to varying degrees across the forehead; the hair over the rest of the top can be more rounded or flattened; the upper sides can have more or less volume. In side profile, the outward appearance of the upright top hair should approach the horizontal; if the hair is cut so the upright top hair appears horizontal when the head is viewed from the front as well as the side, as a flat plane, the style is generally referred to as a flat-top crew cut or flat top; per customer wishes and the shape of the skull and frontal hairline, the flat plane can be level, upward or downward sloping relative to the forehead. A crew cut with a longer top can be referred to in the US as an ivy league crew cut or ivy league. A long crew cut might be graduated in length on the top of the head from at the front hairline to at the back of the crown. A crew cut with a shorter top might have a similar proportional graduated difference in the length of the hair on the top of the head. If a short crew cut is at the front hairline, the length of the hair at the back of the crown might be . Crew cut gallery See also List of hairstyles Blades and guards Butch cut Buzz cut Flattop High and tight Ivy League Mullet Regular haircut References Bibliography External links A brief description of