Before attempting to carve the lines of the hair, make sure that you have carved the shape of the hair mass that you want. There is no point in putting nice details on the wrong shape. In fact, the correct shape with no details will look better. There should be no straight lines and no parallel lines—unless you are looking for a special effect that demands them. Take a look at your work before getting into the detailing. If you see straight lines on a face, there is something wrong. Fix it.

The advantages of carving on a tilted workbench are that there is less strain on your back and the lighting angle can be similar to that of the carving hanging on the wall. This article shows how a ready-to-assemble workbench was modified to become a versatile tilting workbench.