Good grooming is important for a man. It is possible, however, to be well-groomed and save money while doing it. One way to do so is to learn to cut your own hair. Cutting your own hair requires planning, the right tools, and taking care to do the job right.
EditSteps
EditPreparing to Cut Your Hair
- Decide how you want your hair to look. For the most part, you’ll want to keep pretty much the same hairstyle you normally wear, at least for the first few times you cut your own hair. However, you may want to consider some minor changes, such as letting your sideburns grow or eliminating them altogether.
- Choose the right size of scissors to work with. Home haircut kits often come with the type of scissors barbers normally use, which are long, thin, and pointed. These scissors are fine for cutting someone else’s hair, but you may find them unwieldy to cut your own hair with. Instead, try using shorter-blade scissors,[1] such as the following:
- Mustache scissors
- Cuticle scissors
- Children’s scissors
- Whatever type of scissors you choose, be sure the blades are sharp so they cut your hair cleanly.[2]
- Get a fine-tooth comb. The comb will be used to part and straighten your hair, eliminating tangles that will make it difficult to get the cut you want. A long comb of the kind barbers use instead of a shorter pocket comb is recommended.[3]
- If you can’t find this kind of comb, you can use a pocket comb for the actual combing and your fingers to grab your hair when cutting it.
- Wet your hair. Although old-style barbers typically cut dry hair, modern stylists usually find it easier to work with wet hair when cutting, particularly when cutting thick hair. You can do one of two things:
- Wash your hair, or at least wet it thoroughly in the shower. Let it dry to the point of dampness before cutting.
- Wet your hair as you go, using a spray bottle.[4]
- Position yourself near a mirror. You’ll want to be able to see what you’re doing as much as possible. A large-sized mirror on your bathroom wall or medicine cabinet would help you see what you’re cutting in front or on the sides.
- If possible, set up a second mirror so you can see the back of your head, either hanging from the wall opposite or as a hand mirror held by an assistant.
- Part your hair into sections. Run the comb back through your hair at the outside edge of each eyebrow to make the part, then comb the hair between the part and the ear down. Do this on both sides. This sections off the hair on the top of your head.
EditCutting Your Hair
- Comb the hair around your ears and temple forward.
- Lift the hair up with your comb or fingers.
- Slide the comb (or your fingers) away from your head. This will set the limit for your scissors to cut. The further away from your head you slide the comb or your fingers, the less hair will be cut.
- Cut the exposed hair, with your scissors perpendicular to the comb or your fingers. Cutting with the blades perpendicular to the comb removes a volume of hair without damage, as long as the comb is between the tips of the blades and your scalp.
- Every few cuts, stop and look at your progress. If something doesn’t look even, go back and cut a little more until it is.
- Work your way up the sides to the parts. Cut the hair the same way you did around your ears: Lift the hair away from your scalp with the comb and cut perpendicular to the comb with the scissors. Stop every few cuts to check your work and correct any errors.
- Take a little at a time off the top. Use the comb or your fingers to raise the hair on top of your head straight up and cut off from 1/4 to 1/2 inch (6.35 to 12.7 mm). Work slowly and carefully, as you did when cutting the sides.
- Cuts to the hair on top of your head are more noticeable than cuts to the hair on the sides of your head. A few notches on the side of your head can be taken as an attempt at a punk look, while a few notches on the top can be taken as the start of male pattern baldness.
- Clean up the edges. After trimming the sides and top, the only two parts you have left to tackle are your sideburns and the back of your head.
- You can trim your sideburns with either a safety razor or electric shaver with a pop-out trimmer. If you want long sideburns, trim from the bottom of your ears; if shorter, you can use the depression below your cheekbone or the tragus (the thick flap of skin at the front of the ear) to determine where the bottoms of your sideburns should be. Place your fingers underneath each sideburn to check that they’re even.
- You can use a beard trimmer or edging wand to cut the “wings” that form on the back of your neck as your hair grows there. You want to start with a grazing cut at the top of the neckline, then cut progressively closer as you work toward the nape of the neck. (This is where you want to have a second mirror available to see what you’re doing.) [5]
EditTips
- If you have an electric hair clipper, you can use it for cleanup work on the sides and back of your neck, as well as behind the ears. If you want to have a very short haircut, you can also use it on the top, holding it vertically with the blades down, palm facing you. Work slowly from front to back.[6]
- The first few times you cut your own hair, don’t cut it quite as short as you normally have it cut. That way, if you make a mistake, you can correct it without having to cut your hair too short to fix it.[7] You can expect to make some mistakes the first few times you cut your own hair until you become more comfortable doing so.
- You may want to put on an old shirt or some other form of covering to catch the cut hair before starting. If working over your bathroom sink, close the drain to keep hair from falling into it.
- You may be more comfortable with cutting your own hair only to reduce the number of times you see a barber or stylist instead of eliminating those visits entirely. That way, you can give yourself minor trims and save the trips to the barber for the times you need a more thorough haircut.
EditThings You’ll Need
- Scissors
- Hair clippers (optional)
- Comb
- Spray bottle of water
- Mirror
- Good light source
- Shaving razor, electric shaver, or beard trimmer
EditSources and Citations
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