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Tips for cutting your own hair (or your partner’s) at home

My husband has been cutting his own hair for more than a year. I asked him for some advice.
 
Michelle Stark's husband, Phil, holds the hair clippers he uses to cut his hair at home.
Michelle Stark's husband, Phil, holds the hair clippers he uses to cut his hair at home. [ MICHELLE STARK | Times ]
Published April 3, 2020|Updated April 8, 2020

I recognize the call from the guest bathroom immediately every time.

“Can you help me with the edge?”

My husband, Phil, is in there, clippers in hand, pieces of hair scattered around his feet. He has been cutting his own hair for more than a year now. But there’s one part he can’t quite reach: the neckline.

So I swoop in at the very end and help buzz a straight line. Sometimes I get perilously close to an ear. But for the most part, it’s worked out just fine.

Phil cuts his hair every four weeks at our house. He got really into it after Santa brought him hair clippers for Christmas the year before last. Since then, he’s been maintaining his blond, fine, straight locks: a typical fade, shorter on the sides, a little longer on top.

With many of us having to now cut our own hair, or our partner’s hair, it seemed like a good time to talk to Phil about his grooming tips. Turns out, cutting your own hair isn’t such a harebrained scheme.

Why did you decide to start cutting your own hair?

The awkward small talk that you have to make with the people cutting your hair while you’re trapped in that chair. It made me reluctant to get my hair cut, so I’d often go longer between cuts than I wanted, and I’d start to look scruffy.

What gave you the confidence to think you could do it?

A shot of American bourbon. One Saturday I got a little tipsy and decided to just do it. I already had the clippers, mainly for trimming my beard. But I had always thought about trying to cut my hair at least once. And watching the people cut my hair for all these years, the actual cutting didn’t seem that hard. It was just easier to go and have someone else do it.

How did that first haircut go?

I was very sweaty. I remember I set the clipper guard to No. 5, because if it looked stupid, I could always go and get it fixed the next day. My heart was racing. I used the medicine cabinet mirror in our guest bathroom to allow for a profile view of my head. I started with the back of the left side, and “Bzzzz!”

The clippers came with some instructions, like a general way to cut men’s hair. A little diagram. And it talked about the different parts of the head and how you should treat them differently.

And now? How do you feel about it?

Well, I’ve probably saved $250 cutting my own hair. That’s basically a car payment. And I’ve gotten better at cutting it. Somebody at work recently asked me where I went and got my hair cut during this coronavirus pandemic. I said, “Man, you know I cut my own hair!”

Michelle Stark's husband, Phil, uses these hair clippers to cut his hair at home. [ MICHELLE STARK | Times ]

Here are some tips for cutting men’s hair at home — if you’re brave enough to try it.

Step 1: Oil the clipper blades, as instructed by your kit. Choose the numbered clipper guards you want to use. You may remember which ones your barber used to use; if not, do some Googling to make sure you don’t end up with a guard that’s too short or too long. Phil recommends erring on the side of a longer clipper guard if you’re unsure, so you don’t accidentally cut off too much hair. He starts with a 5.

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Identify the three sections of your head: under the rim of the head, the rim of the head and the top of the head.

Step 2: Start with the rim of the head. This is generally the widest part of your head, from above the ears to the top of the head where your hair is likely a little longer. Start with the longest clipper guard and place it over the clipper blade. Move the clippers horizontally across the rim of your head, from one side to the other.

Step 3: Switch clipper guards, to start to create a fade effect. If you started with a 5, go to a 4, and eventually a 3 for under the rim of the head. Do the same thing you did with the first clipper guard, moving it horizontally across the back of your head, but use the smaller numbers as you go further down your head.

Some clippers have a fade lever, which allows you to do a longer or shorter version of each clipper guard — basically half levels. Go over small increments of hair as you move down the head using these half levels.

“When I first started, I went down just one clipper guard size as I moved through each section of the head,” Phil says. “It worked fine, but once I figured out how to use the fading lever on the clippers, I realized I could move down half levels, and fade it all in quite nicely.”

Step 4: Now, cut the hair on the crown. You can use the highest clipper setting in the kit (for Phil’s, a No. 8) and move it through the hair on the crown section — Phil cuts all but about 3 inches of hair in the very front that he likes to keep longer. It’s a way to create some style.

Sometimes you will have to reach for the scissors. To cut the bangs, Phil will pull out the hair scissors from his kit. Placing the scissors at about a 60-degree angle, he’ll make little snippets up into the clumps of hair laying on his forehead. Cutting straight across makes it harder to achieve a natural look.

Have someone come look at your hair at this point, to make sure it seems even all over. If there are longer pieces here and there, go over those sections with the same clipper guard numbers you used initially.

Step 5: Now, the neckline. Take off the clipper guards and use just the clippers to carefully cut a straight line across the neck. Better to ask someone to help with the edge, if you can.