I cut my own hair today

[stepford]

Well, I gave it a go with the Wahl #12 and #8. It actually looks OK in the mirror (at least as much as I ever do), but who knows what's going on in back. For all I know I'm rocking a Billy Ray Cyrus mullet back there now...

 

[Ready]

Well, I gave it a go with the Wahl #12 and #8. It actually looks OK in the mirror (at least as much as I ever do), but who knows what's going on in back. For all I know I'm rocking a Billy Ray Cyrus mullet back there now...

Just put a piece of masking tape on the back of your head where you want the neckline to be and run your clippers over the tape until you have a clean line below the tape. Works pretty well.

 

[Dawg52]

I look like crap and it's only going to get worse.

I look decent when I look at myself in the mirror it's just when a see a photo of myself when I wonder.....

 

[6miths]

Going to take the plunge tomorrow and ask DS1 to do mine. He has been cutting his for a few years. I tried to get DS2's GF to do it on Friday but for some reason she politely declined. She had done a nice job on DS2's hair.

Let's see, give future FIL a hair cut (and screw it up), or have another commitment. I go with door #2.

Maybe she is just practicing good social distancing!

Yes I was thinking along the same line as CardsFan.

So let DS1 have a go at it and it actually looks pretty darn good. He did a long 4 all over then long and short 3 up the sides then finished low with a 2. Did a nice job on the neck. Some scissor work to finish it off.

I couldn't resist sending a picture to my barber who had offered to do a quick number 3 all over. I had messaged him to ask him if he was doing haircuts at home in a hazmat suit!

 

[street]

I look like crap and it's only going to get worse.

Robbie, get brave, Got a clippers shave it off! It is easy and fast and then there will be a new YOU. Lol

 

[CowgirlUp]

Love my hairstylist. When she’s back in business, I’m also giving her a $20 tip. I’ve also tried cutting my hair myself. All I can say is.... not good! Lol

 

[FANOFJESUS]

I look like crap and it's only going to get worse.

Robbie just use a 5/8 clipper comb all over. That is around the point most folks hair lays down. Ask your wife to do the neck hair. If you don't have a wife do it the best you can until covid is over.

 

[rodi]

DH gave the whole household haircuts on April 1st. Used clippers on the boys to give them longish buzz cuts, used scissors on my hair (which is long - just need a straight across the bottom cut) and used the flowbee on himself.

The dog looked scared and hid in his crate. LOL

 

[CardsFan]

The dog looked scared and hid in his crate. LOL

Ironically, our dog is the opposite. Tell her she is getting a clipping, and she runs to the basement and waits for it. I think she thinks she is getting a massage.

Taking her to basement for a bath is entirely the opposite.

 

[NateW]

Last year when I FIRE'ed I decided I would try cutting my own hair to save a little money and not have to take the extra time going to Hair Cuttery. I bought a Whal clipper kit and watch a few YouTube videos and have been cutting it ever since. Little did I know that I was building a skill I would need the following year! DW has to trim my neck, though. I cannot use the double mirror trick and I have tried many times!

 

[devans0]

I do bloodletting on a regular basis. Call me Nick.

Seriously, I've cut my own hair for years. Here is my cutting tip. My hair grows in a whorl. Cutting against the growth pattern makes for a better and more even cut. The hardest part to cut for me is the neck hollow on either side below the base of the skull and behind and below the ears. I pay extra attention to those areas. Lastly, I comb out my hair to find those strays and trim with scissors. I use an array of guards from none to a #3 guard. Some are halfs such as #1.5.

What do you expect from a guy that reuses dryer sheets?

 

[Bestwifeever]

I've cut mine twice now--I'm calling it the #coronacrop. I send pictures to the person who should be cutting my hair and she is gentle in her reply. Mostly I am showing her how "sparkly" it is getting without her magic bottle of color.... We'll be letting that happen once we get to the other side, as they say, but with a great supershort haircut.

DH was riding his bike two weeks ago and his barber shop had an open sign and no customers at that moment. He might have come home with less hair. Guy is still open, in a very visible location--no one is telling him to close. I'm thinking that is going to start happening more and more pretty soon with very small businesses.

 

[devans0]

I do bloodletting on a regular basis. Call me Nick.



Seriously, I've cut my own hair for years. Some tips.

My hair grows in a whorl. Cutting against the growth pattern makes a more even cut. I overlap and cut in 45° angles right and left to the main cut.

I use an array of guards, from #1/2 to #3 or #4 on top.

I pay close attention to the neck hollow behind and below the ears. My hair tries to avoid being cut there.

The last step is to get a scissors and trim the wild hair that escaped the cut.


What do you expect from a guy that reuses dryer sheets.

 

[MRG]

I do bloodletting on a regular basis. Call me Nick.

Seriously, I've cut my own hair for years. Here is my cutting tip. My hair grows in a whorl. Cutting against the growth pattern makes for a better and more even cut. The hardest part to cut for me is the neck hollow on either side below the base of the skull and behind and below the ears. I pay extra attention to those areas. Lastly, I comb out my hair to find those strays and trim with scissors. I use an array of guards from none to a #3 guard. Some are halfs such as #1.5.

What do you expect from a guy that reuses dryer sheets?

I had a phlebotomy before the lockdown great experience. 10/10 would recommend.

 

[Ready]

It’s official now. Hair clipper sales are up 166%.

https://www.businessinsider.com/han...s-what-shoppers-are-buying-coronavirus-2020-4

 

[Moemg]

I will cut my bangs but no way am I cutting my hair. I bought a wig today for outings until I get to the hairdresser .

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

For many years I cut my own hair to save money. Then I switched to Supercuts once I felt like I was doing better financially. I like not having to have an appointment, plus they are cheap, have a senior discount, and they do a reasonably good job with my wavy hair.

I had Supercuts give me the shortest haircut of my life last August, right before my knee surgery as part of my preparations for the surgery. This very short layered haircut was so short that it was essentially a "boy cut". It was very helpful to have extremely short hair after surgery since it required zero care while I was in the hospital and recovering. It took until maybe February to grow out.

Now it's getting a bit long and shaggy. But I am NOT going to cut it myself! That's a lot of work and takes me forever to do. Instead I am reverting to my 1960's "long haired hippie girl" appearance, and if that starts looking worse than it does now, then I can always tie it in a pony tail or something until I can go to Supercuts once again.

Reminds me of a time....

I have hair that just cannot be controlled. If the back of it touches a pillow for more than 2 seconds, I get a wicked cowlick that can only be tamed by water and shampoo. Well, back in my days of globe trotting thanks to the United States Air Force, we often flew pretty long missions. Crew duty days could be 24 hours or longer, so in-flight naps were common (we had a bunk room on the plane). I was often the topic of conversation at the post mission debriefing room (hotel bar) about how my hair would be way out of control; so much so, I looked like a homeless bum.

It was all good until we had to deadhead on a commercial flight out of Frankfurt airport after a mission. The looks I got from those in the terminal (imagine a US service man in a flight suit with scraggly facial hair and my aforementioned homeless-like hair style) were priceless. After that, I bought some trimmers and kept my hair pretty much buzzed. I kept it that way for a number of years while still flying overseas missions. I am happy to have "normal" hair again, but if it gets too long for my liking, the dog clippers are coming out!

 

[ncbill]

I picked up some of the inexpensive Wahl clipper sets online years ago but have never used them.

I hope I can convince DW to try the above on me soon.

Were I alone I'd probably just shave it all off for simplicity's sake:

Apparently the above happened to a female midshipman on I-day last year!

 

[24601NoMore]

I've been cutting my own hair for years, after a kindly barber suggested I buy an Oster 76 and Andis Master instead of paying her every 2 weeks.

Seriously - if you can get either of these for a decent price, BUY THEM. They are both "pro" barber clippers and better than most Wahls or other brands you can buy (with one or two exceptions).

You'll also need a set of guards - each "number" is 1/8 of an inch. So, a #1 is 1/8..#2 1/4 (2 * 1/8)..#3 (3 * 1/8) or 3/8s, etc. They make guards ranging from a 0 to an 8 (1 inch). And if you want to get really crazy, the Oster 76 takes detachable metal blades (vs guards) and those go all the way down to 00000 (1/100th of an inch) to a "3 3/4" which is really more like a 3 1/2.

DW has worn a pixie for years and fortunately, I learned to also cut her hair years back after she wasn't able to find anyone decent with women's short hair. Just cut hers for her the other day and it's better than 90-95% of the "pro" haircuts she's ever gotten..that said, it also took me several years and dozens of "bad" haircuts on her to get to that point, so don't expect perfection until you've studied a ton of YouTube videos and have tried it numerous times..

ETA - a very good pair of shears is also helpful..I have the Kamisori Black Diamond but they are not cheap..$400+ for the pair (5' shears and 5' thinners) but worth every penny. Virtually all cuts aside from crew cuts require shears..don't skimp on these..spending the $$ makes all the difference..

 

[Ready]

Wahl, Oster and Andis are the top three manufacturers of clippers. Most of the consumer grade clippers are sold out but the pro lines are still available.

I went with the Andis Cordless Envy for $78.00. I read a lot of reviews from barbers who say they use it all day long and really like it.

Wahl is having a 20% off sale on their pro line. Everything was out of stock last week but it looks like almost everything is back in stock now.

For Wahl, go to www.wahlpro.com.

For Andis, go to www.andis.com.

You can try the Oster website but it doesn’t look like they have any option to buy anything direct right now and the resellers are pretty much out of stock or marking up the prices to ridiculous levels.

You should be able to get a good set of pro clippers for under $100. Most of us don’t need anything more expensive than that since we are not planning on becoming barbers.

 

[MRG]

I did my own today for the first time ever. Stepped into the shower and buzzed my head with a 1.5 guard. Pretty easy, DW did my neck last week and says it's still fine. The small trimmer did my goatee just fine.

Next up two small dogs! I've never trimmed a dog before and both are used to the groomer. Unfortunately she passed away before the lockdown occurred and I can't get a new one now. So hopefully they don't bite me much.

 

[besa]

I have been cutting my own hair off and on since the late 80's.

My key is not let it get too long. I trim every month or so.

i do a taper on the sides and back and leave the top around 4 or 5 inches. I use a #1-8. Just depends how it goes. I have an artistic eye, use 2 corner mirrors, and a hand held mirror as required. I can cut with the clippers, scissors, and comb with both hands about equally.

Took practice.

I can comb it straight back or to the side that way. On special occasions i use gel to look extra dapper.

Clean up is a pain, but going to the barber is worse. The money is not the issue, it is the whole barber experience.

When I was in Asia, I used to look forward to getting my hair cut. They make hair cutting a full body message.

Thanks.

 

[Elizrogers]

And this is one of the few benefits of being a man. I wouldn't touch my hair myself, with any kind of clippers, scissors, or sheers. I may have hair like Cher's before this is over, which isn't a great look at 69 years old, but I'll wear it in a bun when out, and wait for my hair dresser. Once butchered it takes a long time to fix.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

My hair has been white for 25 years with just a very small solar panel in the back, and the same barber has been cutting me for 40 years. According to their website, they are still open by appointment! Don't really want to do that...
I use small scissors around the ears each morning but we have a pair of barber scissors on order for the three of us.
I may get to cut my wife's hair!

One daughter 40+ has moved in with us until things open up, she says I was ok for the first two weeks and then suddenly looked like Mountain Man. Fortunately, none of our mirrors let me see the back of my head.

 

[Elizrogers]

Gearhead Jim -- I will pray for your wife. You are way too excited about the possibility of cutting her hair!