Post by liquidchild on Aug 15, 2006 1:52:26 GMT -5
If you cut your own hair you save time and money without having to deal with hairdressers. A haircut in australia will cost you about 30 dollars these days which is pretty much double what it was less than 10 years ago. I have to work 2 hours just to get a haircut and most of the time im not happy with it.
For most cuts with mens hair, it is an art which can be learnt if the technique of "cut less when you dont know" is employed during the first few haircuts.
The process involves developing your own intuition on judging length, and keeping that length consistent in all places. The places at the rear are the trickiest because you can't see them directly. You have to use you fingers to decide if it short enough, or if you have thinned it out enough.
I will give my opinion on the most important things, however you will find that your own patience and intuition will serve you more.
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Two main ways of getting the hair ready to cut, and by that I mean making it extend out straight when you grab it with your fingers to cut it.
1.1 - Getting the hair ready to cut
Get a hairspray, the strongest one you can find. Assault the hair with it everywhere and lift it up and get all the roots too. Blow dry it or use a hair straightener, get it straight.
Now if you extend the hair with your fingers the cracked roots will be straight out and it will be easy to see the cracked ends. You will have to look closely in the mirror though to see them.
To make sure the hair is fully extended you will also want to distribute a tiny tiny amount of water evenly all over your hair. If the hair isnt damp it will contract, become shorter and you will not be able to judge how much you want to cut properly.
When cutting the hair while its got hairspray, you can almost let go of the hair after you've trimmed the cracked ends off and it almost sticks up in spikes. (mine does because my hair isnt that long). This is the special trick to cutting your own hair.
It makes it incredibly easier to know where you've cut and where you havnt because the hair remains generally in the same place. Where a common mistake is made is that people forget they have trimmed an area, and trim it again twice making it uneven. This is something to avoid. Something thats important to keep in mind.
By far the main task of cutting your own hair is making sure its trimmed the same length all over. With the hairspray this is easier to decide because the hair is "gunkier". It stays where it was after you cut it and doesnt fall down and merge with the other parts you havnt cut - confusing you.
You can see the ends which are cracked (use those extra sensitive eyes and a mirror!) and which have the cracked ends trimmed off. After you cut all the cracked ends off you will notice within a day if your skin is sensitive that you will have alot more natural moisture on your face.
2 - Cleaning up the back and sides
If you have employed the technique of "cutting less when you don't know" then you probably didnt cut your sideburns very much or tidy up the back near your neck yet. Maybe you did and you've already become some kind of hair cutting powerhouse.
a) You will need a small mirror if you didnt so that you can see the back/side area. This part is generally the easier part of the process. For example if you wanted to make layers so that the end of your sideburn (male) is short and blends into the longer parts above, you would simple pull the hair out and trim it in levels making the level at the end of the sideburn the shortest. The same applies for the area near the back, some people like the ends at the back to be really short in comparison to the hair above it. Just play with it, and use your intuition along with the "cut less when you dont know" rule.
b) The other areas to watch if you have medium - short hair is around and behind the ears. How you wish to clean this up is up to you, but one example is to brush the hair straight down over the ears and cut around the diameter of the ear, sort of like a half circle. Then when the hair falls into place normally, particularly above the ear it will be tailored around the ear instead of messy. Some people like it messy though.
I wont get any more technical than that because it can get confusing. Aslong as you dont forget to give attention to these areas then you've taken care of the basics. You want to avoid people in public areas pointing and saying "hey you've got a chunk of hair sticking out".
"cut less when you dont know"
Keep this in mind to reduce mistakes. Use a mirror to check, be patient and rely on your crystalline peepers! (eyes) to see what needs to be done.
P.S
If you want to take some weight off your hair, and thin it out, you can do so without "thinning out" scissors simply by chipping into the ends like this:
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(instead of cutting it straight across. when done properly can really look good)