How To Cut Hair Without Clippers

Attention, Men: Here's Everything You Ever Needed to Know about Giving Yourself a Haircut at Home

We enlisted local barber Van Capizzano for assist.

mens haircut at home

Photograph via Getty Images/Prathan Chorruangsak /EyeEm

Near a month into constant past the country's stay-at-habitation advisory, my boyfriend began imploring me to help him cut his hair. (Cue: my flashbacks to the mullets and lop-sided chops I gave to my once long-haired Barbie dolls as a child.) Despite my persistent attempts to reason with him and convey my sheer lack of expertise, after a few days, I gave in. When he sat down in the chair we unwisely placed in the eye of the living room, what followed would probably authorize as a near tantrum. No, non from the person about to take electric blades put to the side of his caput—from me, his haircutter, who was too nervous to touch the trimmer to a single strand.

Eventually I did piece of work up the courage, but as pilus began to autumn to the ground, the ii of us very apace realized this venture own't quite as easy as it looks when you're in the hands of a professional. We each plant ourselves with question after question most how the heck to remove hair from the male head without royally screwing up—with simply an equally clueless counterpart on manus to guess at an answer. By some miracle, my boyfriend's hair turned out halfway decent in the end (and for one, I was happy he still had some on his head at all), though I tin can't say I am eager to make this a regular occurrence.

When I after spoke with Van Capizzano, possessor of Tribe Barber in the South End, he reassured me: "It'southward paw grooming that takes years and years," he said. "When I teach someone how to cut hair, it takes half-dozen to 9 months until the beginning twenty-four hour period I offset letting them go behind the chair and practise buzzes. So don't be hard on yourself." Phew, well that makes me feel a little bit amend. Notwithstanding, if you're like most short-haired folk, there's a good chance you lot're itching to go a trim correct about now, and an fifty-fifty ameliorate chance that you lot (or your reluctant rookie barber) probably don't exactly accept six months of feel under your belts. That'southward where Capizzano comes in. Read on for the communication he shared for an at-home haircut.

Before you begin, you lot should know…

…that the artfully unkempt look is ever in.

"Try hard to look like you're not trying," he says. Which is adept news for those of us not leaving the house much these days. "If you expect at a lot of actors, models, and people in entertainment, their haircuts are mostly not super nifty," he says. "It's similar when someone's bristles is too neat and so their face looks weird. I experience the same about the whole head."

…that going for extremes is a good idea correct now.

For those who are tempted to shave their heads completely every now and over again, at present's your run a risk, Capizzano declares. "Every guy looks pretty skilful with a shaved head whether they have a lot of pilus or non," he adds. If you're ready to say au revoir to those tresses, the good more often than not recommends using the four guard on your clippers, which he says volition give a longer buzz cut that works well for almost people.

Alternatively, he adds, this is also an splendid opportunity to experiment with letting your hair grow out. The cardinal to keeping longer pilus out of your face every bit it lengthens is simple: Simply tuck it backside your ear. "The existent play a joke on for this is taking a comb and putting it on top of your ear with the teeth of the rummage pointing directly at your caput, and so sliding it backwards. It's going to elevate all the hair dorsum behind your ear," Capizzano explains. The other secret to pulling off the style? Don't shampoo. "I haven't washed my hair with shampoo since I was twelve. [Shampoo] strips your hair. Your trunk makes that oil for a reason—to keep information technology supple, moist, and salubrious."

…what tools to have on manus.

Your beard trimmer does not fall under that category, Capizzano says. Instead, the barber recommends heading online and ordering a Wahl 5-Star Senior, a professional-quality clipper fabricated for cutting the hair on your caput. "Beard clippers are generally the same cost, only don't take as much strength, power, or immovability," he says. "Plus, the numbering systems are off between [different brands of bristles trimmers], so 1 could requite you something entirely different than some other," he says.

When it comes to scissors, Capizzano is a bit more lax. While he notes that realistically, Japanese-made steel shears designed for haircutting are the best ones out in that location, he also recognizes that they tend to cost hundreds of dollars, if not more. And then if you're planning to apply scissors, whatever you accept on hand will do the trick. "I keep vacation with friends and they'll ask me to cut their hair or their kids' pilus or wife's pilus and I simply become to CVS and [go scissors] there. They'll do the chore okay," he says. "My first boss always said, 'I don't care what kind of scissors y'all utilise. If y'all're practiced, you can cutting with broken drinking glass.'"

…whether you should piece of work with moisture or dry out hair.

"If you're using clippers, the hair has to be completely dry. Anything wet is hard for the razor to go through and it will ruin your clippers," Capizzano explains. If you're a beginner and cut your hair with scissors and a comb or your fingers, yet, the pro recommends doing it while pilus is moisture considering it'll be easier to work with. "Moisture hair is moldable. You lot tin can stick it upward, push button it back, push information technology forward, and [you lot'll] have easier cleanup and maneuverability," he says. Just exist conscientious to err on the side of caution and go longer rather than shorter, especially if you lot're cut when the hair is moisture, he adds. Since hair is elastic, it might look shorter than you expected one time it dries. And as Capizzano puts information technology: "You can always become shorter, simply you can't put it back on—if you haven't figured that out withal."

…a simple tip for avoiding clipper blunders.

"I hear it with guys trimming their ain beards all the time—they forgot to put the prune on," Capizzano says, noting that whenever he does a fade haircut, he triple-checks the prune that he'due south using between strokes. "I do it incessantly because information technology keeps me in the habit."

Now, here's how to…

…cut your hair with scissors.

"The rule of thumb is y'all want the shortest hair at your neck and around your ears, and then it gets a little longer as you go upwards. You want the width towards the top," Capizzano says. With hands vertical—preparing to cut upward and down rather than horizontally—and your palm facing the head, pinch hair between the tip of your alphabetize finger and your first knuckle. If you're right-handed, he recommends starting at the left temple, combing the hair into the fingers, cutting vertically, and so moving your hand around the head a quarter inch at a time until you've reached the other temple. Then, become back to the right temple and position your hands a petty flake higher, working over to the other side again.

In terms of length, Capizzano says to proceed in mind information technology's always better to play it safe by going longer. One fashion to ensure this is to avoid cutting inward once you reach the widest indicate of your skull, called the parietal ridge. "Keep i finger on the side, and imagine it going direct upward. You lot don't want [the pair of scissors] to go in from that point; just up," he explains.

…trim your hair with clippers.

The get-go thing to come to terms with? You're not going to be able to exercise a perfect fade. "It takes years of practice and anybody does it differently," Capizzano says. With that expectation prepare, you can still become solid results with some pro tips. I key arrow: The fade should start at the parietal ridge. Using the Wahl, start with a number iv baby-sit and utilize that correct up to the parietal ridge. Then, a half inch below where you lot started the start fourth dimension, use the number three guard from at that place down, all around the head. Echo a half inch below with the number 2 baby-sit, so the number one. At that point, you should be level with the ears, where the hair volition exist the shortest.

…make clean upwardly your sideburns in a flash.

Capizzano suggests taking a comb and pushing sideburn pilus frontwards, and and so cutting straight up where the sideburn hair meets the skin. Then, rummage the sideburn pilus back towards the ear and do the same thing on the other side. Finally, using your comb, you tin can go up and downward the center of the sideburn to lightly trim up the pilus there, too.

…tidy the back of your neck.

Capizzano'south full general attitude toward this surface area (also as sideburns, for that matter): "Stop hyper-focusing, this isn't the time for that anyway," he says. If you do feel compelled to practise some maintenance there, though, it's best to have someone assist y'all navigate this region and employ a plume-styling or a plume-nape razor, which yous can order online. "They're serrated, so when you lot run information technology against someone's neck or fifty-fifty put your thumb on it, it doesn't cut yous," Capizzano says. But beware: "Well-nigh everybody goes too high," he adds.

…go a cut similar to Capizzano's.

"Every guy comes in and they're like, 'I like it longer on the top and shorter on the sides,' and I'1000 like, 'And so you'd like every haircut ever given?'" Capizzano says. "I don't practise that on myself." Instead his barber, using scissors, cuts almost his unabridged head the same length, except for a triangle portion at the front of his head, which he likes to leave a fleck longer. "Information technology's essentially like if my head had a buzz a long time ago, and that grew out, and then the forepart was merely a bit longer than the remainder," he explains.

To attempt the await at domicile, Capizzano suggests gathering hair from the 2 front corners of your head, where the hair growing sideways meets the hair growing across the top, and connecting the two points about a fourth of the way back on your head and then that they meet in a triangular shape. Separate this section and buzz the rest of the head with a number eight baby-sit. If that's likewise long for your liking, work down in guard size (stopping at a number 5) until y'all're happy with the length. And so, using scissors, sparsely trim the sectioned-off forepart portion until yous like the look of your 'do, keeping in mind that less is typically more than.