CUT YOUR OWN HAIR

SELF-SUFFICIENCY, MEET VANITY.

I’D TRIED TO cut my own hair a few times before, both to save cash and to learn a useful skill. The results were always bad enough that the barber I would finally visit usually asked, unprompted, “Did you do this yourself?” This time, instead of relying on Youtube, I got help from Mike Martinez, a stylist and instructor.

SIDES AND BACK

I moistened my hair with a spray bottle, then dragged the corner of the comb from my right eyebrow to my crown to create a lengthwise part. After clipping the hair above the part out of the way, you attack your hair in quadrants [Fig. A]. Sides first, then back, then top. For a longer cut, you use your fingers to hold the hair off your head, and with scissors cut anything that sticks out [Fig. B]. I chose the easier way: slide a comb up through your hair, then run clippers over the comb. Move towards the back of your head in sections about the width of a bookmark, slightly overlapping to be sure you’re cutting to the same length. Working backwards in the mirror was hard, but after a few tries I figured it out. If you keep some length between the comb and your scalp, you can avoid accidental divots, like the two I gave myself.

The back of my head, surprisingly, was the easiest part. I went completely by feel. Where my hair felt too long, I placed the comb using my fingers as my guide, and ran the clippers across it [Fig. C]. Finally, I’d tug down on each ear and cover it with my palm while using the clippers or scissors. Since hair creeping over my ears is the first point at which I look scraggly, I plan to use that particular technique from now on to buy time between professional cuts. Martinez suggested a different method for the top of my head: with my thumb and forefinger I twisted locks of hair into spirals [Fig. D]. Cut at a slight angle, just above where you’re holding your hair. This gives your cut texture, rather than having the uniform length of Astro Turf.

Halfway through, I swapped my department-store scissors for Martinez’s R8 500 Japanese-made shears. They were so much smoother. They were also so sharp that, while trying to trim the top, I cut my knuckles and had to tape them up. At this point, about a half hour in, I got the hang of it. I started enjoying the visible before and after, a similar satisfaction you get from building something. The taper from the top to the sides will take more practice, but the fact that the final result didn’t look postlobotomy made me proud.

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