How To Cut Your Own Hair At Home

Given the on-going 21-day lockdown in India, you cannot make it to the salon right now. However, if you’re in desperate need of a hair trim, you can give one to yourself at home. We advise that you leave any major changes for professional hair dressers.

Minor things, like trimming already existing layers and bangs or getting rid or split-ends can be taken care of at home. However, before you grab a pair of scissors and start trimming away, here are a few pointers to take into account.

Don’t use kitchen scissors. It has dull edges that will give you even more split ends.
Invest in a pair of styling shears that are razor sharp. This will give you the best possible cut and healthy hair too.
Cut less than you think you need to. You can always chop off more hair. However, growing it back will take time.
If you’re cutting your hair while its wet, remember that once it dries it will look even shorter.
If you have curly or wavy hair, cut it when its dry.
If you have straight hair, cut it while its wet or damp.

Table of Contents

Hairstyles for men

How can men cut their own hair in buzz cut at home using clipper?

Wash and condition your hair.
Detangle it with your hands or a comb.
If your hair dries out while detangling, spray some water to dampen it.
Section off both sides of your hair. Run the comb back through your hair right about where your head curves. Then, comb the hair between that part and the ear down.
If you just want to trim your sides and back, use a hair clipper.
Set the clippers’ guard on 3,2 or 1. It controls how much hair you can cut.
#3 guard is for the top, #2 guard is for the sides and #1 guard is for trimming the edges.
Use the same guard length on your sides and back.
Start from one side of your head and trim from bottom to top.
Repeat the same on the other side of your head.
Just as you trimmed the sides, trim the back of your hair.
After trimming the back, move the clipper guard down one guard size and moving from bottom to top, trim down the sides.
This will shorten the hair on the side of your head even more and make the buzz cut appear more uniform overall.
Next, trim the sideburns and the back of your neck using a #1 guard.
For the sideburns, keep the base of the clippers flush with the side of your face, just below your sideburns.
Slowly slide the clippers up until the sideburn is at the height you want.
Then, slowly pull the clippers straight through the hair and away from your face.
Next, carefully trim the back of your neck in a straight line.
Once the straight line is established, round the corners on each side to finish the job.

How can men cut their own hair at home using styling scissors?

Wash and condition your hair.
Detangle it with your hands or a comb.
If your hair dries out while detangling, spray some water to dampen it.
Use a comb to raise a section of the hair from the top of your head. It should be parallel to the front of your hairline.
Using conservative cuts, trim that section of your hair.
Once you’re finished, check by holding up that section of hair perpendicular to your hairline.
Your hair should be of the same length across the entirety of this section.
Repeat the same process for other systems.
To finish your cut, trim the sideburns and the back of your neck as mentioned above.

Hairstyles for women

How to cut your own hair straight?

For more precision you can cut your hair dry if you want but experts recommend making it a little bit damp for better control. Comb your hair really well before you start. There are three methods to cut your hair straight.

For option number one, tie your hair in a low ponytail. Take another elastic rubber band and tie it a few inches from the first one. Repeat the same step with a third elastic rubber band. Take a pair of scissors and using your fingers as a guide, cut a straight line. Open your hair and you will see that it looks a little rounder from the back. But if you bring your hair to the front it will look straight.

In the second option, part your hair down the middle and bring the two sections together at the front. Tie them with a small elastic rubber band and using your fingers as a guide, cut a straight line. Open your hair and you’ll see that if you bring it to the front, it looks straight and if you bring it to the back, it doesn’t look as round as in the first option.

If you want your hair to look completely straight when you bring it to the back, you need to take into account that the sections which are further away from your face need to be shorter. For this third option, part your hair down the middle and bring it to the front. Cut your hair in a diagonal line instead of a straight line on both sides. This cut is going to do is ensure that the sections at the back are a little shorter than the sections at the front. That way, when you bring your hair to the back both the front and the back sections are going to look the same.

How to trim your own split ends?

Dry and brush your hair.
Separate approximately 1-inch section of hair.
Start from one side of your head so that you don’t get the sections of hair mixed up as you go along.
Starting from the top of the hair section, twist it as you go down.
Continue twisting until the entire section is twisted tightly.
Once the hair is twisted, you will see the split ends popping out of the twist.
Starting from the top of the section and going down, trim off about 0.20 inch of each split end to reveal healthy hair.
To reach even more split ends, undo the twist that you formed and twist that same section of hair the opposite direction.
This will make visible the split ends that didn’t appear during the first twist.
Snip off about 0.20 inch of these split ends as well and undo the twist.
Gather a new section of hair and repeat the process.

How to cut layers into your own hair?

Wash your hair and towel it dry so that its damp but not dripping.
Untangle your hair by combing it with a wide tooth comb.
Turn your head upside down and make a ponytail at the top of your scalp.
Make sure that the ponytail is in the middle of your forehead and not cocked to one side.
Slide your fingers down the length of your hair.
If you want short layers, stop sliding several inches from the tip of your hair.
For longer layers, slide down your fingers until they’re about one inch from the end of the ponytail.
Use scissors to chop off the section that’s sticking out from the ponytail.
Make sure you hold the scissors horizontally and cut straight across.
Open your ponytail and examine your layers.

How to cut your curls?

Wash and condition your hair and make sure its completely dry.
Detangle your hair and comb until the brush moves easily through your hair.
Part your hair down the middle and make a ponytail on either side of your head.
Identify the length that you want and hold the section using your middle and index fingers.
Cut the hair in a straight line just below where you are holding it.
If you want your hair style to have a bit of slant, cut your hair at a slight angle.
Open your ponytails and shake your curls.
Examine them to make sure they look like you want them to.