After a few weeks under a statewide stay-at-home order, and with hair salons and barbershops closed for the foreseeable future, you might be thinking it’s time to learn how to cut your own hair.
Just a trim – maybe raise the bangs, clean up around the ears and get rid of those split ends.
But beware: Professionals agree a home haircut is not ideal – for your hair or for the industry. Putting that aside, there are some tips and tricks out there to make your home haircut a success, but it takes only a quick search on social media to find examples where DIY cuts have gone wrong.
The Professional Beauty Association recommends clients wait until salons reopen, and a national #waitforus campaign is calling on customers to protect the financial health of hairdressers and the salon industry by waiting to schedule an appointment once shops start to reopen.
We spoke to some experts and scoured the internet for some beginner tips about how to cut your own hair, as well as the risks involved.
Use sharp scissorsIf you were to cut your own hair, you’d need good, sharp scissors, not the blunt kitchen ones in your drawer. Sharp scissors make sure the hair ends are less likely to re-split.
Split endsTo get rid of split ends, hairdressers recommend cutting the hair dry, but freshly washed. Hairdressers and barbers may cut your hair while it is wet, but they understand the elasticity of hair and factor that in.
Take sections of your dry hair and twist it upward with one hand. With the other hand, lightly push hair up from the bottom to expose the split ends. With sharp scissors, cut only the split ends, a length about the size of your pinky nail.
However, this practice is easily addicting. Just like plucking your own eyebrows, you can’t go overboard. Over-trimming split ends can lead to an unexpected layered haircut.
Audrey Butler, owner of Batik Salon in Connecticut, has spoken on behalf of salons that are going to struggle over the next couple of months, as well as botched haircuts everywhere.
“People are best served by leaving it alone,” Butler told The Durango Herald in a phone interview. “They think they feel bad now, they’re going to feel a lot worse.”
She recommends using the isolation time to rub coconut oil into the scalp or split ends. The hair will be greasy at first, but once it is rinsed, your hair will look and feel much healthier.
How to trim bangsBangs should also be cut only when dry and flat. Hair can stretch up to three times its length when wet, so if you choose to cut bangs without drying them, you may end up cutting them much shorter than you think.
The safest way to cut bangs is to take a triangular section in the middle of the bangs, in between your brows. If you take hair beyond the ends of your brows, it’s a big risk because it is tricky to do correctly. Most people damage their hair by cutting the whole way across, because they cut too much off.
Make the section into a point and bring that hair forward. Then decide how much you want to cut off
Lift the hair directly upward with a comb, and cut V’s into it by pointing the scissors upward on a slight angle and cutting into some of the longer sections of the bangs. Never cut across. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a severe straight line.
As you work closer to the ends of your brows, change the angle so you slowly work out to slightly longer hair, like a shallow arc.
How to cut really short hairThose with super-short or pixie cuts should try to reshape and restyle their hair, rather than cutting it. Cutting it, according to the experts, is too risky. Hair texturizing and volume sprays can help lift roots if they are getting flat.
How to get a short back and sidesStart by sectioning your hair off with a clip or hair tie, so that you’re only cutting the stuff that needs to be cut. Then, gather the hair closest to your ears. Hold a section between your fingers, and grip it tight toward your ear so that you elevate it out at an angle.
Then, work around the head toward the back, maintaining the same angle the entire time. This ensures the cut remains even around your head. The curvature of the head, or the widest part, is the best way to follow around, and the best place to pull the hair from.
This is harder to do with a clipper, but it is possible if you keep it tight and run up the head.
On top, comb the hair up at a 90-degree angle to your head, always going a little longer than you think. You can always take away more later, but you can’t grow your hair back that quickly.
Keep your head straight – if you angle your head, each section will end up being a different length.
Reshape the hair so everything lies flat, and take a section of the hair that includes the longest length of the sides and the overhang at the top. Cut from the shortest sections out, removing heaviness.
How to give yourself a buzzcutYes, there is a right way to do a buzzcut, too.
Hold the clippers flat and tight to the skin, and run against the direction the hair grows. This will remove bulk and ensure the cut is even.
Run the clipper side to side following the head shape, too.
#WaitForUsIf you are not confident cutting your own hair, or want to support the industry once it is up and running again, you could soak your scalp in nourishing ingredients like coconut oil or olive oil to rejuvenate its health or help it grow. In isolation, you have plenty of time to let the ingredients soak in.
Apple cider vinegar mixed with water in your hair can help make it shinier. Leave it in your hair for five minutes and rinse off in the shower. There are plenty of hair mask recipes online.
Final words of adviceIf you cut straight across or into layers, something could easily go wrong because your hairdresser will have looked at the layers from different angles to get them right.
Experts also agree that trying to thin your hair at home is a bad idea. Thinning hair is a difficult technique to master.
“This is our life’s work,” Butler said. “Would you ask someone who worked at a hospital how to stitch yourself up?”
Butler said only 16% of hairdressers will be able to sustain themselves for two months. The best thing people can do is contact their hairdresser over the phone or via email to find out if they have products for sale to care for your hair during the self-isolation period.
“It’s hard enough trying to be a teacher if you’re not a teacher,” Butler said. “Try being a hairdresser without being a hairdresser.”
Emily Hayes is a graduate student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald.