How to Cut Hair at Home

Excerpts taken from "Simplistic HairStyles" ©2007 Hair Lesson Publications

I don’t recommend giving a “full blown”, “new hairstyle” hair cut at home. How to cut hair and doing it well takes many years of practice on many heads of hair. Cutting hair is an art. You must naturally have the “vision”. Once you go beyond a basic hair cut, it gets complicated and should be left up to the professional.

But…basic hair cuts are fairly simple with just a couple of precautions.

Keep in mind the following instructions are basic, but valuable to the person who only needs her bangs trimmed in between salon cuts, has children who dread going to the salon or can’t afford to have her or her families hair cut on a regular basis.

May I suggest you read this chapter thoroughly before picking up even a comb? Then if you don’t understand something, you can go over it until you do and you’ll be ahead of the game by already having a pretty good idea of the steps you’ll be taking before you begin.

Supplies You’ll Need:

• Sharp scissors

• Comb (preferably not with a tail)

• Clips or Jaws

• Towel or Cape

• Water bottle

• This book

Step One: Creating Shape and Determining Length

Tips:

• Determine the desired length and shape of the final hair cut before you begin.

• Use hair clips for each section to keep the hair out of the way while you’re cutting.

• Cut NATURALLY curly hair while it is dry.

• When cutting the hair short around the ear, bend the ear down. Getting the ear out of your way is the best prevention of cutting the ear.

• And most importantly…

• Do not cut your guide again as you cut the rest of the hair!

I can’t stress this point enough! If you cut your guide after it’s been established, and while you’re cutting the rest of the hair, you’ll have nothing to follow and find yourself lost in the hair cut.

The Blunt Haircut is the only cut that is absolutely “nothing but” blunt. No layers, no notching, nothing but…blunt. Surprisingly the blunt cut is one of the most popular haircuts. It’s also the easiest to cut.

1. Divide the hair into 4 sections, horizontally (left to right) from behind one ear to behind the other ear, and then vertically (up and down) straight down the middle from front to back.

2. Now that you have all of your sections, leave 1" of hair out from the perimeter of each section (horizontally).

3. From here on out we'll call this your guide. The guide is the section of hair you will follow for the rest of the hair cut.

4. Before you begin cutting, determine the desired length and shape of the final haircut.

5. Now cut your guide to the desired length and shape. Starting in the back then moving from side to side. Once your guide is cut, check to make sure both sides of the hair are the same length.

6. Once you have the length and shape established, let another small section of hair out of the clips.

7. After you have finished your guide continue parting "see thru" sections, then cut, using your guide as a guideline. (Hence the term guide)

8. Continue this step until all hairs are cut.

Step Two (Optional): Creating Bangs

Typically the bangs are cut at just about eyebrow length. However, the length does vary depending on the trend at the time and personal preference.

"Simplistic HairStyles"  the "Hairopedia" you'll refer to time and time and time again.