Can’t make it to the salon for a haircut and wish that you could just do it yourself? Want to save money by cutting your own hair at home? Well, before you can do that, you need to know what steps to take to cut your hair without ruining it. After all, cutting your own hair can be challenging!
Check out our tips below to discover a few ways that you can take a DIY approach to your haircut without it turning into a disaster.
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Buy the Right Tools
Sure, you can use a regular pair of scissors to cut your hair, but you likely won’t get great results with them. Instead, it’s best to buy high-quality tools that will mimic what you can get at a salon. It starts with a pair of sharp, steel scissors, or shears, that will be easy to hold in your hand and will allow you to cut your hair cleanly.
A cutting comb has a section with wide teeth and a section with fine teeth, so you can use it to section your hair. Another option is to use a wide tooth comb if you want a subtler cut and softer line, as it will not create as much tension when you run it through your hair.
And, of course, clips that you can use to section your hair will also be needed in order to work on one part of your hair at a time and keep things organized.
Prep the Hair and Section It
If you wear your hair curly or wavy, one thing you can try is allowing it to air dry. If you wear your hair straight, blow drying it with a flat brush is a good idea. Then, you’ll work on separating the sections to prepare to cut your hair little by little.
To figure out how to section your hair, you can use your ears as your guide. Any hair that is behind your ears is the back of the hair, while any hair that is in front of the ears should be considered the front of the hair. Also, you can keep your natural part.
It might be really hard to cut the back of your hair, so you might want to leave that up to an expert, while you focus on trimming the sides and the front.
Tip: No matter what, if necessary, use an anti-frizz treatment before you get to work so you can keep your hair manageable and smooth.
The Benefits of Point Cutting and a Step-by-Step Process
Instead of making a cut straight across your hair, which can create too blunt of a cut, angle the scissors so they’re parallel with your hair. Then, trim into the ends of the section of hair that you are working on. This is known as point cutting, and it allows you to trim the ends in a manner that achieves a more natural looking end result, without harsh straight lines.
Once your hair is sectioned and ready to be cut:
- Start with the front sections and work your way slowly around your head, taking care to use the point cutting method throughout the process. The top sections of your hair can be done last.
- Be patient, and work slowly and deliberately so you don’t end up cutting off too much or creating a bunch of uneven layers. You might even want to start with really small sections until you get the hang of things.
- If you don’t want to cut every section of your hair, be sure to clip certain sections away. Some people like to focus only on the front and sides, so they’ll start in the front to create the right shape around their face before moving on to the sides of the hair.
- As you trim, make it a point to continually check the length on both sides of your face so you can ensure they are even with each other. You can do this by pulling small sections so they are under your chin, checking that they match up. By comparing two sections on either side of your face with one another, you can remove the same amount of hair as you go.
What About Bangs and Layers?
Want to get bangs? It’s probably best to leave that up to pro level stylists, so wait until you can head to a hair salon to make such a big change to your look. If you already have bangs, though, you might feel confident enough to trim them using the point cut method discussed above.
The same goes for layers, which can be too complicated to achieve on your own. However, if you’re adventurous and you want to create basic layers, you can start by drying and straightening your hair. Take the bottom layers of your hair and trim the ends, and then bring the top layers of your hair to the front so you can focus on those. Start with the longest sections on either side of your face and cut the ends on an angle, making sure the angles are the same on both sides for symmetry. You can then work on the front sections on either side of your face, cutting them the shortest length that you want them to be. Again, cutting on an angle will help create a nice face frame. Then, it’s a matter of getting the sections in between the top and bottom layers that you already trimmed, and cutting them on an angle as well. Remember, this can be complicated, so it might not be something that you want to tackle on your own, especially if you’re new to cutting your hair at home.
Check Online Tutorials!
There are actually a lot of different online tutorials that you can watch to get a better idea of what it takes to cut your own hair at home. From those that show you how to cut layers and bangs, to those that focus on basic trims for straight or curly hair, just focus on the right technique for your hair type and your preferred style.
Photo credit: diy13/Shutterstock
