Hairstyles and Hair Cuts

If you want to cut hair for other people, there are several points that are important to get right, which we'll look at now in this article.

This guide is only relevant for cutting mens hair (and boys too).

The first thing I want to mention is the use of clippers.  They certainly give you a very neat finish when used properly and I'd say you'd get a better result than just using scissors.

If you are using clippers to shave all over and are not sure which grade to use, start with a higher grade such as the number 4 and work down until you reach the desired length.  It's always easy to take more hair off but a little more difficult to add it on again!  Once you've got the desired length, work your way around the head, making sure that you hold the ears back to prevent any nicking.

It's fairly difficult, but not impossible, to nick skin when using a clipper attachment, you are usually at more risk when you are cutting hair with a zero grade, in which case you need to be especially careful.

Go all over the head, working in different directions as hair indeed grows in different directions.  If you try to cut the hair in a uniform manner, you'll find that by the time you have finished, you'll have little bits sticking up here and there.

Once you've been all the way around, you still haven't finished - you need to taper around the edges.  Most people that learn to cut hair at home don't do this - and that's why it never looks quite the same as when you get it done at the barbers.

To taper, you'll go around the edges with a lower grade than you used for the rest of the head.  A taper is a gentle gradient.  This gives a much better result, and if you do this, you'll have a cut that rivals that of any barber.