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Comment by sokoloff | Hacker News Reader

I switched to cutting my own hair about 6 years ago. My cut is a simple #6 clipper on the top (#5 in the hottest part of the summer) and #3/#2 on the sides and back. (The numbers are "how many 1/8 inches?")

I can cut my own hair at home anytime I want (the real benefit/driver behind it) in about 7-10 minutes, including cleanup. Because it's at home, I cut it right before a shower (dry), sweep up with my hand and dispose of the hair, and take the shower.

I bought Amazon B001JJBC9Y ($60) and B001T0HHB0 ($25) and am happy with those.

(Unless I told you, you'd never know I cut my own hair.)

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How are people getting their neckline? I've done it almost myself for 12 years, but I've always needed someone else to drive the clipper blades directly into the base of my neck with no comb to get a clean edge. Looks unfinished if I don't do it, seems impossible to get a nice straight line myself from that angle. Any ideas?

Fade it instead of a straight line. It looks better, too.

I self cut and fade at the edges, but I think the keys to doing this correctly are:

1. Good visibility of the back and sides of your head. Either a 3 way mirror, or some kind of video setup with your phone and a laptop.

2. Patience and practice. The muscle memory and hand eye coordination needed to handle the clippers correctly takes some time. If you cut your hair once every couple of weeks, that's approximately 25 reps per year, which really isn't that much considering the spacing between reps is so long.

Edit: I missed that you have been doing this for 12 years. That's longer than I've been at it ~3 years.

Another thing that helps is watching YouTube vids of legit barbers. There are a ton of different techniques that accomplish the same thing, you might find some new insights into ones that work for you.

i use a belt, looped and pulled tight against the back of the neck with one hand while the other hand drives the clipper along the edge of the belt.

I use a strip of electrical tape.

(Right handed) I place my left hand, thumb down, index finger horizontally along the line that I want to cut and with my right hand, use the clippers (no comb) to set the line beneath my index finger.

Me too. I switched about 3 years ago.

Watched some videos on youtube, #4 tapered down to skin on sides, scissors on top.

I'm envious of 7-10 minutes though, usually I'm ~30 between detailing and cleanup. Still beats trip to barber though.

I like it because always had trouble getting cut how I wanted before. Sometimes it turns out better than others, but never had it look bad after a week or so worst case.

Likewise people are always surprised when I tell them I cut my own hair. GF didn't even believe me the first time until I showed her hair in trash.

My biggest difficulty was balancing my fade on both sides and also somehow managing to fade the back effectively. I used to love cutting my own hair but going to top quality barbers has the perk on convenience, socialization (especially at black barbers) and quality. I'll go maybe once or twice a month depending on what's going on with work/events so it's not too expensive.

twice a month to a barber shop? is that common? I go every six - eight weeks.

I go about every 3 weeks.

I do the same but less complicated.

Last time I was at a barbers was 2003, after that I just grew my hair long and really seldom cut it a little bit myself.

In 2013 I bought a hair trimmer and just cut everything to 0mm. Like you just before the shower, takes me too about 7-10 minutes. Sometimes I left a short mohawk just to mix it up.

This is great. I am doing same for 8 year. As you already said kit prices are equivalent of 2-4 cuts outside.

My brother was once getting made up for a magazine photo shoot. The stylist complimented his haircut, and he said that he did it himself. They complimented the product he used, and he said it was a no-name brand from the supermarket. I always found that funny. I also DIY, but there's less for me to deal with these days - currently using Wahl clippers and B076GR634L.

I'm curious if anyone knows whether its safe to put a strong EM field so close to your brain, so often — evidence one way or the other. I use a battery powered clipper, in hopes it would have a weaker field than one powered by 120VAC.

What makes you think it's not safe?

Probably the increasing evidence about Transcranial magnetic stimulation.

As a physics smell test, TMS seems to be performed using quickly releasing a capacitor to create a 1-10 (order of magnitude) Tesla magnetic field over a very short period of time. 10T is similar to the magnetic field generated by an MRI. For comparison, a toaster produces a 100 nano-Tesla field, about 7 orders of magnitude smaller. So supposing TMS causes real effect, the clippers are so weak in comparison that I would think they are harmless.

In terms of electricity, which people have more intuition about, 7 orders of magnitude is the difference between a studio camera flash and a lightning strike .

Most MRI's are nowhere near 10T. Scanners in hospitals are typically either 1.5T or 3T. 7T exists, but is _extremely_ rare in clinical practice.

TMS is not done with a MRI machine.

This is a good comment, but I think it's worth emphasizing that this is the difference between "7 orders of magnitude" and "6 orders of magnitude". It doesn't in any way invalidate the point in the comment it is replying to.

Yes I was doing that annoying thing physicists do where if we are off by 100x we consider ourselves to have succeeded greatly.

Consider learning to cut your own hair with scissors if your hair type allows it.

I've done haircuts for myself for 15 years with only a pair of thinning scissors. I have never once used a clipper. I'm Asian with straight hair so this is possible. The sides and back are hard at first but thinning scissors make the cutting very mistake-tolerant. You can cut at any angle, roughly around the place that needs it, and it cuts some layers of hair off. You just repeat cutting and feeling the length with your hands and eventually it'll be at the right length. It takes me about 30-45 minutes including everything from cutting, showering after, vacuuming and clean up. I only recent stopped (and went back to a barber shop), only because I have a baby now and I really need every bit of energy and time I can get back in my life.

I just go straight number 2 all over. I've got a big bald patch i've had since I was like 20. Having hair's too much hassle. Just gets in the way.

I do the same thing. I picked up 79300-400T ($18) a couple years ago. It still runs like a champ, just keep them oiled properly!

I do the same. It really saves a lot as the hair clippers are only about $20 and the cheapest barber around is at least $15.

Tip: if you have thick hair, skip the cheap clippers and go straight to the Oster 76. They work great and are well made.

I second the recommendation for the Oster 76. Having used both, it is much better than the cheaper Wahl clippers. And compared to the price of having someone else cut your hair, it will pay for itself in a very short time.

I used to go to a hair stylist who was a friend from church. After I switched to a very short cut, she told me "I don't want to lose business, but I have to tell you that you could do this yourself."

So I got the Wahls and they were fine. Some time later I got the Oster Classic 76, and they were much better.

I tried a few different blades and settled on the 1 1/2. Takes 5 minutes or so, and like another commenter I do it right before getting in the shower.

Sometimes I miss a spot and notice it later sticking out a bit. No big deal, since I have the clippers I can fix it in seconds!

Other things to get with the Oster are the Blade Wash and Kool Lube. They also have some grease and oil for the gears, but I don't use those much. Maybe I should open it up and clean and re-lubricate the innards, it's been about 10 years since I've done that.

How do you clean up? Do it outside?

I cut my hair naked in the shower (everything dry), gather up the bulk of the cut hair in my hand, toss it, and then take a shower.

I use the free grocery circulars that invade my mailbox to catch the cut hair. Layer them over the bathroom sink and chop it all off. Cleanup is mostly crumpling up the papers and a little bit of wipe down.

How did you learn? Is there a youtube tutorial? I tried to cut my hair once and things turned so bad ( uneven, botched, etc ) that I just ended up shaving my head.

To be honest, I just jumped right and in and figured it out. I was having the local chain do #3 on sides and back and scissor-cutting the top "finger length". I paid a little attention to what they did and then tried it myself, guessing what finger length was in clipper combs. I also have a hairstyle that is semi-chosen to be compatible with this DIY cut in that as long as I remember which comb I have on the clippers, I pretty much can't screw it up. If the clipper can reach the hair, it's supposed to cut the hair. With the #3, I just go over the sides and back until it (largely) stops cutting. With the #6, I go over the top until it stops cutting. Then I go back to the #3 to redo the intersection between side and top, then take the comb off to do around the ears and neck. (This is the most likely place to make an error of cutting too much off, but your hair will grow back if you make a mistake.)

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