Cutting hair can seem hard and challenging at first, but with the right tools, knowledge and practice you can cut your own hair just as good as a professional or even make it a career.

I have been cutting hair on and off for about 2 years but only started taking it seriously when we first went into lock down and started cutting my own hair.

Getting the ball rolling for me was the difficult part about cutting my own hair and cutting hair in general. I was scared that I was going to mess myself up, mess someone else up, or just completely fail. This wasn’t the case though and I did good on my first self cut and it has only been up from there. Although  several things were a necessity for me to learn properly.

There are plenty of clippers and trimmers you can buy, ranging from $30 a clipper to $200. The tool you have does play a big part in cutting hair, but it isn’t the tool that is directing the cutting.

The main name brands that produce quality equipment are Wahl, Andis, Oster, and Babyliss. Wahl is my personal favorite and is very beginner friendly as they offer cheap inexpensive at home haircut kits for $30, but they also sell professional clippers that are used by barbers all around the world. Andis along with Oster also sells great kits and clippers, but Babyliss sells more of the higher end equipment that is geared more to experienced barbers.

As for trimmers just about any will do, but it’s important to adjust the blades for a more shaper and cleaner cut. Cheap and good clippers to start with are Wahl or Andis barber combos. These combos include a good clipper, trimmer, guards and clipper oil for about $100, perfect for the beginner.

Technique also plays a huge role as you can’t just go in with any clipper guard and start cutting. When I first started I visualized the haircut I wanted and mentally did the steps in my head. For a basic fade or taper the idea is simple you start from the bottom guard and work your way up to the guard that is needed. To start a fade or taper, you get your trimmer and mark a line on where you want to start, from there you use the clipper with the lever pushed all the way down and go up about half an inch or a inch depending on what haircut you are styling. From there you will have a faint line where you started with your trimmer, this is known as a guideline and is a integral part of correctly fading hair. To take this line out and create the fade you push your lever all the way up and flick at the line with the corner of the blade. Once that’s taken out you follow suit with the zero guard, 1, 1 ½ and so fourth as you see needed.

I would recommend watching a tutorial beforehand or during the hair if this is your first time as it cans seem overwhelming. If you mess up no need to worry as this takes practice, but with a few times can be learned quite easily.

As for when your not cutting hair and want to continue to get educated I would recommend watching YouTube tutorials and following along on what the barber is doing. Some Youtubers that are great teachers and helped me are Chris Bossio, 360Jezzy, Get_Beamed, and Jorge Zepeda. These are professional barbers that are great at showing and teaching how to do cuts.

Cutting hair takes practice, determination and a little courage but it isn’t something unfeasible if your thinking about starting give it a try.