5 ms·

Ask HN: Have you figured out how to cut your own hair during the pandemic?

13 points by tpmx 6y ago

nhgiang 6y ago
Yes
- tpmx 6y ago
  I just realized that I'm about as happy with my own third attempt, one year in as I usually am from a professional hair dresser. It took 45 mins instead of 15 mins, sure, but I think I can improve on that. The key is wetting the hair on top of your head, so that it stands up. That way you can easily trim it to a desireable length. If you skip this step it looks weird. The sides are easy. The back requires some finesse. When in doubt do post check with a smartphone video recording.
  - nhgiang 6y ago
    Noice! :D
  - ddingus 6y ago
    Well done! I often think back to times not so long ago when we all did not have great cameras with us. Things like this make me realize just how much we use them, and probably will use them even more as time goes on.
meristohm 6y ago
No; I figured out how to cut my hair since my mom stopped cutting it when I was a teenager. I like it short because buzz-cuts were the only cuts she didn’t charge for and I like the simplicity of it. I can cut my hair neatly enough with electric clippers by feel without a mirror now. I know it’s egocentric and still I wonder why doesn’t everyone just do either buzz cut or let it grow and tie it back. I accept that others care about the style of hair more than I do, and that’s okay.
lucasgonze 6y ago
I changed my hair style to a #1 buzz cut so I could do it myself. However I still do a patchy job and commercial cutters clearly do it better.
offtop5 6y ago
No, did order some hats though.
- ddingus 6y ago
  Did you get cool ones, try new stuff, or just stock up?
  - offtop5 6y ago
    Brought some hats from a friend. It's important to support your friends if their trying to build.
    - ddingus 6y ago
      Word! Good karma in all of that. I am not religious, but I do identify with the idea of karma. Accumulate good karma and it does pay off. Or, maybe we do not even realize it and feel we never needed it. Nicely done. I wish I liked hats. I don't. But, the right hat can be striking. Can really impact how a person presents and is seen.
quantumofalpha 6y ago
Buzzcuts are trivial: buy a hair trimmer, set guard to whatever length you want and go. Maybe a bit tricky to finish the back of your head, ensuring uniform cut there. I'm using a corded USB webcam to check the progress as I'm cutting, but you could also accomplish that with mirrors or let your partner do it
arkitaip 6y ago
Buzzcut every few months. A quality hair trimmer (mine's Moser 1400) makes a HUGE difference.
ohiovr 6y ago
Yep buzz cut here. I do it about every month. I've buzzed myself now for over 14 years. I usually trim my beard the same time. Anyone can do it. Trimmers are easy to use. I even cut my brothers hair a couple times. I even styled it a little.
- Gibbon1 6y ago
  I've been rocking the skinny old hippy biker look for 25 years. Every couple of weeks I trim the end of the pony tail.
tpmx 6y ago
TIL: The desire to inform people that they have been doing the buzzcut on themselves for a long time before the pandemic is quite strong. ;)
- ddingus 6y ago
  It is! Unexpected. I hate buzz cuts myself. I like the low maintenance part, but my head sucks a lot more with no hair on it. I am not picky about style but am dreading pattern baldness as it advances.
- paulcole 6y ago
  Next let’s try asking HN how much they spent on their weddings...
  - a3n 6y ago
    Does anyone Crossfit? Ski instructors?
  - thirtythree 6y ago
    What do you mean by this?
    - paulcole 6y ago
      It’s a meme among a certain type of man-on-the-internet to brag about certain things. A very common one is to share how little they care about the “wedding industrial complex” and how little they spent on their own weddings.
ddingus 6y ago
No. In a pinch, I can cut hair reasonably and have cut my wife and granddaughters hair. Just maintenance though. I can't do style at all, but I can clean up what is there. Mostly. There are risks! I tried to do my own once. Nope. None of them cut hair, so I let mine get super long this time, and I usually get mine done at a local place, figuring they could have a little fun and show me something new, and if it sucks, do a second pass and I can go with same old, same old. Usually, prior to finding my current people, I would just drop in, get the cut and get out. The place I use now is a family business, Dad out of the picture long ago. Mom and two daughters decided to open up a cuts for guys only place, and they are hilarious! They put up a ton of cliche guy trope, beer, cars, hot chicks, etc... So I walked in there dome years ago and said, "Oh cool, you did pink for dudes!" That started what has been a hilarious conversation going a few years on now. Girl stuff has strong signals, with the color pink being a super easy one. Growing up as women, they thought guy signals made perfect sense, so that is what they did. The most common thing they get from a new client seeing the hot chick, cool car posters, "Are you all lesbos?" "Do guys work here too?" And it has been sort of a laugh 'o rama from there. Stuff like, "We think the car and chick are hot too, don't you appreciate a little beefcake in the same way?" Most guys: Nope, LMAO! I really like them because they all made a deal to get through Dad leaving them: Mom put her home savings on the line to start and they are working on owning their building and are all living lean to get secure, and take care of mom proper when that time comes. Smart people! Got their basic priorities in order. Happy to spend money there. They will weather the pandemic just fine. I asked why do a guys only shop, and they said to basically keep it simple and easy and just do hair, have a nice time of it and get everyone paid, live life, be secure. Guy hair is easy. Rapidly evolving gender norms and role freedom nixed those plans and was unexpected! Cutting most guys hair is easy peasy, as anticipated, (mine is, because I am not picky at all) but the most picky, hardest guy clients are just as painfully hard to satisfy as similarly demanding female clients are. So far, they have seen far more of those clients than they expected. During lockdown I realized I am more social than I thought! A few months ago, they started doing one at a time in the shop, appointments only. I booked one and found myself looking forward to it. They are fun people, so I always do, but I felt it more. Long hair sucks, but there is more to it. Normal is a thing many crave now, and appreciate it more. At least I do. Total will not miss it, until it is gone thing. After we had our usual fun catch up chat, it felt really good. More than I expected. The one daughter who worked that day to cut my hair expressed the same sentiments even though they originally expected a more stick to business clientele. Pretty much everyone they interact with has expressed similar sentiments. I asked for a cut that might work getting long again and it has. Time to go back though. I only had two cuts during this lock down time, and both were during the brief open up periods. What they did was one on one. One hair person, one client, and longer open hours, clean up, wipe down, rotate through stations to maximize the clean up potential to work well. 30 mins between cuts, vent the place, wipe down, all new gear each cut. I drive by and have seen someone in there 'O dark 30 in the AM, and PM.
peanut_worm 6y ago
I haven’t cut my hair in 3 years. This is one of the few industries that let you get away with long hair, embrace it!
- the_only_law 6y ago
  I decided to take a few inches of mine off because I preferred it at the shoulders. I was really hoping I wouldn't fuck it up, but I managed it pretty well.
jimmyvalmer 6y ago
I've done it three times, each one better and faster than the one before.
aosaigh 6y ago
I used to cut my own hair quite a lot, to the point I got pretty decent at it, but I came to realise that I’d far rather pay someone else to do it. On a practical level, they’ll always do a better job but more than that, it’s a nice ritual to go somewhere and have someone look after you. It becomes less of a chore and more of a timeout for yourself. Grab a coffee, go for a walk, get a haircut. Usually these places are local and community based so it’s also nice to build up a rapport and get to know you barbers.
ElectricMind 6y ago
Buzzcut uneven right is good but left one is wave. On back side don't even ask :D
gcheong 6y ago
No, I'm really enjoying my long hair. For now.
rodjons 6y ago
Nope, I haven't. I always go to my barber whenever I cut my hair. It is hard because I can't get the desired style that my barber does for me.

13 points by tpmx 6y ago

nhgiang 6y ago

Yes

tpmx 6y ago
I just realized that I'm about as happy with my own third attempt, one year in as I usually am from a professional hair dresser. It took 45 mins instead of 15 mins, sure, but I think I can improve on that. The key is wetting the hair on top of your head, so that it stands up. That way you can easily trim it to a desireable length. If you skip this step it looks weird. The sides are easy. The back requires some finesse. When in doubt do post check with a smartphone video recording.
- nhgiang 6y ago
  Noice! :D
- ddingus 6y ago
  Well done! I often think back to times not so long ago when we all did not have great cameras with us. Things like this make me realize just how much we use them, and probably will use them even more as time goes on.

meristohm 6y ago

No; I figured out how to cut my hair since my mom stopped cutting it when I was a teenager. I like it short because buzz-cuts were the only cuts she didn’t charge for and I like the simplicity of it. I can cut my hair neatly enough with electric clippers by feel without a mirror now. I know it’s egocentric and still I wonder why doesn’t everyone just do either buzz cut or let it grow and tie it back. I accept that others care about the style of hair more than I do, and that’s okay.

lucasgonze 6y ago

I changed my hair style to a #1 buzz cut so I could do it myself. However I still do a patchy job and commercial cutters clearly do it better.

offtop5 6y ago

No, did order some hats though.

ddingus 6y ago
Did you get cool ones, try new stuff, or just stock up?
- offtop5 6y ago
  Brought some hats from a friend. It's important to support your friends if their trying to build.
  - ddingus 6y ago
    Word! Good karma in all of that. I am not religious, but I do identify with the idea of karma. Accumulate good karma and it does pay off. Or, maybe we do not even realize it and feel we never needed it. Nicely done. I wish I liked hats. I don't. But, the right hat can be striking. Can really impact how a person presents and is seen.

quantumofalpha 6y ago

Buzzcuts are trivial: buy a hair trimmer, set guard to whatever length you want and go. Maybe a bit tricky to finish the back of your head, ensuring uniform cut there. I'm using a corded USB webcam to check the progress as I'm cutting, but you could also accomplish that with mirrors or let your partner do it

arkitaip 6y ago

Buzzcut every few months. A quality hair trimmer (mine's Moser 1400) makes a HUGE difference.

ohiovr 6y ago

Yep buzz cut here. I do it about every month. I've buzzed myself now for over 14 years. I usually trim my beard the same time. Anyone can do it. Trimmers are easy to use. I even cut my brothers hair a couple times. I even styled it a little.

Gibbon1 6y ago
I've been rocking the skinny old hippy biker look for 25 years. Every couple of weeks I trim the end of the pony tail.

tpmx 6y ago

TIL: The desire to inform people that they have been doing the buzzcut on themselves for a long time before the pandemic is quite strong. ;)

ddingus 6y ago
It is! Unexpected. I hate buzz cuts myself. I like the low maintenance part, but my head sucks a lot more with no hair on it. I am not picky about style but am dreading pattern baldness as it advances.
paulcole 6y ago
Next let’s try asking HN how much they spent on their weddings...
- a3n 6y ago
  Does anyone Crossfit? Ski instructors?
- thirtythree 6y ago
  What do you mean by this?
  - paulcole 6y ago
    It’s a meme among a certain type of man-on-the-internet to brag about certain things. A very common one is to share how little they care about the “wedding industrial complex” and how little they spent on their own weddings.

ddingus 6y ago

No. In a pinch, I can cut hair reasonably and have cut my wife and granddaughters hair. Just maintenance though. I can't do style at all, but I can clean up what is there. Mostly. There are risks! I tried to do my own once. Nope. None of them cut hair, so I let mine get super long this time, and I usually get mine done at a local place, figuring they could have a little fun and show me something new, and if it sucks, do a second pass and I can go with same old, same old. Usually, prior to finding my current people, I would just drop in, get the cut and get out. The place I use now is a family business, Dad out of the picture long ago. Mom and two daughters decided to open up a cuts for guys only place, and they are hilarious! They put up a ton of cliche guy trope, beer, cars, hot chicks, etc... So I walked in there dome years ago and said, "Oh cool, you did pink for dudes!" That started what has been a hilarious conversation going a few years on now. Girl stuff has strong signals, with the color pink being a super easy one. Growing up as women, they thought guy signals made perfect sense, so that is what they did. The most common thing they get from a new client seeing the hot chick, cool car posters, "Are you all lesbos?" "Do guys work here too?" And it has been sort of a laugh 'o rama from there. Stuff like, "We think the car and chick are hot too, don't you appreciate a little beefcake in the same way?" Most guys: Nope, LMAO! I really like them because they all made a deal to get through Dad leaving them: Mom put her home savings on the line to start and they are working on owning their building and are all living lean to get secure, and take care of mom proper when that time comes. Smart people! Got their basic priorities in order. Happy to spend money there. They will weather the pandemic just fine. I asked why do a guys only shop, and they said to basically keep it simple and easy and just do hair, have a nice time of it and get everyone paid, live life, be secure. Guy hair is easy. Rapidly evolving gender norms and role freedom nixed those plans and was unexpected! Cutting most guys hair is easy peasy, as anticipated, (mine is, because I am not picky at all) but the most picky, hardest guy clients are just as painfully hard to satisfy as similarly demanding female clients are. So far, they have seen far more of those clients than they expected. During lockdown I realized I am more social than I thought! A few months ago, they started doing one at a time in the shop, appointments only. I booked one and found myself looking forward to it. They are fun people, so I always do, but I felt it more. Long hair sucks, but there is more to it. Normal is a thing many crave now, and appreciate it more. At least I do. Total will not miss it, until it is gone thing. After we had our usual fun catch up chat, it felt really good. More than I expected. The one daughter who worked that day to cut my hair expressed the same sentiments even though they originally expected a more stick to business clientele. Pretty much everyone they interact with has expressed similar sentiments. I asked for a cut that might work getting long again and it has. Time to go back though. I only had two cuts during this lock down time, and both were during the brief open up periods. What they did was one on one. One hair person, one client, and longer open hours, clean up, wipe down, rotate through stations to maximize the clean up potential to work well. 30 mins between cuts, vent the place, wipe down, all new gear each cut. I drive by and have seen someone in there 'O dark 30 in the AM, and PM.

peanut_worm 6y ago

I haven’t cut my hair in 3 years. This is one of the few industries that let you get away with long hair, embrace it!

the_only_law 6y ago
I decided to take a few inches of mine off because I preferred it at the shoulders. I was really hoping I wouldn't fuck it up, but I managed it pretty well.

jimmyvalmer 6y ago

I've done it three times, each one better and faster than the one before.

aosaigh 6y ago

I used to cut my own hair quite a lot, to the point I got pretty decent at it, but I came to realise that I’d far rather pay someone else to do it. On a practical level, they’ll always do a better job but more than that, it’s a nice ritual to go somewhere and have someone look after you. It becomes less of a chore and more of a timeout for yourself. Grab a coffee, go for a walk, get a haircut. Usually these places are local and community based so it’s also nice to build up a rapport and get to know you barbers.

ElectricMind 6y ago

Buzzcut uneven right is good but left one is wave. On back side don't even ask :D

gcheong 6y ago

No, I'm really enjoying my long hair. For now.

rodjons 6y ago

Nope, I haven't. I always go to my barber whenever I cut my hair. It is hard because I can't get the desired style that my barber does for me.