Friday, October 30, 2009

Cutting a Boy's Hair

When our boys were toddlers and starting to need haircuts, my husband told me there was no way we were going to pay the barber or hairdresser every few weeks to cut their hair. As fate would have it, I'm REALLY not good at cutting hair. What to do?

One day I was complaining about my situation to a gal who used to be a hairdresser. She told me about this quick way to cut a boy's hair if you're "hair challenged" like me. It's not the best haircut I've ever seen, but it gets the job done and keeps my husband from taking matters into his own hands and "Kojaking" my sons.


First you need a few supplies ...

Comb
Scissors (I use the kindergarten kind.)
A Hair Trimmer

Attachments to the Hair Trimmer (#8, #3 & #1).

Something to drape over the neck to keep hair off the body like a towel or cape.

Haircut:

When you cut with a hair trimmer, you want to cut with dry hair. (Believe me, I've tried it wet and it's not pretty!) Run the hair trimmer over the whole head with the #8 attachment. Go against the way the hair grows.

Then go up the sides of the head with the #3 attachment. I try to make my motions go floor to ceiling; a straight line up. You want to leave the hair on the top of the head longer and the sides shorter, so don't use the #3 attachment much higher on the head than about the top of the ears.

I clean-up the neck with the #1 attachment. I've tried doing the neck with no attachment and it was too painful for the kids.
Trim around the ears and any stray hairs you missed. (I like to use children's scissors so the boys don't get poked when they suddenly move ... as happens often.)
We usually have a candy reward after the haircut. If they are really struggling with the cut, then I will give them a lollipop or treat to hold during the haircut ... gets really messy, but seems to calm them down! Good luck!

2 comments:

Sherri said...

I guess that could get expensive with 3 boys.

Anita said...

You go girl! How many hats do you wear any way?