# First Time Buzzing The Boys Hair...How Bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173 "2010-03-29T02:39:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/1 "2010-03-29T02:39:04Z")
I received a haircut/clipper package from my parents for Christmas, and it was kind of a joke gift, because my brother and I used to loathe my Dad clipping our hair (he’s a retired Army general) when we were growing up in the 1970’s. But you know what? I thought “Damn, why pay good money for something I can do myself?”, so I broke it out today and buzzed my boy’s hair for the coming warm weather. My question is…how’d I do? It’s my first time ever cutting hair on anyone, and I figured if there’s any time I can get away with it before these guys resent me doing it, its now…so I did. You judge: [![](http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/sgenetti77/KidPics016.jpg) ](http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/sgenetti77/KidPics016.jpg) I emailed the pic to my Dad and his reply was “Did you use the rice bowl?” To which I replied “Yeah Dad, in that last box of knicknacks you and Mom pawned off on me, she included it, so I used it just like you used to”… 🙂 ETA: They are 8 and 4…and the youngest knocked out his front tooth in a bizarre gardening accident… ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/2 "2010-03-29T03:20:24Z")
AWWW, those kids are adorable! (I don’t care for buzz cuts, but I think they just look so cuuute!) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/3 "2010-03-29T03:26:10Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > AWWW, those kids are adorable! (I don’t care for buzz cuts, but I think they just look so cuuute!) While I cannot disagree with your sentiment, take a peek at that wicker etagere over their left shoulders…used to house nice framed pics of family, family knicknacks, assorted delicates…NO MORE! IT’S ALL TOYS NOW!!! GAH!!! 🙂 We’ve bought bins, used up extra storage space, etc…yet the toys still persist. Its like they are Tribbles or something…increasingly encroaching on us, until…HEY, that’s my bed!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/4 "2010-03-29T03:33:26Z")
Also **salinqmind** , I didn’t say…thank you. So, thank you. I love them very much. I wonder if me putting their images on teh intertubz is making people think “Don’t you know **Cesario** is on this board? What’s wrong with you, man!?!?!?!” Or…its truly MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/5 "2010-03-29T03:51:17Z")
Cute! Looks fine to me, I’ve been doing my son’s hair since his first\*, but lately he’s been asking my friend to do it so sometimes she does it instead. She’s a hairdresser so it tends to look a smidge neater but my cuts are serviceable. 🙂 \*I finally stopped wincing at the sight of his curls on the bathroom floor… he has such amazing cute curls, if he was a girl I’d never cut his hair lol. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/6 "2010-03-29T04:08:58Z")
They look great. My nephew asked me to buzz his hair last year - I keep mine very short (1/16") but had no experience actually cutting anybody else’s. I just snapped a 1/2" guide in and went at it. Pretty tough to do anything wrong, really. You might have a tiny bit of “detail work” cleaning up around ears or back of the neck but little kids just don’t have the facial hair to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/7 "2010-03-29T04:17:32Z")
My biggest issue, especially with the 4-year old, was “itchiness”, and how long they can tolerate it without wiggling so much I could no longer cut their hair evenly. I must admit the hair clipper set I got from the Parental Units was first rate, except for the apron. I need to get one that isnt a modified garbage bag with an extra twistie-tie! ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/8 "2010-03-29T05:28:14Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > My biggest issue, especially with the 4-year old, was “itchiness”, and how long they can tolerate it without wiggling so much I could no longer cut their hair evenly. > > I must admit the hair clipper set I got from the Parental Units was first rate, except for the apron. > > I need to get one that isnt a modified garbage bag with an extra twistie-tie! Pick a nice warm day, sit 'em out on the porch in nothing but a pair of shorts. Brush any stray hair of the kids with a towel or a soft brush and either the birds will take the clippings or 30 seconds with a broom gets it off your porch. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/9 "2010-03-29T11:15:02Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Pick a nice warm day, sit 'em out on the porch in nothing but a pair of shorts. Brush any stray hair of the kids with a towel or a soft brush and either the birds will take the clippings or 30 seconds with a broom gets it off your porch. Sounds like a perfect use for the deck! …I’m assuming the birds use the hair for their nests and not food…right? ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/10 "2010-03-29T11:51:03Z")
I’ve cut all my kids (5) hair for years. Tell them they get a treat when they’re done. It’s simpler to just do it myself than drag them all to a hair place. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/11 "2010-03-29T14:20:22Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > I’ve cut all my kids (5) hair for years. Tell them they get a treat when they’re done. It’s simpler to just do it myself than drag them all to a hair place. My Dad used to make the mistake of giving us something like a lollipop as a treat before cutting our hair to try to keep us still. Mmmmm…hairy lollipops… ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/12 "2010-03-29T14:24:12Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I emailed the pic to my Dad and his reply was “Did you use the rice bowl?” > > To which I replied “Yeah Dad, in that last box of knicknacks you and Mom pawned off on me, she included it, so I used it just like you used to”… > 🙂 I’d go back over the head on the left without the bowl, or use a shorter guard on the sides/back of the head. Right-side-guy looks good. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/13 "2010-03-29T14:59:23Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > …because my brother and I used to loathe my Dad clipping our hair My mom used to cut our hair when I was a kid. I was teased about it relentlessly at school, and I swore I would NEVER do that to my kid. Of course, when he took German 1 in high school, I told him that the German word for “hammer” was “knockemschtiff”, and to ask his teacher if he didn’t believe me. So I’m sure I’ve warped his psyche in other ways than giving him a bad haircut. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/14 "2010-03-29T15:06:45Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > **I’d go back over the head on the left without the bowl, or use a shorter guard on the sides/back of the head**. Right-side-guy looks good. You know, I noticed that after I uploaded the image from my camera, and it looks fine IRL…its some weird photography/lighting/tilt of the head issue that makes the hair on the side of his head look longer than it really is. > [@RalfCoder](#): > > My mom used to cut our hair when I was a kid. I was teased about it relentlessly at school, and I swore I would NEVER do that to my kid. > > Of course, when he took German 1 in high school, I told him that the German word for “hammer” was “knockemschtiff”, and to ask his teacher if he didn’t believe me. So I’m sure I’ve warped his psyche in other ways than giving him a bad haircut. I swore to myself that I’d never do that to my kids either, and yet…here I am doing it! I suppose I justified it the same way as I do their clothes/shoes…once they start complaining about it or noticing it, I can start taking them to a haircut place, or somewhere other than WalMart for their clothes…no sense instilling a sense of entitlement for name brands and salon haircuts at this stage of the game… ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/15 "2010-03-29T18:00:45Z")
A bizzare gardening accident… hmmmmm…:dubious: Just kidding. They look pretty happy about it. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/16 "2010-03-29T18:07:52Z")
> [@may\_be\_ignorant](#): > > A bizzare gardening accident… hmmmmm..:dubious: > > Just kidding. > > They look pretty happy about it. I had another thread about is somewhere…he was being chased at daycare on the playground, looking back at his playmate, and then turned around and bashed his mouth into the side of a metal slide, knocking out the one tooth and severely loosening the other. At least he didn’t spontaneously combust. And yeah, they were happy once it was over. Especially since we had some fun with the vacuum cleaner attachment where I was using it’s suction to clean up the little hairs off their necks, and also to stick to their necks, bellies, cheeks, etc. Good old fashioned Dad fun. Now who wants to go outside and play catch with the lawn darts? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/17 "2010-03-29T18:24:09Z")
What’s the bowl for? You didn’t give them a bowl cut, did you? Why would you do such a thing? Look, shaving a head is not that hard. You can basically just go at it from any direction and as many times as it takes. You really can’t mess it up, so long as the guard stays on. So what are you worried about? How is it traumatizing? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/18 "2010-03-29T18:37:33Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > What’s the bowl for? You didn’t give them a bowl cut, did you? Why would you do such a thing? > > Look, shaving a head is not that hard. You can basically just go at it from any direction and as many times as it takes. You really can’t mess it up, so long as the guard stays on. So what are you worried about? > > How is it traumatizing? The bowl thing is a joke. Of course I didn’t use a bowl. Sometimes though, as I think I just demonstrated with my first ever experience giving someone a buzz haircut with clippers, it LOOKS like I used one. I think I said as much in the OP. I sent this pic to my Dad initially and his reply was “Did you use the rice bowl?” when he knew I would never do such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/19 "2010-03-29T19:04:42Z")
My Dad was a retired Private (busted down from Corporal after discharge because he declined to reenlist, in writing, in a frank tone) and he gave us buzz cuts too. My brother and I hated them! We were the only kids in our new school in the 70s with buzz cuts. It was a matter of cheapness too. Bro and I staged a mutiny and ended that crap. Dad continued to wear his own buzz cut until Bro and I went off to college. To this day he is a hippie. Long blond hair only starting to turn white at 80. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-buzzing-the-boys-hair-how-bad/534173/20 "2010-03-29T22:40:00Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > My Dad was a retired Private (busted down from Corporal after discharge because he declined to reenlist, in writing, in a frank tone) and he gave us buzz cuts too. My brother and I hated them! We were the only kids in our new school in the 70s with buzz cuts. It was a matter of cheapness too. Bro and I staged a mutiny and ended that crap. > > Dad continued to wear his own buzz cut until Bro and I went off to college. To this day he is a hippie. Long blond hair only starting to turn white at 80. My old man now lets his hair _just_ touch his ears…and sleeps in sometimes until 6:00am…retirement must be grand! 😃