(Three friends emailed me this week to tell me that I’m a trendsetter…Gisele Bundchen buzzed, too. But of course she looks amazing…) I want to maintain my own hair as much as possible (Since that’s at least half the joy of having a buzz- simplicity) but I have heard various bits and pieces over the years about issues with hair clippers.
I actually have an Andis clipper around here somewhere that I used for my Golden retrievers, and I am wondering if or why I can’t use that for my own hair, assuming I can find it. Is there any reason? Are dog and people clippers actually different, or just marketed differently?
Is there any type or brand I should avoid at all costs because of the suckage? I’m going cheap if I buy, so no bother recommend I invest $100 in a superior clipper.
Anyway, it’s all new to me and I’d like to hear from folks who have already been there. Also about the clipping itself…my original thought when I decided to do this was to do my whole head the same length, I was going to do it myself, but I ended up going to a barber and he shaped it so there’s a bit more on top, which obviously takes more skill to keep doing neatly.
I’m also kinda bummed that the left side of my head seems to grow a little oddly, in terms of direction. It doesn’t just come out of my head, it wants to bend into a bit of a swirl, and I’m wondering if that’s tamable?
I don’t recall what you’re new buzz looks like, but in most cases it’s shorter on the sides and longer on top with a fade (not something you can easily do yourself). If you do it the same length all the way around it gets that basketball look as it grows out and it’ll scream ‘I cut my own hair’.
My advice would be that the next time you get it cut, ask them what you can do at home to stretch out your time between visits. If you do it the same length over your entire head, you’ll have to do it pretty often.
I used to be a dog groomer and, yes, pet clippers and people clippers are the same, though the better quality pet clippers tend to be heavier duty.
I agree with Joey P, a good buzz cut would be difficult to perform on yourself. Someone who’s skilled could do it with a single blade but an unskilled person may need two or three blades that cut the different lengths. And while a skilled person may not need to do any scissoring after, I’m betting an unskilled one would, and on hair that short it would be easy to make (very) noticeable mistakes.
I’d suggest that if you’re going to a hairdresser now, check out a barber instead. I’m sure it would be cheaper and save you a lot of hassle too.
Also, if you’re just looking to save money, with a buzz cut, there’s no reason why you can’t just go to a place like Cost Cutters/SportClips*. They’ll do just fine. Most of them even have sales, something like $10 on Tuesdays. You could probably get away with doing it every 6-8 weeks and it’ll look far better than doing it yourself.
*Buzz cuts, short on the sides, longer on top are basically what they do. I got mine done there for years and only stopped when I grew a beard and didn’t want them messing with it. They really never did a bad job with it. It’s like a fast food place, figure out what you like and you can just tell them what it is. For example, I could tell anyone at any place “#1 on top, no guard on the sides, no line” and ten minutes later I had exactly what I wanted.
My husband does his all the time. He’s spent as little as $20 on a pair from Walmart. His hair is only slightly shorter than yours and always looks fine. Of course, we’re not exactly fashionistas in our household; it’s more about comfort and how cheaply we can get by with doing something if we’re not really that invested in it. If you’re interested, I can ask him what kind he recommends.
I have a pair of cheap clippers. I don’t use an attachment and buzz about every two weeks so it’s a uniform 1-2mm long or whatever the default is. I don’t like shaving, but if you keep trimming every week or so, the uniform short length works well (if that’s what you want).
Back in college, I used to occasionally shave mine down to about as close as you can get with a cheap set of Wahl clippers (I spent maybe $20-30 on mine) and it worked fine. Sometimes I used the #1 guard all over instead of going all the way down. I don’t recall ever cutting myself (which I definitely did every time I shaved it with a blade, and head nicks bleed for freaking ever), and the results were fine so long as I had a friend do a final pass to get the lumpy spots I missed. I never was able to make it look totally even on my own. And as has been pointed out above, the result is a pretty utilitarian 'do that clearly says “I cut my own hair” when it grows out a bit. That’s when you shave it down again.
My vote: el cheapo clippers and a friend who has been assured they will not be held responsible for your homebrew haircut.
