I have clippers and trim my own beard. I could also do my head hair (what’s left of it)which I get trimmed using #3 comb. I know I’ve read posts from guys who do their own head/beard trimming or shaving at home. My question is what do you guys do about the mess? I trim my beard over the bathroom sink. I put out some newspaper to catch the worst of the trimmings. Even then, just trimming my beard I find that I spend maybe five minutes on trimming and ten on trying to clean up all the hair that goes everywhere (and still Mrs P complains about finding hair around the bathroom sink and mirror). I can’t imagine what a mess you’d make if you did your whole head.
Where do you guys do it? Do you find it a complete pain cleaning up afterwards? I’d like to stop having to bother going to a barber to do my head when I could just do it myself but the mess problem puts me off.
My dad shaves my head in the shower room of their sauna. Very easy to clean the hair off the tiles and it actually clumps together far better than beard hairs, so there’s less mess even though there’s more hair.
I haven’t been to a barber in over 10 years. Of course, since I just want it all off anybody can do it - I imagine if you want something more complicated, you might not want just anybody to do it.
Yeah, don’t do it in the bathroom. Cold porcelein always seems colder and has more condensation or water on it. Water makes the hair stick and is a pain to clean up. I do mine in the hallway outside of the bathroom which has a hardwood floor. Easy to vacuum up with the attachment when done.
Beard trimming: I hold a small wastebasket under my chin, keeping it therethe whole time I’m trimming and then brushing out my beard/mustache/sideburns. Gets 95+% of it, leaving minimal clean-up of the sink area.
Hair getting on you during haircut: a barber’s apron will prevent most of it from landing on your skin or shirt, but a good brushing or vacuuming, or better yet shower, is needed to get what inevitably does land on you.
Hair getting on sink and bathroom floor: I used to meticulously lay newspaper all over these surfaces, but have recently concluded that it takes less time to vacuum and wipe up afterwards than to lay and pick up the paper. For wiping up hair from a damp surface use facial tissue (designed to hold up when wet, goes into the trash) rather than toilet tissue (designed to disintegrate when wet, goes into the toilet).
ETA: The cold tile floor in our bathroom is dry. Vacuum works great.
I take the bathtowel-that-needs-washed and lay it over the sink and surrounding area. Next: plugin the clippers, lean over a bit and trim my head. Clippings fall on the towel. I don’t have much hair on top anymore and I use the shortest guard (I think it’s labeled “Blending” - shorter than the 1/4" guard) so there isn’t much to cut unless I go a 3-4 weeks between cuts. I bundle up the towel and shake it off outside in the flower bed then toss it in the washer for the next load.
I’ve been cutting my hair for over 30 years. It’s always done to my satisfaction, no waiting, no tipping, and no Ranger Rick magazines either.
I cut over the bathroom sink area. I made a cloth out of a sheet that measures about 30"X40" with one side marked as the top. I put that over the counter. It catches everything. I pick it all up and shake is carefully over a large trash bin. Fold it up and put it away. Everything goes in an old briefcase until next time. I always take a shower afterwards to shed any loose hairs.
My husband cuts my hair while I’m standing on several sheets of newspaper, laid on top of a hardwood floor in our foyer. As long as we fold up the newspaper carefully, we generally catch everything.
I shave my head, and my hair never gets too long. Any hair that comes off goes straight onto the razor, which I rinse off in the sink. I then shower myself clean.
When my hair was a little longer, some would get on the bathroom floor. I’d pick up the bigger clumps and put them in the trash. A wet sponge would take care of the rest.
Here’s my system for giving myself a buzz cut - I plan it around showering:
I put several panels of damp paper towels over the sink, and I stand naked on two that are on the floor. Then I use my clippers on a slightly damp head going all around in both directions, most of the hair collecting on the towels in front of me. The bathroom mirror and a hand-held help me assure I get everywhere.
When finished, here’s the cleanup routine:
Dampen a new paper towel and run it around my head. Drop it on the layer of paper towels in front of me, then ball it all up and throw it in the nearby wastebasket.
Using more paper towels I clean the sink and counter, then the floor around me.
I back into the shower, still standing on the two paper towels. Water on, shower and clean everything off myself.
I buzz my head in the morning before the sink has been used, I just lean over and the clippings drop into the sink (I close the stopper). Use a 1/16" guide and do it each week so it’s fairly short bits of hair.
Then I just wipe it out with a tissue and soft brush, that gets almost all of the hair, I sweep it right into the trash can. I grab a damp tissue to get most of what’s left in the sink and then rinse the sink out. It’s really fast (10 minutes sounds right for the whole operation) and I take a shower afterwards to clean myself up (as everyone knows those little bits of hair clippings around your neck can itch like crazy).
But the first time I shaved my head, I tried to go by looks. But I didn’t have a hand-held. So after doing what I thought was an adequate job, I headed off to CVS to buy a mirror. They were out of them.
The next closest one was a good train ride away, to a local mall. When I got to the mall I decided that I was hungry, and so I got some breakfast. While I was standing in line, I started talking to a nice girl. We ended up having breakfast together and she accepted my invitation to dinner.
When that was done I remembered some books I was interested in, and went to the bookstore. Then I went to CVS and got a mirror. Then I went to a sporting goods store and bought some things there. Then I took the train back home.
It had been a nice full day, and I decided that I deserved a nap. When I woke up, I remembered that I wanted to check to see if I’d done a good job shaving my head. I got out my handy new mirror, and yes indeed – it was a complete hack job and I had several unsightly patches of hair on the back of my head.
Suction cup anti fog mirror in the shower. I use a trimmer on beard/stubble, usually with the shower off just standing in the shower using the mirror. Then turn on the shower and all the trimmings just wash away. If I shave with a razor I do that in the shower with the antifog mirror. Nice and easy. Kinda surprised more people don’t do this, instead of the hassle of laying down newspaper, etc.??
I’m lazy. I stand in the shower when buzzing my head, then wash it all down the drain when I get in the shower to wash the excess off. It never gets very long, so little danger of clogging.
Thanks for the responses. I am wary of all the solutions involving bathrooms and sinks and hallways. We have an old house with a lot of nooks and crannies. I doubt I would be capable of cleaning up to an extent that wouldn’t involve Mrs P finding hair in unwanted crevices and getting irritated. I’m thinking perhaps the standing in the shower, although that may have to involve “creative” arrangements for supplying power in (potentially) wet areas, and a certain amount of care.
hold a food tray (cafeteria tray) under chin. if you trim long to short then the longer hairs are easy to clean. if you like to keep the look constant then the short trimmings are more of a problem.
