Hair Cutting Basics to Cut Your Family’s Hair

Last Updated on April 9, 2022 by Ellen Christian

Do you cut your family’s hair at home? I’m sharing a few hair cutting basics for those that need to give at home hair cuts. When my children were little, I cut their hair at home with a pair of kitchen scissors. It was a fairly simple thing to do to keep their hair neat and tidy. I occasionally took a snip or two of my husband’s hair as well. I even trimmed my own bangs between regular cuts to save money. 

 

Hair Cutting Basics

Now that our salons are closed, it’s even more important to be able to master a few simple hair cutting basics. While I can’t do a complicated hair cut, I can at least trim our bangs and keep my husband’s hair neat and tidy. It’s not that difficult to do if you follow a few simple rules.

Is learning to cut hair hard?

My son took a year at our local trade school in cosmetology. And, one of the things he learned was hair cutting basics. He’s quite good, even today, at cutting hair provided the hair cut isn’t something more complicated like layers. He’s even given perms and dyed hair. It’s not a career he ended up following, but the skills he learned stayed with him even today.

That said, cutting hair isn’t as easy as you might think. You don’t just pick up a pair of scissors and start cutting. You need to understand the angle that the hair will fall and how to blend the layers. Even though styles change every season, once you have the hair cutting basics down, it’s easier to learn new techniques.

And, hair cutting basics take time to master so don’t expect perfect the first time you try it. If you want to dye your hair at home, check out Money Crashers for some simple tips.

What do I need to cut hair at home?

You only need a few simple supplies to do the hair cutting basics at home. 

• Comb
• Shears
• Trimmers
• Hair cape
• Butterfly clips

How to do a simple men’s hair cut

Before you can master a more complicated hair cut, you need to understand hair cutting basics. Start with something simple. And, once you have that skill, you can learn other techniques. Hair should always be clean and free of styling products before you begin.

Cut only about half an inch at a time. You can adjust as you need to in order to take off more. Remember, you can cut more, but you cannot cut less. Be conservative.

This technique will work for longer hair. The result is a simple, straight hairstyle.

• First, wet the hair using a spray bottle and a comb. The hair should be damp, not soaking wet. Remove snarls as you go.
• Part the hair into five different sections. Part the hair in the center from top to bottom. Then, part it horizontally from the top of the ears. Finally, part the hair at the base of the ears. Clip each section with a butterfly clip.
• Then, trim until the right sections are the same length as the left sections. Adjust as needed.

If you need something more in-depth than that, this video will walk you through the steps.

How to do a military cut

My husband likes a military cut and that’s something I can do at home myself with a pair of hair trimmers. I just slip on the guard and buzz away until it’s the desired length. Thankfully, he likes his hair short because it’s the easiest for me to cut at home. You can do this with any basic pair of hair trimmers.

How to cut bangs

Because my hair cut is more complicated and my husband has no desire to learn hair cutting basics, what I mostly do is trim my own bangs to extend the life of my haircut. Learning to cut bangs is one of the simples things that you can do.

Cutting your bangs isn’t as easy as making a flat cut across the front of your hair. If you’ve never had bangs before, now is not the time to change your hairstyle. Get your hair done at the salon first. Then, all you will need to do is trim them. 

• Looking in a mirror, find the spot on your head where it begins to slope forward.
• Make a triangle forward on both sides. This is your bang section.
• Find the length that you need and hold it between two fingers.
• Flip the ends up gently while holding the hair firmly between your fingers.
• Using the scissors at an angle cut across the top. Do NOT cut a straight line.

See the video if you need more step by step directions. 

Now, if you’re wondering how to cut your own hair, I honestly don’t recommend it. Even the woman at the salon who cuts my hair doesn’t do her own. The angle you hold your head and your hands while attempting this can make even the simplest hair cut impossible.

If you want something more complicated than what I’ve shared here, there are lots of YouTube tutorials that will explain hair cutting basics and beyond. Just don’t go too crazy. It’s best to start with the basics.

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