My ds is 11 months old and in need of his first hair trim. I would like to cut it before his 1st birthday party and because of various reasons I think it's best that I just do it myself at home. The only problem is I have no idea how to cut hair and I don't want to end up with the "dumb and dumber haircut". Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone knew a website perhaps that teaches the basics of hair cutting or does anyone have any tips?

By Dananivyboo1 on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 11:21 pm:

Is his hair pretty straight or curly etc?

I only ask cause My son got my hair and its extremely curly. I do his hair myself. If its straight I'm not sure but I'll see what I find out.

By Tklinreston on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 02:38 pm:

It's pretty straight. I would like it to be texturized and layered alittle instead of a blunt cut across the bangs and the back.

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 09:47 am:

Personally, I prefer to leave it up to the pros. I'll trim sideburns and *maybe* bangs but I cut DD's hair as a toddler and will never do it again. Poor kid!

By Tklinreston on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 05:50 pm:

While ds was sleeping I managed to trim his hair somewhat yesterday. Not very even but it doesn't look too bad. I'll definitely have to take him to a pro soon but right now he is sooo afraid of strangers he'll freak out..

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, January 29, 2004 - 02:30 pm:

Trina, I did the same thing with Jeff and had to call my MIL to *fix* it before my (X) DH (and the *D* doesn't mean *dear* here!) got home from work. LOL

Ivy, that's interesting that you do your son's hair since it's curly. Jeff's was very curly when he was little and I totally botched it!

The only thing I've ever done even remotely successfully is trim bangs, so I can't help with haircutting advice.

By Luvn29 on Friday, January 30, 2004 - 07:59 pm:

I cut my ds hair at home myself because if I didn't I would go BROKE!!! His is so thick and grows extremely fast (of course my little girl's hair is fine and slow growing!).

I use clippers with a guard and cut it all over except the bangs and use scissors on them. It is SO easy. And you can't really mess it up as long as you use a guard on it.

I had to start doing this because it tickled him and no one wanted to use them because he would laugh so hard. But his hair is too thick and stuff to not at least thin it up with them. And he is now used to it and wants no one but mommy to cut his hair.

If you chose not to use clippers, take two fingers on same hand, your pointer and middle finger and gather a thin vertical layer of hair in it and trim so much off the top. Do this all over the hair. Do not use a horizontal line because it will leave "lines" where you cut. If you use vertical lines, it all lays down and blends in together. Trim around the ears, making sure to tuck ears down so you don't nip them, and trim bangs and you are done!

It's really not too bad once you get the hang of it. But clippers are great and you can get a guard in different sizes to get whatever length of hair you want. I use a short one in the summer and a longer one in winter. 5/8 of an inch in winter is what we like, which is still pretty short, though.

One suggestion if you go with clippers: start with a larger guard than you think you would want because you can always go shorter, but not longer! It takes trial and error before you find which guard you like the best. Remember the inch size is how long the hair will be after you cut it so take out that ruler if you need to!

Hope this helps!!!

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 09:05 am:

I have never cut my kids' hair! On myself, I will only do bangs.