About Hair Clippers

Types

Although electric clippers are more widely used, manual clippers are sometimes used by barbers who have been cutting hair for decades. Manual clippers use hand power to cut hair while electric clippers have motors or vibrating mechanisms. There are two main categories of electric clippers: professional grade and amateur grade. Professional grade clippers are used by beauticians and hair stylists and can be purchased through professional beauty suppliers. They are more expensive, have more power and are designed to withstand more use than amateur clippers. Professional grade clippers also give the user the option of interchanging blades while amateur clippers generally come with one blade permanently attached. There are also professional and amateur electric clippers designed for pet grooming. Using clippers designed for human hair on pets can cause the clippers to overheat and the hair to become mangled in the blades because they aren't designed to cut through long pet hair.

Clippers allow a stylist or groomer to achieve a short cut that is uniform in length. Performing the same cut with scissors would be very time consuming and difficult to get even. Clippers also allow a lot of hair to be taken off at once, which can be important when grooming a dog that is hard to keep still. Clippers can be used as a replacement for a razor to shape and shave hair around the ears.

Clippers provide for fast and close grooming. Clippers allow hair to be trimmed down, leaving only 1/8 inch of hair or less on the skin. A buzz cut, or traditional military cut where hair is left very short, takes only a few minutes to achieve. Clippers can also be used to shave an area bald, like on the nape of the neck, which can give a haircut a polished and finished look. Some clippers even come with attachments that allow men to trim their nose hair or shave their faces. Most come with attachments that allow you to choose how short you want to cut the hair.

Having your own clippers can allow you to give yourself or your friends and family members a professional-looking haircut. For men who like to keep their hair really short, it can be convenient and cost effective to cut your hair at home. Boys who protest about going to the hairstylist or barber may be more cooperative if Mom or Dad cuts their hair at home. You can save money by cutting your own hair, too. You can purchase a pair of amateur clippers for under $40, so after the third or fourth haircut, you'll begin saving money.

You'll need to know what size clipper attachment to use to get the length of cut that you desire. The shorter the clipper attachment, the shorter the haircut. Clipper attachments come numbered, and each number represents a hair length in inches. If you use a No. 4, for example, you'll be cutting the hair to 1/2 inch (See Resources).