How to Crew-Cut Hair at Home

Crew-cuts help you keep and look cool in hot weather.

In the summer, crew-cuts mean freedom. A good crew-cut allows a man to work, sweat and swim without having to worry about mussing or dirtying his hair or getting slowed down waiting for it to dry. Crew-cuts are also highly flexible -- within certain parameters, it can be as long or as short as you desire. Crew-cuts are fast, cheap and easy to perform. Even someone with no prior hair-cutting experience can learn how to give a crew-cut to a friend in minutes.

Things You'll Need

• Comb
• Clippers with different blade sizes

Instructions

Tapered

1. Comb the hair out. Straighten the hair as much as possible and remove all knots and tangles to make cutting easier.

2. Put the lowest number of blade on the clippers. It should be either a 0 or a 1. If you are unsure which blade to use, ask the person whose hair you are cutting how short he wants his hair. The lower the clipper number, the shorter the hair will be.

3. Stick the comb into the hair on the back of the head around where the skull protrudes. Buzz up to this point with the clippers. Repeat this with the hair around and behind the ears and the bottoms of the temples.

4. Switch to the next longer blade, either a 1 or 2, and trim around the top of the head, including the back of the skull and the rest of the temples. Hold the comb above where you are trimming to make sure you don't cut the top of the head shorter than it should be.

5. Attach the next longer blade, probably either a 3 or a 4 and trim the hair on top of the head. Try to make it contour with the natural curvature of the scalp.

6. Comb the hair clippings out of the hair.

Single Length

1. Ask the person whose hair you're cutting how long or short he wants his hair -- and if he wants it the same length all over.

2. Buzz the hair in long parallel lines starting at the back of the head and through the front. Make sure you get the blade under the hair and cut as close to the scalp as the blade size allows. It is better to work from the back of the head so that you are not constantly in the person's face.

3. Trim up on the sides of the head and the temples, again making sure to cut from under the hair close to the scalp.

4. Comb the hair clippings out of the hair.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear a smock -- even a newspaper will work -- when receiving a haircut so your clothes don't become covered in hair.

• Always be careful when working with cutting tools around people's faces, especially as you cut around the thin skin of the ears.

References

• Hudson's FTM Resource Guide: Men's Short Haircuts and the Barber Shop
• Beauty and the Bath: Buzz Cuts: A Great Haircut for Boys