How to Part Hair While Cutting It

Salon haircuts can be expensive, but if you try to cut your hair at home, you need to know the proper techniques to avoid a hair disaster. Stylists say correct parting is crucial to giving yourself a professional haircut. Hairdressers use a technique called seven-section parting to get your hair ready for cutting. Here's how they do it.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Water spray bottle
• Styling gel
• Wide-tooth comb
• Fine-tooth comb
• Hair clips

1. Wash your hair and towel-dry, or if you don't want to wash it, spray your hair with water. You want the hair to be very damp, but not dripping wet, for cutting.

2. Comb your hair neatly with a wide-tooth comb before beginning to section it. If your hair is very fine, you may need to spray on a light styling gel to get correct parting.

3. Make a clean parting line from just behind your ear on the left side of your head all the way over to the matching point on the right side of your head. Do this with a fine-tooth comb that has a pointed end for parting. Comb the top hair toward the front of your head and clip it.

4. Part the hair that is left hanging and divide it into neat sections. Stop when you reach about 1 inch from the neckline. A professional will have seven sections: the top of your head and three equal sections on each side. Clip each section to keep it out of the way.

5. Start cutting the unclipped section near your neckline first. Take down each section and cut.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to enlist the help of a friend. You part and cut her hair, and she can part and cut your hair.
• Many professional hairstylists say if you try to cut your hair at home, you should just part it the way you always wear it. Then give yourself a quick trim.
• It's almost impossible to give yourself a complicated cut. Try cutting your own hair only if you have a simple hairstyle that is one length.