With some states issuing a “stay-at-home” order, you may not know when your next trip to the barbershop will be and are wanting to take matters into your own hands. The only problem is, you can’t become an expert overnight and don’t want to risk ruining your hair.
Luckily, there are a few simple steps for taming your mane while you’re away from your barber.
Start with a low maintenance haircut
- If you’re able to visit your barber one more time, choose a haircut that is easy to maintain. For example:
- skin fades (usually takes about a week to grow back)
- skin bald tapers (grows back faster than skin fades)
- regular taper or fade
- a straight razor clean up will also make the fade/taper last longer
- If you need help deciding on a specific hairstyle to go with your taper/fade you can take a haircut quiz that shows what works best for your face shape.
Get the right tools
- A hair clipper
- A beard trimmer
- Hair scissors
- A comb
- A handheld mirror (to see the back of your head)
- A brush for longer hairstyles
- Styling products (pomade, clay, etc.)
Go for a buzzcut
- Use your regular hair clipper, not a beard trimmer.
- On your hair clipper, use 1.5 length for thicker, darker hair, and 2 on finer, light-colored hair.
- If the sides feel bulky with your level 2, use 1.5 on the sides of your hair.
Keep it long
- For hair long enough to tuck behind the ears, skip the trimming, unless you’d like to clean up the sideburn area. Instead, focus on maintenance.
- Brush your hair and use leave in conditioner. Avoid shampooing every day as it can be drying.
- Style with product to keep your hair in place during the day.
Don’t forget your beard
- Use a beard trimmer or an electric precision trimmer to clean up the cheeks, around the lips, and your neck.
- You can also trim loose hairs with scissors.
- Beard conditioner and beard oil will help moisturize and keep your beard healthy.
Support your local barber
- Many barbershops are struggling due to the closures, here are some ways you can help:
- Pay for a Zoom/FaceTime consultation for some 1:1 advice.
- Pay them a digital cash tip or buy a gift card to use later.
- Ask if your barbershop has created GoFundMe pages or relief funds.
- If you don’t have the means to donate, you can follow them on social media and like/share their posts.
We’ve all had to make sacrifices to our routines throughout these closures and hair upkeep is one of them. Hopefully these tips will help you get the basics down so that you can still look and feel good right from home. Most importantly, don’t forget to support your local barbers so that they can continue doing what they love which is making you look your best once the pandemic ends!
Thank you. We need more posts like this one. Man needs to embrace beauty by all means.