How To Cut Hair with Clippers

There are a few things about cutting hair with clippers that are different than when cutting it with scissors.

First and foremost, the hair should always be dry when clipper cutting. Wet hair will simply clog the blades and can damage your clippers, making them difficult to clean. Trying to cut wet hair with clippers can also result in water seeping into the hard-to-reach places on the clippers, potentially causing the blades to rust.

Second, for best results, always guide the clippers against the direction of the hair growth. This assures that the hairs are evenly cropped according to the length of the clipper guide. You should use a comb to keep the hair directed in its growth pattern between passes with the clippers.

You should also avoid trying to overload the clippers in any given pass. This is especially important when dealing with fine or lank hair. Finely textured hair will bend easily when the clippers meet resistance and you can find that your cutting attempts are less than satisfactory.

When dealing with finer textures of hair, try cutting tracts of hair that are only half the width of the clipper blades at most. This technique is also useful if you find that your clippers are becoming clogged with hair.

Using clippers to shave a man's neck — Photo: Pixelshot/Canva

Finally, if you are nervous about using clippers on a live subject without practice, contact your area cosmetology schools about purchasing used haircutting manikins from either the faculty or the students.

Most cosmetology schools focus only on scissor and razor cutting techniques, and once the hair of the manikins has become too short for the students to continue using for scissor and razor cuts, it will still be ufficiently long to allow you to practice with your clippers. Barbering schools are unlikely sources for used manikins, simply because they do train with clippers and usually cut the manikins' hair down to the scalp.

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See also:

How to cut hair

Clipper cutting techniques

The length of clipper guards and what the numbers mean

What are the "right" and "left" ear taper guides for? How do you use them?