Author Topic: Boy haircut tips?  (Read 4129 times)

Millennialworkerbee

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Boy haircut tips?
« on: November 17, 2017, 11:21:59 AM »
I am attempting little man's first haircut (1.5 years old)! Does anyone have any good advice/instructions?

I cut my hair, and did my husbands once (messed up around the ears so I wasn't invited back) so I'm not a total noob, but I am when it comes to toddler haircuts. We have hair scissors and also hair clippers. I don't want to do a buzz cut all over, we want a little length on top. But otherwise I am open to any "style".

Thanks!

howlongisnow

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2017, 03:37:47 PM »
I cut my son's hair. I typically use the clippers - 1" guard on the top, 3/4" guard on the sides, and try to taper them. I've been doing it for about a year and gradually getting better. His latest haircut I did mostly with scissors because his mom wanted the top to be longer so it laid down better. I used clippers on the sides then blended with the scissors.

I would look on YouTube for some videos of people walking through it, it's a pretty painless process, but seeing someone do it helps And if you really mess it up, just buzz it all down. It'll be back before you know it.

Some of the blended spots might look a little rough initially. Don't worry about that. As the hair grows out over the next few days it'll be increasingly less obvious, and better than panicking and chopping it all off because a spot is a little uneven.

howlongisnow

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2017, 03:39:41 PM »
Oh, I also let him watch a show on the tablet when we're cutting hair. I prop it up on the edge of the bathtub in the winter, and on a bench outside in the summer. Keeps him focused and looking at one spot, and reduces fidgeting.

The first couple of times I let him see the clippers running for a little bit before I did any cutting so that he wasn't too anxious about the buzzing around his head.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2017, 02:48:04 PM »
We have 3 boys and a girl. There older now , well two are we still cut the other two boys.  We use clippers and taper the sides and back. Nice look and neither one of them have anything near a butch. Take a scissors to clean up around the ears and neck line. Have saved a fortune over the years.  There are usually so many lengths you get when you buy a good set of clippers.

BuffaloStache

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2017, 02:19:58 PM »
I  just cut my own hair for the first time with fairly good results, so I know I may not be the expert here. But I agree with what others have said.

I basically followed the advice on this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/SdeGVl8z8Lc.
Also,

...
Some of the blended spots might look a little rough initially. Don't worry about that. As the hair grows out over the next few days it'll be increasingly less obvious, and better than panicking and chopping it all off because a spot is a little uneven.

This is 100% true. I really didn't like one specific spot on my head for the first 2 days after the cut, but after it grew in even just a little bit it looked a lot better.

GuitarStv

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2017, 02:36:39 PM »
My son has pretty fine hair so we just do a #2 - 3 on the sides and back and #4 - #8 in the front for your generic boy's haircut.

For very young children the whole key is getting them to sit still and not scream/cry.  I grabbed a handful of chocolate chips and fed them one by one to my son the first few times we were doing haircuts (at around 1 - 2 years old), and now (at almost 4) he's pretty good about getting a trim.

Travis

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2017, 03:42:28 PM »
When my son was 2-ish and got his first haircut the barber put a sticker in his lap to look at when she needed to access the back of his head. She also made a game out of using the electric clippers by letting him feel the vibrations against his cheek before she put it to his hair.  I've cut his hair ever since and for those early years he got a lollipop during the haircut to keep him still and distracted. 

I  just cut my own hair for the first time with fairly good results, so I know I may not be the expert here. But I agree with what others have said.

I basically followed the advice on this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/SdeGVl8z8Lc.
Also,

...
Some of the blended spots might look a little rough initially. Don't worry about that. As the hair grows out over the next few days it'll be increasingly less obvious, and better than panicking and chopping it all off because a spot is a little uneven.

This is 100% true. I really didn't like one specific spot on my head for the first 2 days after the cut, but after it grew in even just a little bit it looked a lot better.

Agree with all of this. My first whack at it we pretty much buzzed him, but then experimented with scissors and clippers.  His hair volume and head shape make fading difficult, but you've got time to sort it out. It's okay to try a few techniques. If you botch it, it's no big deal since it'll grow back and a lot of your mistakes will naturally blend in to the longer hair.

reeshau

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2017, 10:23:02 AM »
Oh, I also let him watch a show on the tablet when we're cutting hair. I prop it up on the edge of the bathtub in the winter, and on a bench outside in the summer. Keeps him focused and looking at one spot, and reduces fidgeting.

+1  Although we take our son to get his hair cut, once he found a person he was comfortable with, this was the only thing that would work, other than me in the chair with him, holding him and talking to him the whole time.

Bourbon

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2017, 01:25:20 PM »
I have some clippers from Amazon that have an adjustable guard on them.  Similar to others here, I use a shorter setting for sides, longer on top. 

I'm too lazy to get out scissors, so if I want to try and keep it longer than what the guard allows, I will just take the guard off, collect the hair between two of my fingers and cut it off at that level.  Leaves a bit more length, is overall roughly even.  Works for toddlers, works for me.

Northern gal

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2017, 09:45:59 PM »
I cut my sons hair since he was 13 months. I do it while he naps, which is when I also clip his fingernails.

I comb a section of hair, hold it between my index and middle finger and cut across with safety scissors. Then put the cut off locks in a plastic envelope for grandma :) I sneak in and do the back of his head while he is snacking in his high chair. our son has wavy hair and I'd say the cut looks good.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=agOqIWopbyk

seattlecyclone

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2017, 06:17:31 PM »
We use clippers to cut to 1" over my son's whole head. This is long enough that it doesn't look like a "buzz cut," and only gets longer from there until we decide to do another haircut. I cut my own hair this way as well.

Millennialworkerbee

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #11 on: December 12, 2017, 08:13:17 AM »
Thanks for the advice! He did much better than I anticipated, but the haircut doesn't look so great haha. Grandma wanted to join in on the fun and she insisted that I go down with the clippers instead of up. I'm going to try again this weekend when she isn't around ;)

BuffaloStache

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #12 on: December 12, 2017, 10:38:05 AM »
^ Good luck! the lack of distractions is key.

seattlecyclone

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #13 on: December 12, 2017, 11:23:19 AM »
Even with no distractions my son will move his head around in response to the clippers moving to a different location. Putting him in my spouse's lap and having her try and hold his head steady helps.

Jessica J. Babbitt

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2017, 10:07:08 AM »
I think it really suits the toddlers to have longer hair at the top and cut down to size one of the hair cut machine on the sides by ear and back. You will get better idea after doing it few times. 

wordnerd

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #15 on: December 17, 2017, 10:56:45 AM »
Oh, I also let him watch a show on the tablet when we're cutting hair. I prop it up on the edge of the bathtub in the winter, and on a bench outside in the summer. Keeps him focused and looking at one spot, and reduces fidgeting.

+1  Although we take our son to get his hair cut, once he found a person he was comfortable with, this was the only thing that would work, other than me in the chair with him, holding him and talking to him the whole time.

This worked like a charm with my 2 y.o. (who previously thrashed around during attempted haircuts). I put him in his booster seat and put the phone on the tray. He doesn't get a lot of screen time, so he was pretty excited to "watch Elmo."

chemistk

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Re: Boy haircut tips?
« Reply #16 on: December 20, 2017, 06:08:30 AM »
I've been cutting my son's hair for about a year now (starting just before his second birthday). My wife initially took him to get his hair cut but he wasn't a fan of the experience so the result was less than desirable.

I think what made it easy for me is that I've paid attention to the techniques that are used when i get my own hair cut, so I kind of have an idea of what works and what doesn't. It really helps, too, because my son basically has my hair - on the fine, thin side with sides that grow about 1.5x as fast as the top (at least it seems). I cut the sides short with clippers and keep the top long with scissors.

It also really helps that he loves it when I cut his hair.

One big tip - keep them strapped into a high chair to limit range of motion, and if they're like my son who hates having the clipped hair all over his skin as we go, keep some baby powder handy. Every so often, sprinkle some over his neck/shoulders and the fine little hairs will come off without an issue.