Author Topic: Do it yourself haircut - easy way to cut a straight back line without assistance  (Read 7932 times)

diesel15

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I've been cutting my own hair for quite some time and one thing I always struggle with is trying to make the back look neat.  Using a mirror in one hand and trying to manipulate the clippers is really difficult for me even after many haircuts worth of experience.  I don't know if someone else has already come up with this but I was thinking about it this morning and had an idea.  I cut out a shape from some poster board that I had laying around and after some trial and error found a shape that matched pretty closely to what I thought would look good for my back hairline.  I then just wedged it underneath a hat to hold it firmly in place and to my surprise I think the end result was pretty good.  Just wanted to share in case anyone else has struggled with this and is looking for an easy solution.  The pictures are a bit crude but I thought they might be helpful for someone trying to copy this.

« Last Edit: May 09, 2015, 11:00:05 AM by diesel15 »

Beardog

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Great idea, diesel15! 

fartface

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LMAO...I just trimmed DH's hair and didn't do as good a job as this! Nice work.

diesel15

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LMAO...I just trimmed DH's hair and didn't do as good a job as this! Nice work.

Haha maybe I have a market for this invention!  I wasn't sure if the poster board would be stiff enough but I was really surprised by just how well it worked in conjunction with the hat.

okits

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Very clever, I like it!

SenoritaStache

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I saw something similar on Amazon just this week, I was looking for stencils and something similar to your pictures came up. 

SenoritaStache

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Sorry didn't mean to be the party pooper, but If you want to look it up on Amazon,  I had typed in something like straight line stencil.

diesel15

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Sorry didn't mean to be the party pooper, but If you want to look it up on Amazon,  I had typed in something like straight line stencil.

Not at all.  I'm pretty sure that I'm not the first person who has had this problem.  I really never thought to look on Amazon for a solution.  I was just frustrated and decided to try something out! 

Did you find anything of use?  It probably took me about 15 minutes of playing around before I got it cut to a shape that I felt worked but I like that it is customized for the shape of my head.  Plus I can't beat the price of using materials I already had on hand.

SenoritaStache

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Absolutely, way to be Green and Bonus points on your creativity!! 😃 

BicycleB

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Diesel15 - dude, that's genius!

OK, as SenoritaStache pointed out, it's not original.  But it's a wonderful idea.  Warms my heart just to know it exists.

Recently it dawned on me that my town has reached the point where it's cool to cut 100% clean on top and just rock the beard below.  No stencil, just a razor and trimmer and I'm good to go.  Last month was my last payment to the barber as long as this stays in style.

After that, it's stencils for me...if I have any hair left by then!!

forummm

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Sweet idea!

G-dog

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I've used tape in the past - I am a women with short hair and was cutting it myself and wanted to layer the back up to a 'drop' line. So I put scotch tape at the line level. Came out of my hair really easily.

You have a template, now fabricate that in plastic or acetate and you are set!
« Last Edit: September 03, 2015, 07:47:45 AM by G-dog »

patrat

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I have done something similar with the brim of a baseball hat, turned down the neck. It gets close. Not my idea, I saw it written somewhere.

cautiouspessimist

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Thank you diesel15. I've mostly just had to pretend that I got it straight (no one has said anything).

Also, thank you SenoritaStache, but I think I can manufacture my own for less than the $9 that Amazon is asking.

GuitarStv

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I've been cutting my hair by using a mirror and hoping for the best for ages.  This method is better.  It's a pretty genius idea!

zephyr911

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Fuckin' A! I think I'm gonna try this next time.

babysteps

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I've used tape in the past - I am a women with short hair and was cutting it myself and wanted to layer the back up to a 'drop' line. So I put scotch tape at the line level. Came out of my hair really easily.

You have a template, now fabricate that in plastic or acetate and you are set!

My mom used to use tape, but put it on the hair that was being cut off (she cut just at the upper edge of the tape) - then you don't have to worry about how easily it comes out of hair :)

Admittedly this was on other people's hair...she had a deal with a friend, the friend cut our hair and my mom cut her friend's kids' hair, so no one could complain about their hair cut too much...