In this article, we will cover how to cut women's hair at home. We focus on the common long, medium (shoulder-length), and short (bob and pixie style) hairstyles.
Read on to find out the best tips, tricks and advice for cutting women's hair at home - your own, your wife's or your family or friend's hair.
You may also be interested in these topics:
- The Top 5 Best Scissors For Cutting Hair At Home
- Browse Hair Cutting Scissors
- The Best Hairdressing Scissor Brands
Cutting Your Own Or Somebody Else's Hair
Whether you are looking to trim or cut your wife's or family member's hair at home, it doesn't need to be an impossible task then ends in disaster.
Cutting women's hair at home for beginners is easier if you focus on trimming and maintaining the same hairstyle.
If you are new to this, then you want to avoid changing the hairstyle at all cost. The best approach is to simply cut off the extra length to bring the hairstyle back three or six months.
It is also much easier to cut somebody else's hair. The likelihood of a successful haircut is much higher when you don't cut your own hair.
We have a quick and easy step-by-step approach for women's long, medium (shoulder-length) and short haircutting techniques for beginners at home.
How To Cut Women's Long Length Hair At Home
A longer hairstyle can seem intimidating, so many people avoid doing it at home. We have a simple way to cut and maintain your hair at a longer length.
Here is the beginner's easy step-by-step guide for cutting long length hair at home:
- Dry your hair and style it. This will ensure that your hair is straight. Place your head on the mirror and sit down in a comfortable chair.
- Start dividing your hair by parting it down the center of your head, splitting your hair into two.
- Use a comb to slide your fingers down the hair. You must keep your head straight and your body still. Any movements could cause an uneven cut. You shouldn't cross your legs while sitting in a salon chair.
- Keep your finger and comb at the same level. Use your scissors, which should be sharper than your kitchen knives, to trim your hair's ends using a point method. This cuts through the hair and not across it, making the lines more flexible and textured. For a more confident look, you can trim straight across.
- Repeat this on the other side.
- To determine if you have achieved an even cut, stoop down and close your eyes. As our sight can sometimes be a little blurry, we close our eyes and use our senses of touch to guide us. Move your hands from top to bottom along your head, keeping your hair between your fingers. At the same time, your hands should reach the base of the hair. This is a balanced haircut. Do not panic if this happens. Just trim the longer sides to match up.
Remember that cutting longer hair at home is the best method to do so. If you're a beginner or an amateur, avoid a complete hairstyle change or makeover.
How To Cut Women's Medium Length Hair At Home
If you're cutting long, curly or shoulder-length hair, you need to trim the fringe (bangs) first.
You can use the same technique to frame your face if you have layers of face-framing: Cut full-length strands in half back and comb layers forward.
Hold the hair in small sections and then use point cutting to trim the ends. You can trim the ends and use vertical snips to finish.
Here is the beginner's easy step-by-step guide for cutting medium length hair at home:
- Take a clean, half inch section of the hair into your hand.
- Ensure that you have good grip to avoiding hair falling through your fingers. Wrap the section of hair under the index finger, under the middle finger, and back under the ring finger. This will create a figure three. This will make it easier to see the split ends and prevent you from cutting off major lengths.
- Use a smaller scissors such as the 5.5 inch haircutting scissors to achieve a smoother and more precise cut.
- Move your hand and run your fingers down the hair until you get close to the end, and then trim any split ends that poke up.
- Keep going until you are happy with the result. It is better to cut your hair clean and dry.
How To Cut Women's Short Length Hair At Home
You have less hair to trim, so be careful. You can't make mistakes, so be patient!
It can be difficult to reshape a cut that is growing out. If you need to trim your hair, you can do so by snipping a bit of the hair that you can see when looking at yourself directly on.
Here is the beginner's easy step-by-step guide for cutting long length hair at home:
For short Pixie Haircuts
Pixie Haircuts are difficult to cut due to their shorter length that requires precision and little-to-no mistakes.
I would advise you to remove the lengthening and frames that frame your face while you wait for the hairdresser to return.
These are the parts of a pixie haircut that gives it a softer and more feminine look, and it is important to not cut these away.
Perimeter cutting
The "perimeter", or length of a haircut, is the outline created by the ends of the hair around the head. The perimeter of a blunt haircut is a simple one that follows the hair's ends around the head. This is also called a "weightline" as it indicates where the hair appears thickest.
Trim the hair around your ears and along the hairline. A soften appearance can be achieved by cutting around your ears and down to your neckline using a point-cutting motion.
Twist cutting
Twist-cutting is a technique that allows you to cut through hair easily. It is a great way for a stylist to do an angled haircut. For example, a bang or inverted bob. A stylist will take a section of hair and twist it.
If you have to trim any lengths from your pixie and can't wait, then you should 'twist cut.
Start by taking small sections of hair between your fingers and twist them. This will make it easy to blend, but also serves as a stopper from cutting too much.
As much as possible, ask a friend or family member to assist you. Mirrors or your smartphone camera can give you 360-degree views while you cut.
How to trim a simple pixie haircut
You can always cut hair shorter but you cannot easily grow it back. Take your time and take care of the hair to avoid as many mistakes as possible.
After separating the top and side hairs, you can start at your hairline and work your way up to the back and sides.
When you finish, go for the next size down, moving from the hairline upwards, but not as high as the previous guard used.
Focus on the pulling back motion as you move up the side of the head. As you move upwards you can pull back slightly. This is similar to a scooping motion that blends a longer and shorter section of hair together.
When you are satisified with the length of the side of your hair, you can use your hair scissors to blend the sides with the top. Hold your scissors at an angle (180 degrees) and point cut.
For Short Bob Haircuts
One thing I would remember is to ensure that the bob is straight - but I would avoid trimming the bob at all cost.
Bobs are a difficult to cut for beginners as they require patience and skill. If you can wait for a professional, then it is typically recommended you do so, as every little mistake is more visible when cutting shorter hair.
An alternative is to let your bob hairstyle grow out, and you can experiment with different hairstyling techniques. Otherwise, we have a step-by-step guide on how to cut your short bob haircut at home here:
- You can start by making your hair damp. Then while the neckline is still damp, you can organise the hair before cutting.
- Comb the hair and let it fall naturally and cut with little tension from the comb or your hands.
- Now that the hair is ready to be cut, you can start around the neckline in a C-shape
- Maintain the corners and avoid losing the corners behind the ears.
- The back should be only cut to just below the crown. Leave the sides and crown to dry. If the crown is prone to jumping or having cowlicks, you can dry it and allow it to lie in its natural position.
- Thinning or texturising Shears can be used to cut the crown, perimeter, and sides. It creates extremely soft lines with amazing precision. This is similar to a blunt scissor but it does all the work: cutting hair, re-texturizing and so on.
- Dry out the back and crown hair, then you can move to the sides of the head.
- Flat ironing the sides and blow drying the hair will allow the hair to fall naturally in length and position. This is a great way to cut the sides.
- You'll be better able to see the lines if you cut the sides away from the profile position. You can see exactly how long and how straight the sides are, without having to guess at the style of the client's hair.
- After the baseline is established, you can use your haircutting scissors to trim the interior. This will add subtle layers and texture.
Comments
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Came by to say your tips helped me cut my own hair during quarantine. It wasn’t professional work as you can imagine but at least I didn’t have split ends for months on end. I honestly can’t put into words the amount of praise I got from my hairstylist, she was able to revive my hair with just one cut. I somehow managed to do no irreparable damage.
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Got it, thanks, seems pretty straightforward enough. My mom has been begging me for a haircut – she’s always cut her own hair but now she wants me to add some layers. Is there a reason why you recommend finishing it off with vertical snips? I was planning on doing this tomorrow and this is where I’m kinda stumped.
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