I’d been using one for years and it was great, dependable, all that. Then it gave up the ghost and I had to buy another, but a different brand. This new one doesn’t cut well at all; in fact, it seems to be getting worse over time. I was talking with a barber who said that all clippers are basically the same and should cut alike - I’ve run on that assumption, myself - but obviously my present experience contradicts this.
Anyone have the lowdown on these things? I’ll get a professional-grade unit if that’s what it takes, but I’m hoping to spend less if possible.
I’ve cut my own hair for probably 25 years. Around 15 years ago I bought a Wahl Designer model and it cuts as well now as it always has. The oil they provide is pretty thick, and a good cleaning with WD40 works wonders now and again.
I have a Norelco (Philips) with exchangeable heads, so it does hair, beard, and nose. I have very fine hair, which can be problematic, but I’ve been happy with it. It’s my second one; the battery of the first died after several years.
For facial hair I find any clipper works pretty much identically, so I’d have to side with your barber… Though I imagine the design might affect how closely it cuts. I’m not sure how one can’t cut well- hair goes in, bzzzt, hair gone. I’ve not had my head hair cut for over 10 years though, so maybe that cuts a bit differently than thicker face hairs.
He’s not my barber. I cut my own hair, what’s left of it. As for the face, I shave. Old-school, with a safety razor in case you wonder.
I wasn’t talking about closeness, but about how well it cuts - when it cuts at all. The length you want is a moot point if the head’s not even cutting, or if it leaves uncut hairs in its wake so you have to keep going back over and over where you’d already gone. That’s an issue.
Closeness is determined by guides, not the cutting teeth.
In my misspent youth Ripley’s Believe It or Not
paperbacks were a source of endless fascination.
One entry was about a king in antiquity who wouldn’t
allow his barber to shave him. Instead as illustrated
a glowing coal held in tongs was used for a trim.
And now the real thing from Turkey. Scroll to 10:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODnMJLARzds
My grade school had that in the library. Several volumes, small, approximately 4X6 books of the strange and P.T.Barnum stuff. I didn’t need to look it up in the card catalogue, it was past the librarian’s desk, three rows back on the left hand side, on top of the shelves using book ends.
Okay, I ordered a Wahl Home Pro from their online store. Set me back only around $24, which is awesome, and the lady said she’s been using that very same model on hubby and the kids for over six years, and she’s been very happy with its performance. Sounds like good bang for your buck.
That is one nice clipper. Got the job done, and cleanly, in no time at all. “Like a boss”, as is said these days. The Wahl’s performance exposed the one it’s replacing for the craven weenie it is, and if memory serves, it outperforms the one I had before that, and that one was pretty good. So yeah, I’d recommend the brand.
Out of curiosity, if you don’t mind, what guides do you use? I’m thinking about going this route. I like my hair short on the sides but not buzz cut and just long enough on top to comb easily. Your basic 60’s businessman look. Do you trim around the ears or just cut the the same length as the sides?
Guess I’m shorter… usually a 2 or a 3, though I did get down to a 1 at one stage. My hair just tends to lie down under the clippers with anything much longer, so I’ll normally start with the 3 and change to the 2 if too much is escaping. Then leave it till it’s starting to annoy me before taking it back again…
Do you trim around the ears or just cut the the same length as the sides?
I don’t bother with the tapered ear thingies at the length (shortness?) I’m cutting to.
3/4" for the top, 1/4" for the sides and crown, 1/8" for finishing the margins around the ears and nape. Scissors for the raggle-taggle ends such as you find hiding behind the ears, and also because I have the top longest at front, blending shorter to the crown and sides for a clean profile; you can’t do that without scissors. The end result is I don’t have to comb, but just swiftly use my hands if anything needs persuasion. For more combability you’d probably want to cut it at 1" or more.
It could be that I make my haircuts a tad more involved than other guys might; I don’t know. The only drawback is that sooner or later you have to do it all over again, but now it takes me only about twenty minutes, tops. I wound up doing my own because after trips to the barber I always ended up correcting their work anyway, even though I thought my instructions were crystal-clear. I couldn’t see paying them for my work.
When cutting your own hair, obviously you’ll need two mirrors. I use a hand mirror to see in back with. You get used to the juggling.
It would be a sad world if we were all mad the one way, as Brendan Behan used to say.
I go braided when I have the time (that’s mostly) and pony-tailed when I’m in a rush (very seldom). My beloved braids my hair when I ask her. That’s about once a fortnight. I do it myself the rest of the time. My hair is down to the small of my back.
She asks “Are you ever going to cut your hair?”
I say “No. Why?”
My crown isn’t as thoroughly bald; I still have to cut it. But when wearing it long, once you have a bald spot you can forget the “hippie comb-over”. It doesn’t work; you can lacquer it into place but it still slips apart into planks of hair on the sides. Other guys might be okay with that, but it’s not for me. I’ve worn it short ever since.
Don’t buy into this. Seriously. Beliefs are one thing, but actual events are quite another. I had posted a long, page-blackening screed explaining how history and the times contradict the story - which I consider to be an utter fabrication of frankly racist if well-meaning but sadly outdated romantic fantasy - but thought better of quantum shifts into off-topic realms, so I deleted it. If you want more info about the facts that make me discredit the story, please PM me.
