My cut simple. I break it down into four stages, all done while I’m standing over the bathroom sink. I’m lucky to have a big mirror on the wall above the sink, and a mirror on the side attached to the medicine cabinet door, so I can open it and adjust the angle. I also keep a large handheld mirror nearby so I can see the back of my head…hold it like a rear‑view mirror when cutting the back.
Stage 1 (Top) - I start with the #8 guard (about 1”) on the clippers and run them over the crown and the surrounding area. I make a bunch of passes from different angles to catch every spot…nothing can go wrong at this stage. However, as I developed experience, I started steering clear of the top‑front area near my forehead because I could easily blend that part later with scissors and leave the hair a little longer in the front.
Stage 2 (Sides and back) – I switch to the #2 guard (1/4”). Starting at the bottom, I guide the trimmer along an imaginary “path” that begins at the sideburns, climbs up, curves around the ear, runs straight across the back to the opposite ear, and then drops down the other sideburn. That defines the zone for the #2 guard. I can safely maneuver the clippers on that imaginary path and below, so I hit from different angles to ensure it’s all trimmed to 1/4”.
Stage 3 (Blending) – I keep using the #2 guard to blend the lower hair into the #8‑guarded top. This is the most time‑consuming stage. My technique here is to run the clippers horizontally while tilting them to the side as I enter the blending zone….imagine a car ski stunt 😆. Another way to control the height of the guard is to maneuver it like riding an endo on the front wheel 🏍️ 😆. Basically, I always keep part of the guard touching my head so it’s stable and I don’t lose track of it.
Stage 4 (Finishing touches) – At this point I pull out a smaller cordless trimmer and clean up around my ears and neck.
Stage 5 (Vacuum the bathroom and Stack Sats) 😂🤙