Like many other people, with the Covid-19 lockdown, my hair was getting too long. Because of this, I decided to buy some clippers and scissors to have my wife cut my hair. I can't wait for my normal hair salon to open up and even if they do, I am not sure I want to go in! After all, they are in contact with a lot of people and so social distancing is going to be hard to do.
My wife cut my hair two weeks ago using the clippers and did a great job cutting the sides and back. But she didn't really cut the top much at all. She used scissors which many stylists do (she's not a hair stylist), but it was still too long and the top hairs would flop over to my parted area on my left side making for a rather distinct and noticeable separation from clipped hair and scissored hair.
I wanted the top shorter, but I also did not want to bother her in doing it again. In fact, after watching a bunch of YouTube videos on the topic, I felt that if I could only clipper cut the top as well as the sides myself, I wouldn't need to bother her going forward and would only to ask her to fine-tune my cuts by trimming around the ears and the back of the head. That would be minimal time for her going forward. Besides, there's something about being able to do the entire cut myself that appeals to me.
Well to try what I learned from the YouTube videos, I decided to cut the top hairs two weeks later myself with the clippers, but I only had a maximum of a one inch clipper guard (a number 8 guard). I searched all over the internet and while there is such a thing as a 2 inch guard, it was made for the Wahl brand but not Oster. I decided to go forward and just cut it one inch in length and hope for the best. By the way, the numbering system is based on an eighth inch system. 8/8 is 1 inch so that's a number 8 guard. 4/8th's is 1/2 inch, so that's a number 4 guard.
Well, because I have a rather high forehead, the short hair makes it look like my hairline is receding, which it is not! So, I now know, I need at least 2 inches on top. Thinking it over, I thought that if I could only stack two guards together, I could create the distance needed for a 2" guard. Hey! I had a 7/8" guard which I'll never use on its own (a number 7 guard) and I also had a 1" guard that we used to groom our pet Maltese dog when she was alive.
Taping the two together made for the distance needed to get a 1-7/8" equivalent guard! Based on the numbering system, 1-7/8" is really 15/8ths, so that's a number 15 guard.
I can't wait to grow my hair back so that I can try the newly constructed guard. It took one short cut to make me think through what I needed to do to fix the problem.
I'll post a final result after my hair grows back and I get to cut all of my hair on my own. It probably will take a while though! If this combination is too long, I'll just take a lower number guard and tape the 1" guard from our dog to it. I have options!
Edit Note: I finally got to try my contraption... it DOES NOT WORK! I was hoping it would, but it doesn't! I am going to make another version that will use the 1" as well as a 1/2" guard. Hope this one works.
Here is a 1" with a 1/2" guard. Hope this one works...
