How to cut your hair at home: 7 tips from a celebrity hairstylist

We are entering Week 4 of the enhanced community quarantine, during which salons and barbershops have temporarily closed and at top of pretty much everybody's concerns is: How to get a haircut? 

Renowned celebrity hairsylist Jing Monis spoke with GMA News Online and gave a few tips on how you can give yourself a trim, at the very least.

1. Prepare the tools you need

A pair of scissors, mirror, cutting cape, comb, and razor.

Monis said the type of scissors you use is important if you want your hair to be properly cut. If you don't have hair-cutting scissors, a pair of kitchen scissors will do.

He warns not to use paper scissors as it might damage the ends of your hair.

If you don't have a cape, a towel and or any cloth will do as long as it can protect your body from getting itchy with the hair.

The mirror will help you see and should guide you as you cut your hair properly.

Lastly a comb, preferably a tiny tooth cutting comb. But any comb at home will do, Monis said.

For men who are planning to shave their hair, razors are also needed.

2. Decide on your haircut

Before doing your haircut, Monis said it's best to make a concrete decision first on what type of haircut you would want to achieve. Skinny head? Bob cut? Bangs?

Monis suggests a basic bob haircut for women, while the buzz cut aka skinny head haircut for men. That's done simply by shaving the sides of your hair.

By the way, Monis warned to never do a layer cut at home so that once things go back to normal and you decide to go back to your professional stylist, they won't have a hard time fixing your hair.

3. Rinse your hair with shampoo

Before cutting your hair, make sure you rinse your hair with shampoo and water.

Do not dry it too much because hair needs to be wet when cut. Wet hair, Monis says, reveals the original length of your hair. It makes it easier to section the hair, too. 

4. Section your hair in four parts

After rinsing your hair with shampoo and water, section your hair into four parts.

"Bottom, middle, left and right side, this is important so you will be able to cut your hair little by little," Monis said.

"Do the bottom section first, cut it in your preferred length and then once you have decided that it is the right length, you may continue. Cut the middle section, following the bottom length and continue with the left and right side," he suggested.

5. If you only want to trim your split ends, dry hair cutting is suggested

Meanwhile, if you're too afraid of making big changes on hair on your own and you just want to get rid of your split ends, Monis suggests you do that by dry hair cutting.

Section your hair in four parts again, pull your hair from the top to the end, flip then ends of your hair and start trimming.

"Make sure that you'll trim small inches of your hair first and then once you think it is the perfect length or you remove all the split ends, you may do it to the next section and so on and so forth," he said.

6. Cutting your hair to get bangs is risky but doable

Monis said cutting bangs at home is "a little bit risky" but it's actually doable. There is a specific type of bangs that suits specific face shapes so the first step is cutting your hair to get bangs is to "analyze your face shape, if it's round, oval, heart, diamond, or etc."

"This is important to know so you can wear the bangs properly," he added. 

There are many resources online for this. Best to do your research and see what type of bangs will suit you best.

"Either full bangs, curtain bangs, side bangs or any bangs you want — you may start sectioning the portion of your hair for your bangs," Monis continues.

He instructs: "Section the hair on top of your head into a triangle or pyramid. This will be your starting point on cutting your bangs."

It's also important to be mindful of separating your bangs from the rest of your hair.

"Pull out the triangle section of your hair in front of your head and flip your hair upward and start trimming," he said.

Monis reminds not to cut your bangs too short, "just cut your bangs first below your eyebrows and check the length then adjust it if needed."

7. Don't hesitate to cut your hair at home.

The idea of cutting your own hair is intimidating, Monis acknowledges, but he counters people shouldn't be afraid because "it will go back to its original length. We have more days left before the quarantine will be over."

Monis reiterates for men to just shave their hair and sport a skinny head. It is easier, given our circumstances. 

For both men and women, he suggests having the assistance of another person.

"It is easy if you have just decided to shave your hair and have a skinny head like mine though I still had the hard time to fully cut my hair and I needed my driver's help to shave the back of my hair properly."

So are you ready to cut your own hair? — LA, GMA News