Modesto stylists give tips on doing at-home haircuts during coronavirus shutdowns
Yes, I know — we all need a haircut.
Some 38 days after the state of California issued its stay-at-home order, everyone looks scraggly. Hair salons and barber shops have all been shuttered since then to help flatten the curve in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But that means — among other much more consequential things — that our collective hair has gone back to nature.
Bangs are too long. Edges are raggedy. Roots are showing. And more than a few of you are starting to get a little “Tiger King” in the back.
I mean, even Flowbees are all out of stock. So what’s a dutiful citizen in self-isolation at home (and not lucky enough to be quarantined with a hair stylist) to do?
Hair salons closed due to shutdowns
The good news is that the Central Valley’s currently out-of-work hairdressers are here to help — from an appropriate social distance, of course. I asked the owner and a stylist from Modesto’s Tangled T’s Hair Studio to help all of us home-bound and hairy folks with tips and advice for cutting our hair at home.
Most stylists and barbers are independent contractors, meaning it’s harder for them to receive unemployment benefits. And with their chairs empty and salons shuttered, there’s no money coming in. Tangled T’s owner Tiffany Rose De La Cruz and stylist/barber LoveCore, both local musicians as well, said they have yet to receive any unemployment or their stimulus checks.
De La Cruz’s studio has been open for the past eight years just off downtown Modesto near the triangle intersection of Downey and Scenic avenues. The salon, which is also an artists and musicians collective, has 10 stylists who are unemployed now and struggling with their own mounting bills while waiting for their doors to safely reopen.
“We all cried when it closed,” De La Cruz said. “You still gotta pay your bills, you still got rent at home. That dang electricity keeps going.”
Every day she gets people begging her to give under-the-table haircuts and offering her money to break social distancing rules. But the risk is not worth the reward, she said. A handful of people have paid in advance for their next appointment, which helps. Yet it’s not a long-term solution because if too many people pay in advance they’ll be working for free for a while when they return.
Still, the women remain positive about their predicament, knowing people will return — likely in droves — when things are safe. Until then, they encourage everyone to embrace their wild hair and have fun with it while sheltering in place.
But, if you absolutely can’t stand your long, unruly locks, they have some basic advice on what you’ll need, how to start and the safest (and best-looking) way to cut your own hair at home. They were even kind enough to walk Modesto Bee photographer Andy Alfaro through a social-distance approved self-haircut in their closed studio.
We taped off 6-feet between us, wore masks as he wielded the clippers, and Andy brought his own tools from home. So no journalists or stylists were harmed in the making of this haircut.
Tools needed for a self-quarantine haircut
To start, they suggest you find the biggest wall mirror in your house. The bathroom mirror is a good bet. If you have one, you’ll also need a large hand mirror. Then you’ll want a sharp pair of shears, electric clippers with guards for those with short hair, a comb and a drape to wear to catch the hair.
Before you make any clips or cuts, remember to take your time and go slowly. This isn’t a race and you haven’t spent the 1,600 hours required to be board certified on this ancient craft.
Begin with your hair clean and dry. Then stand or sit in front of the mirror, and use the hand mirror to look at your hair in the big mirror to see the back and sides fully. For both long and short hair, they recommend wetting it down with water from a spray bottle before starting. For short hair find your natural part and comb the hair down in either direction from the part. Then identify where your crown (the highest region around your scalp, about where a hat would rest).
Then start small, because you can always take more hair off but you can’t glue more hair back on. I mean, you can, but have fun wearing a beanie for the rest of quarantine.
For short hair they suggest putting the clippers on a high guard setting (the higher the setting, the less hair will be cut). Andy started with the 8 setting. Then, starting on the sides of the head near your temple, slowly bring them up from the bottom of the hair up to the crown (but no higher, approximately half-way up your head) and bring the clippers straight upward and out as you go all the way around your head.
Go slowly and try to keep the height you go up with the clippers at an even level all the way around the crown.
Then, when you get to the opposite temple, part the hair the other way and comb it straight down again. Repeat the process starting at the other temple. Comb your hair down as you go and check yourself in the mirrors to see if it’s even along the crown, then make adjustments as needed.
Next move the clippers one setting lower (in Andy’s case 7) and begin the process again. Bring the clippers up and out as before, but this time only half way up to the crown. This will create layer and shape around the head. If it helps, put your hand on the back of your head and use it as a guide (the guard will keep you from cutting yourself).
Go slow, stay steady and start small with cut
If you’re pleased with how it looks in the back, then go one more setting down (Andy went to 6), and follow along your temple and ear line to clean up the edges and along the nape in the back. Again, bring the clippers lower with each new setting (about half from the previous). But keep in mind the more layers, the more chance of making your hair look like a step terrace garden — so slow and steady as you go.
If you want to take some weight off the top, pull your hair straight up and forward from the cowlick. Pinch the hair in your fingers and give it a twist. Then use the shears to cut the tips off about a half an inch to an inch. Be very, very careful because the shears are sharp and it’s easy to cut your fingers. Blood is not a good natural hair dye.
Then style your hair as you normally would and, voila. You’ve got yourself a self-quarantine haircut you’d be happy to show off to friends if you weren’t stuck in your home.
After his self-trim, Raggedy Andy was no more. And both De La Cruz and LoveCore were impressed with the results.
“Not too shabby? Need a job? Well, we’re not hiring,” De La Cruz laughed.
Long hair poses more complications, and the ladies suggest just giving yourself a trim of the dead ends instead of going for a more ambitious style. To start, part your hair down the middle in two even sides. Bring all the hair to the front in two bunches, comb through it. Then use the shears to evenly cut across the ends on both sides.
But, LoveCore said, she encourages people instead of worrying about cutting their long hair to experiment with other styles at home. Wear it in braids, use clips and barrettes. Heck, wear wigs. I mean, your family might think you’re crazy but your “hair” will look good. She said people who let their hair go free during self-isolation will have a great canvas for hair stylists and barbers to work with once salons and shops reopen.
“Not everyone needs to look dapper right now. I mean, where are you really going?” she said.
Cutting your own bangs poses challenges
Now, for both long and short hair, bangs are tricky and should come last. Imagine a triangle on the front of your hair, like a slice of pizza pointing up toward the top of your head. Gather your bangs in a tight triangle, but be careful not to pull from wider than around mid-eyebrow on either side.
Comb it down, then pinch it together into a downward point and cut across it to the desired length (don’t trim higher than eye level to start, and then go up maximum to about eyebrow level if desired). Remember wet hair will shrink back and become shorter, so be conservative with your cuts.
That method should create an arch around the frame of your face. Then, with the shears, clip the straggling hair in small, upward motions to the desired bang line. Think small, narrow triangle which is called point cutting. Again, those scissors are sharp and you’re close to your face and eyes. So be careful.
As it anything in life, the more practice the better. Both women said that first cut may be rough, but with practice people will get better. While times are tough now, they hope to be able to ride out the shutdowns and can’t wait to see their clients once it’s over. But, they also realize things will likely look different to start.
They expect to be wearing masks and other PPE, possibly having customers wear masks, provide sanitation stations for everyone before they come in and do even more disinfecting than they already do.
But, until that day, they said said people shouldn’t worry about their quarantine hair too much. In the end, it’s only hair. And what matters is we remain healthy and keep those around us healthy.
“Be happy with who you are and what you’re growing and what’s going on,” De La Cruz said. “This is how it is. Love yourself, however you look. I think that’s the best tip I could give you. It’s not a fashion show in quarantine.”
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 5:21 PM.
