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What’s This About:
This guide covers two clipper cuts you can do on yourself: a one-length buzz, and a two-guard cut with a soft join where the shorter sides meet the longer top.
The method is to start one guard longer than you want, work the back first in vertical overlapping strips, then the sides, then the top, overlapping every pass by about half its width, with the neckline and the ears done last with the clipper turned over and the attachment comb off.
For the back, set up a hand mirror you can see into while the clipper is moving, as Wahl’s own neckline instructions describe, and if you cannot get a clear view of what you are cutting, stop and ask someone to check it rather than working blind.
This guide answers the questions men ask with clippers in one hand, such as:
– What do I actually need, and which guard number is which length?
– What order do I cut in, and how do I soften the join between two guards?
– How do I do the back of my own head?
– Can I do a fade, a shaved line or a scissor cut at home?
– How do I fix it when it goes wrong?
and many more!
The guard chart is in one table, the method is eight steps, and the honest limits are at the end.
Key Points:
01Start longer than you want: go one or two guards up on the first attempt, because you can always take more off and you cannot put it back.
02Back first, top last: the back is the hardest and the part you have most patience for at the start, and the top is the part a mistake shows on least.
03Overlap every pass: the Book of Barbering’s figure is at least forty per cent, which is what stops the tramlines that mark a home cut.
04Two guards and a softened join is where this guide stops: a gradient worked by eye down to skin, a shaved line and scissor layering all need a clear, continuous view of the work, and a clear view is what you have least of at the back of your own head.
The answer
The short answer
A buzz cut is straightforward to do yourself and a two-guard cut with a softened join is learnable, which is why those two are what this guide teaches. Other cuts are done at home by people with the practice and the set-up for them; this page does not try to teach those.
The Book of Barbering’s guide to buzzing your own hair gives the method: “Start at the nape, moving upward in vertical strips toward the crown. Work systematically from back to sides, then tackle the top last”, keeping the clipper flat against the head and the pressure even; blend by overlapping “each clipper pass by at least forty percent”; and for the part you cannot see, set up a three-panel mirror or use a phone camera, “Go slower on the back than anywhere else, and make extra overlapping passes.”
Its rule for a first attempt is the one that matters: begin with a longer guard than you want, because you can go shorter and you cannot go longer. Its rule for a mistake is the same logic in reverse: rather than spot-fixing endlessly, “go one guard shorter over the entire head”.
Wahl’s guide adds the blending motion and the detail work: on the sides, “Start at the hairline on the side of your head and cut upwards toward the middle”, using “a rocking motion to help with blending” by “arching the clippers away from your head as you cut in an upwards direction”; on top, work “from the front bang area and cut across the top of your head to the back”, cutting cowlicks “in the opposite direction of the growth”; and for the neckline and ears, use the “inverted clipper technique”, “flipping the clippers over so the top of the clipper is facing your head”.
A word on the word fade, because the guides disagree. Barbers use it for a gradient worked continuously by eye, usually running down to skin or near it at the bottom; some brand guides, Wahl’s included, use the same word for the two-guard cut with a rocking motion at the join that this page does teach. This guide avoids the label and describes the work instead: two guards and a softened join is what it covers, and a gradient taken down to skin is not.
The rest of this page is the kit, the guard chart, the eight steps, the back of the head, the limits and the repairs.
The kit
What you need
Clippers with a full set of guards and a taper lever, corded or with real battery life; a cordless clipper that loses power mid-cut leaves the second half of the head longer than the first.
A hand mirror small enough to hold and move while the other hand works, used with the bathroom mirror. A three-panel mirror, if you have one, is easier still. A propped phone running its camera also works and shows the back the right way round rather than reversed, but only if you can position it so the back of your head is in frame and the screen is where you can see it; check that before you switch the clipper on.
A comb, for lifting the hair and checking for ridges. Scissors are not in this kit: this guide cuts the top with a guard, and scissor work is left to a barber.
A trimmer for the neckline, the sideburns and around the ears; The Modest Man’s guide is right that these are cleaned up “with a trimmer (not clippers)”, because the trimmer’s narrower blade gives a cleaner line.
Clipper oil and the cleaning brush, used before and after every cut; a dry blade pulls, and pulling is what makes a home cut hurt.
A towel or an old shirt, and ideally a bathroom you can sweep.
The lengths
Guard numbers and what they cut
Scroll horizontally to see all columns →
| Guard | Length | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| No attachment comb | On Wahl’s regular blade, 1/32 to 1/8 inch against the grain and 1/16 to 3/16 inch with it, depending on the lever | The line at the neck and around the ears |
| Number 1/2 | One sixteenth of an inch, 1.5 mm | The shortest attachment comb; shows the scalp |
| Number 1 | One eighth of an inch, 3 mm | Very short sides; an ultra-short buzz that shows the scalp |
| Number 2 | One quarter of an inch, 6 mm | The classic buzz length and the standard side length |
| Number 3 | Three eighths of an inch, 10 mm | Fuller coverage; forgiving on most head shapes |
| Number 4 | Half an inch, 13 mm | A longer buzz, and the easiest length for a first attempt |
| Number 5 to 8 | Five eighths to one inch, 16 to 25 mm | The top, when it is cut with a guard rather than scissors |
The lengths above are Wahl’s own printed figures for its attachment combs, and The Modest Man’s chart lists the same numbers. They are not universal: guard numbering and printed lengths vary between makers and between ranges, so read the numbers moulded into your own combs and the length chart in your own clipper’s instruction sheet before the first cut.
The taper lever is not an extra guard and it does not cut bare. Wahl’s own instruction is that the lever closed gives the closest cut and that “Pushing the lever downward gradually increases the cutting length”, reaching “approximately the same length as the 1/8″ guide comb” at its lowest point. It is a fine adjustment between two comb sizes, which is exactly what the join between two guards needs.
Two guards make a cut: one for the sides and back, one two or three numbers longer for the top, with the taper lever or the guard in between used to soften the line where they meet.
The method
How to cut your own hair, step by step
Step one: cut dry and clean. Wet hair sits longer than it will when dry and clippers do not cut it evenly; comb the hair through first to clear any tangles, as Wahl’s guide starts.
Step two: choose the guards and go one longer than you want. Fit the side guard, set the taper lever closed, and oil the blade.
Step three: the back. Start at the nape and work upwards in vertical strips towards the crown, keeping the clipper flat to the head, and overlap each strip by about half its width; do the back left, then the back right, finishing each before you move on.
Step four: the sides. Start at the hairline and cut upwards towards the middle of the head, and as you reach the top of the side, arch the clipper away from the head in a rocking motion, which is Wahl’s blending technique and what prevents a shelf where the side meets the top.
Step five: soften the join. Fit the guard that sits between your two lengths, or open the taper lever part way, and run it along the band where the sides meet the top; the aim is to take the edge off a visible step, not to build a gradient down the whole side. If you cannot make the two lengths meet without a ridge, stop and let a barber tidy it rather than working the area thinner.
Step six: the top. Fit the longer guard and work from the front hairline back across the top of the head, then across it in the other direction to catch what the first pass missed, cutting any cowlick against the way it grows. A top longer than the biggest comb you own is a scissor cut, which this guide does not cover; leave that to a barber rather than improvising with scissors over a comb.
Step seven: the edges. Take the guard off, turn the clipper over so its back faces your head, and define the neckline and the outline around each ear, pulling the top of the ear down flat as you pass it; work outwards from the centre of the neck so both sides stay level.
Step eight: check and even up. Run a hand over the whole head against the growth to find ridges, and take a single extra pass over any you find rather than concentrating on one spot.
Allow more time than you think for the first one, and expect to be slower at the back than anywhere else.
The back
The part you cannot see
Set up so you can actually see the back while you cut it. Wahl’s own neckline instructions describe the arrangement: “hold your pocket mirror in one hand and turn away from the bathroom mirror so you can see the back of your head in the pocket mirror”, then cut “Using the pocket mirror to see the back of your head”, and “Try moving the pocket mirror left and right or up and down as you are trimming to ensure you always have a clear view”. The bathroom mirror reverses the image, so a movement that looks like it goes left goes right; go slowly until that stops catching you out. A three-panel mirror may make the back easier to see, and the Book of Barbering suggests one first. Check that whatever you set up gives you a clear view before you start cutting, and stop if it does not.
If you cannot get a clear view of the area you are about to cut, whatever you try, stop there and ask someone to look or to make that pass for you. Cutting a part of your head you cannot see is how a crooked neckline happens, and a neckline cut too high cannot be put back.
Work slower there than anywhere else, and make more passes than you think you need; the Book of Barbering’s instruction is to “Go slower on the back than anywhere else, and make extra overlapping passes.”
Use your free hand: the back of the head is easier to judge by touch than by sight, and a ridge your fingers can feel is a ridge that shows.
The neckline is worth the extra care. Keep it where the hair naturally stops rather than squaring it high up the neck, work outwards from the centre so it stays symmetrical, and if you cannot see it well enough, leave it and have someone else look.
Ask for help for the back if you can. Someone looking at the back for a minute will see a ridge or an uneven neckline that you cannot, and that is the part of a home cut other people notice.
The limits
What not to attempt at home
A gradient taken down to skin, the cut most barbers mean by a fade: it is worked continuously by eye, largely on the back of the head where a clear view is hardest to hold, and when it goes wrong the only repair is to take everything shorter. The softened join in step five is a different and much smaller job, and it is where this page stops.
A hard part or any shaved line: the line is cut to the skin, so a crooked one cannot be corrected by cutting it again, only grown out.
A scissor cut on a long top: layering is judged by eye from outside the head, and a misjudged layer leaves a step that shows every time you style it.
A first attempt in the week before something that matters: leave time for a barber to correct it if it goes wrong.
The division this guide draws is this: it teaches a one-length buzz and a two-guard cut with a softened join, and it does not teach a gradient down to skin, a shaved line or scissor work. Our buzz cut, crew cut and fade guides and the men’s haircuts hub explain what to ask a barber for instead.
Repairs
When it goes wrong
Tramlines, the visible stripes of a missed overlap: run the same guard over the whole head again, in the other direction, overlapping properly.
A step where the sides meet the top: fit the guard in between and pass it along the join, or open the lever part way and do the same. One pass, then look; repeated passes over one band thin it.
One patch too short: do not chase it. The Book of Barbering’s rule is to go one guard shorter over the whole head, which makes the patch disappear into an even length.
A crooked neckline: stop. Hair that has been cut too high on one side cannot be brought back down, and levelling the other side to match only moves the whole line further up your neck. Leave it and have a barber square it off at your next cut; a neckline grows back within a few weeks.
A genuinely bad cut: a number 1 or 2 all over resets everything and grows back at about half an inch a month, which is three to four weeks to a number 4.
Questions readers ask
Common questions
Can I cut my own hair with clippers?
Yes, for a one-length buzz or a two-guard cut with a softened join: start one guard longer than you want, work the back first in vertical overlapping strips, then the sides, then the top, and finish the edges with the clipper inverted.
Is it better to cut a man’s hair wet or dry?
Dry, for a clipper cut: wet hair sits longer than its true length and clips unevenly. Scissor work on a long top is usually done on damp hair, and this guide leaves that work to a barber.
How do you cut the back of your own hair?
Set up so you can see it while you cut: Wahl’s instruction is to hold a pocket mirror in one hand and turn away from the bathroom mirror, moving the pocket mirror as you go so you always have a clear view. A three-panel mirror may make the back easier to see. Check that the arrangement gives you a clear view before cutting, and stop if it does not. Work slowly, check by touch as well, and if you cannot get a clear view of the area, ask someone to look or to make that pass.
Can I do a fade at home?
Not a gradient down to skin, which is what most barbers mean by the word: it is judged by eye, mostly at the back, and when it goes wrong the only way back is to take the whole head shorter. Some brand guides use “fade” for the two-guard cut with a softened join that this page does teach, so decide by the work rather than the word.
What guard number should I use?
On a Wahl comb set, a number 2 (6 mm) for a classic buzz and for the sides, a number 4 (13 mm) for a longer and more forgiving first attempt, and two or three numbers up for the top; check your own clipper’s chart, because the numbering is not identical across makers. Go longer than you want on the first cut.
Sources checked for this article (13 September 2026)
Mandy Meyer’s focus at The VOU is men’s body-shape styling, garment fit and outfit proportions. Her coverage addresses the practical questions behind a wardrobe choice: how a jacket sits across the shoulders, how trousers fall and how different cuts change the silhouette a wearer wants to create.
Her subject areas include the triangle, inverted triangle, rectangle, oval, trapezoid, hourglass and diamond labels used in body-shape styling. These provide starting references for comparing visible proportions; they do not capture every body or prescribe one correct way to dress. The focus connects those observations with garment shape, construction, length and the relationship between the upper and lower parts of an outfit.
Mandy’s editorial coverage combines visual comparisons with fit checks for comfort and movement. Readers can consider whether a cut gives them the room they need, where clothing pulls or gathers and which changes might support their preferred look. The aim is to make menswear choices more understandable while keeping personal preferences and the wearer’s own styling goals central.
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