How to keep hair clippers working smoothly throughout a haircut.
October 19, 2014 11:06 AM   Subscribe

I've had the same problem with every pair of hair clippers I have ever owned: When I start running them through my hair (especially in the back), they work fine. Then, at some point, they hit a patch of hair that makes the motor modulate so that it sounds higher-pitched and faster. When the clippers are in this state, they don't cut properly until the motor ramps back down again to their normal speed. What's going on here and how can I stop my clippers from doing this?

I'm using the clippers with no guard, cutting hair very short (essentially buzzing it to the skin). This is also definitely not brand-specific--this happens with every kind of clippers I have ever owned, no matter how cheap or expensive.
posted by yellowcandy to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (11 answers total)
 
Do you oil your clippers regularly? Keeping the the area between the blade/guard where metal is moving against metal may go a long way to alleviating this problem. The electric hair clippers I've bought always come with a small bottle of oil for this specific purpose.
posted by zyxwvut at 11:45 AM on October 19, 2014 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: I don't want to threadsit, but I want to say now, before I get a lot of comments about oiling, that I do--very regularly.
posted by yellowcandy at 11:55 AM on October 19, 2014


You're cutting too fast. Slow down. Or, the blade is touching your head in a way that puts added pressure on the clippers.
posted by spork at 12:05 PM on October 19, 2014 [4 favorites]


My guess is that some combination of arm angle and direction of hair growth is gumming up the works. Slowing down, as spork suggests, will help. Also look at the back of your head with a couple of mirrors amd make a mental map of your cowlicks. You want to clipper either against or with (slightly longer result) the growth.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 1:25 PM on October 19, 2014 [1 favorite]


If it's battery-powered, make sure your battery is at full charge. My trimmer makes that sound when it jams, and it usually jams when it doesn't have full power to work with. With a full charge it's always been fine.
posted by NMcCoy at 5:56 PM on October 19, 2014


I've always had this problem too. I suspect clippers dull quickly. They could be disassembled and sharpened with some fine wet/dry paper on a piece of glass. But I usually just slow down like others have said.
posted by werkzeuger at 10:49 PM on October 19, 2014


Response by poster: Speed isn't the issue. I can go at a glacial pace and still get the same problem.
posted by yellowcandy at 11:30 PM on October 19, 2014


What type of clippers are you using?
posted by rumbles at 12:59 AM on October 20, 2014


Was formally trained and cut some hair while in the Navy eon's ago. If this is the phenomenon I think it is, then it may have more to do with your hand motion than with the clippers (although it might be more pronounced with less-than-professional level clippers.)

When you cut hair the best hand motion is a curved one. By that I mean sort of like scooping but not quite as abrupt. You dip in, move in the direction you want to cut, and slowly raise your hand such that the height of the hair being cut increases. Then, back to the point where the hair is higher than you would like and you repeat the movement. If you follow the curvature of you head solely, then at some point the clippers will get a little bound up. I think that's what folks mean here when they suggest you slow down.

I suspect that the reason this doesn't happen while you are cutting the back of your head is that you are naturally forced into the kind of hand motion I'm trying to describe. Think of this as a rough analogy: when you shovel snow it's easier to scoop and throw frequently than it is to get it all in one pass and long furrow. Also: if you know how to cut a taper for the back of a head of hair, that's the technique you would want to use all over. Just begin another "swoop" at the height you prefer, progressing into longer hair you want to trim. Repeat as necessary.
posted by CincyBlues at 5:02 AM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]


I'd second the "buy higher grade clippers" .. A friend is a hairdresser, and hooked us up with a nice clipper after I burned out 3 of the various ones you buy at Target. Alas, I can't recall brand right away to suggest something better/heavier duty.. But anything with a battery is insufficient.
posted by k5.user at 7:55 AM on October 20, 2014


Response by poster: Rumbles, I've used lots of kinds, including expensive clippers designed for a hair salon.

I never use battery-operated clippers--always corded.

Maybe the gist of this is getting lost, but I'm removing all the hair down to the skin when I use the clippers and have this problem. I'm not just trimming.
posted by yellowcandy at 8:42 AM on October 21, 2014


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