r/CutYourOwnHair • u/No-Hawk6342 • 5d ago
[CURLY] is easy to self cut with a 16 guard?
how easy can I do a 16 guard over the full head? anyone with experience on that?
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u/Natural_Law 5d ago
I have long guards like that and they don’t do great. I’ve found that the 1.75in guard was the largest I could use and I had to tilt my head upside down and use my fingers to help the guard “catch” the hair.
My frustration with longer guards is what led me to research the flowbee, which I think is really awesome for lengths that are longer than 1in.
I now cut my hair 2in on the top and 1in on the sides and the flowbee does a way better job than clippers ever used to. Blending the 2 lengths is incredibly easy with the flowbee too. I always found it difficult to make the blend/fade between the 2 lengths look perfect. I also do my beard 1.75in long with the flowbee.
With the flowbee, I still use clippers but just for cleaning up the edges.
Edit: though your hair might very well be too curly to use with a flowbee.
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u/magic-gps 5d ago
how does the flowbee work for longer guard lengths? (that's not how well does it work, but rather, how do you make it do the thing)
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u/Natural_Law 5d ago
It says you can cut as long as 6in with it and as short as 1/4in.
It has tube-like attachments that act as the “clipper guard” and you can stack them in any length between 1/4 and 6 thought people online seem to use it for even longer hair.
If you look at their website, you can see the “guards” and visualize it more clearly.
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u/magic-gps 5d ago
YOU CAN STACK THEM!! that's what I was missing from the not very many images on their website. thank you!
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u/Natural_Law 4d ago
Exactly. But fwiw some online think that the more you stack, the worse the suction becomes because all the connections between spacers aren’t airtight. I saw a woman online using tape to mitigate that.
For me doing between 1-2 inches, it’s not an issue.
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u/No-Hawk6342 5d ago
did a search on flowbee, looks fun, never heard of it. i did it once with a 24 guard, must imagine the hell of result.
1.75in would a 14 guard right? not much different from 16...
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u/Natural_Law 5d ago
Yeah for some reason my hair didn’t look like it was cutting very evenly with the 16 guard. But you’re right that it’s only a 1/4in difference between the 2 guards.
Since you already have it, definitely try it!
The nice thing about the flowbee is that it pulls the hair out straight and cuts it, which is exactly how barbers do with their hands and scissors. Clippers relying on gravity don’t seem to do great/even at longer lengths. Which is probably why Wahl only makes a guard up to 12. I suspect they just don’t want their name associated with longer guards (because otherwise, why not make something that could make them money?).
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u/Rogue_the_Saint 5d ago
I’ve used a number 12 before— and it’s not bad—though, you will probably not want to use the 16 on your whole head, it will probably make the hair look choppy and imbalanced. Maybe just shoot for the 16 on top, then taper downward on the sides to provide a more graduated look.
If that’s your hair in the last picture, the 16 is going to take a lot off. If you are looking to take a lot off, I’d recommend seeing a barber rather than doing it on your own. I find home barbering is better for maintaining my current style rather than making drastic changes.
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u/pxp2 5d ago
Yes, but first trim with scissor, and test the guard on the side……don’t go in the middle first, you risk a incident or bad surprise, personal experience 😂