Pro tips on how to cut your own hair with barbershops, salons closed over COVID-19
The Observer asked hair stylists and master barbers this week for tips on cutting your own hair — in case Gov. Roy Cooper’s order closing all salons and barbershops amid COVID-19 stretches too long and you get antsy to pull out the scissors.
We spoke with a half dozen professionals across the Charlotte region. While they cautioned against cutting your own hair — it’s easy to mess up and it’ll cost more for the pros to fix during your next visit — they offered plenty of advice for those picking up the shears:
▪ Dry your hair before you start cutting it to safeguard the amount you’re cutting. “When hair is wet, it stretches,” said Edwin LLerena, owner of Edwin’s Hair Studio in downtown Statesville..
▪ Cut only a tiny bit at a time.
▪ Use a sanitizer that professionals do to clean and disinfect their shops, such as Barbiside.
▪ Do not use store-bought hair dye. “The damage it can cause to your hair will cost you more time and money to repair,” said Faye Karanikas, a stylist at Salons by JC in south Charlotte. Her salon’s name is Infinity Hair Design.
▪ To make roots less visible, try changing the styling of your hair. Karanikas suggested not doing a direct part in your hair.
If all else fails, Eric DuRant, owner of Market Place Barbershop in Mooresville, jokingly suggested people follow what he did years ago and shave their heads bald.
Kat Roy, a stylist at the Salons by JC Carmel Park location, added a smiley face at the end of her letter to clients, where she urged them to “take this time to focus on personal growth and not just the growth of our roots!”
And she offered this thought too: “Support your local stylists and barbers by proudly wearing your outgrown color or overgrown haircut until we can be reunited!”