Note: Cutting your own hair is an advanced technique. If you have someone available to cut your hair for you, we recommend doing that instead. If you don’t have a person to cut your hair, than we made this tutorial for you!! Please proceed…

Opening Remarks

Welcome to the Military Haircut Academy! A few things to go over before you start:

  • This video tutorial series will show you how to cut a medium Fade, to the skin, with a little off the top. In Step #4 you can choose where to put your own fade line; low, med or high.
  • Please click any supplies link we have listed when purchasing your supplies as we earn a commission & it will keep us in business.
  • Would you like a more personalized learning experience? Consider booking a private virtual coach who will work with you one on one, in your preferred language, at your pace, teaching you how to cut the exact style your partner desires.
  • Remember to take your “before” photo.

Step#2: Setting Up Your Supplies

Supplies Needed & Links To Buy:

  • Large wall mounted mirror (wall not included).
  • This Hand held mirror has larger dimensions than Jeremy’s mirror, making it even easier to see behind you. If you don’t like easy than this mirror is not for you.
  • Towel placed on the ground to catch flyaway hairs. When you are not being cool cutting your own hair at home, this towel advertises that it is, “Perfect for travel, sports & the beach. It is fast drying, super absorbent, ultra compact. Suitable for camping, backpacking, the gym, swimming, & yoga.” This is the perfect post pandemic purchase to get you back into the fast lane of life.
  • Balloons filled with Shaving cream & Shaving cream pies can be fun, but please save enough for shaving your neck hair.
  • 5 blade razor that doesn’t require any electricity, almost like the olden days.
  • After shave for after you shave (not before). With this haircut you will be going to the skin & will appreciate the cooling experience of Jeremy’s favorite after-shave lotion. It soothes and moisturizes eliminating razor burn for a silky smooth finish.
  • Clippers (with a retractable lever on the side) Having a lever on your clippers is by far the best set-up you can have to achieve a seamless fade.
  • Your clippers case should have included clipper attachments, oil & a tiny brush. You will definitely need the attachments.
  • Look closely at the “inches” label on your clipper attachments that come with your clippers. If you want the top of your hair to be longer than your longest attachment, you will need to purchase these separately. Be extra careful that you buy the attachments that match your clippers, otherwise they won’t fit.
  • A beard trimmer is a must have tool to create this sharp looking military haircut, it’s also convenient to have for grooming other hairy areas…like the beard. Jeremy has 2 beard trimmers in his photo, but you only need 1 to get the same great results.
  • An Electric razor* is an essential tool that allows you to trim all the way down to the skin. This tool is what makes the haircut look fresh & new.
  • You definitely want to have sharp, brand new, or new-like scissors to get a clean cut. It might be tempting, but don’t pull the scissors out of your utility drawer that are used for cutting up miscellaneous things. Yes, at your next virtual happy hour everyone will notice!
  • No at home haircut would be possible without a Comb. This comb is reasonably priced & comes with a protective case like all comb’s should.
  • It’s worth the purchase to buy Washable Markers. This will create a must needed visual to give you the exact fade length you are hoping for. If your fade starts too high, 100%, it’s because you didn’t mark the line – it’s worth it to use the marker.
  • Not all rulers are created equal. This short 6″, see through Ruler will more easily fit into your supplies case & because it’s see through it won’t obscure your view, of your freshly cut locks while measuring.

The Following are not required, but could make your experience more comfortable & fun:

  • Treat yourself to the pampering experience of making a neck brush part of your routine to dust off all those freshly cut hairs before they start to get itchy.
  • Traditional Gown or the innovative Easy Clean-up Gown that creates a mess free hair cutting experience – order now because the Easy Clean-up Gown that allows a person the flexibility to cut their own hair is in high demand & not available until July.
  • Now that you are becoming fully accessorized for your new impressive skill, you will want a bag to keep all of your hair cutting tools neatly organized in one place. There is the proper barber’s bag for $54.99 or you can re-purpose a masculine tool bag for only $19.99 (if you don’t tell, I won’t).
  • If your clippers need to be plugged in, and you’re a parent, then an Extension Cord* will give you the mobility you need to hide from your kids so you can have an interruption-free hair cutting experience both indoors & out. This Extension Cord* has an ingenious design with 3 outlets at the end so you can have your clippers & beard trimmer plugged in at the same time + 1 other favorite electronic!!
  • No pandemic hair cutting experience would be complete without a matching pair of Jeremy’s red flannel pajama pants. That’s right, you can have both his hair style & his pants for only $14.99! And yes, they are as comfortable as they look.

*On 1/29 the product is in stock but running low. We are online daily updating the recommended products list by what’s in stock & available to ship to your home the soonest. If the item you want is out of stock revisit our website later to see what we recommend next. We are working hard for you to make sure you have tools that will set you up for hair cutting success!!

Step #3: Shaving Your Neck Hair

Tools Needed: Blade, shaving cream & handheld mirror.

Tip For Success: Hold the razor in your dominant hand & the hand held mirror in your less dominant hand. (For example: If you are right handed, hold the razor in your right hand).

Step #4 Create the 1st Fade Line

Important: If you are new to cutting your own hair, you absolutely need to draw the fade line from one side of your head, all the way around to the other side. You can choose to have a low, medium or high fade line. If you don’t like the line you drew, this is your chance to change it. Then use the beard trimmer to trim all the way up, stopping at the line you drew.

Directions:

  • Use your washable marker
  • For a medium fade, the fade line is typically located 1 1/2 inches above the ear.
  • You can either draw your line straight across the back of the head or dipped to follow the natural contour of the head. In this video Jeremy will dip along the natural curve of his skull.
  • When you are ready to start cutting use your beard trimmer, starting at the base of your hairline, shaving upward, stopping at the fade line you drew.

Tip For Success: Hold the beard trimmer in your dominant hand & the hand held mirror in your less dominant hand. (For example: If you are right handed, hold the beard trimmer in your right hand). Start at the base of your neck & shave upward, being careful not to cross over the fade line you drew. Go over the same areas several times to make sure you get all of those little hairs.

Step #5 Cut & Blend the 2nd Fade Line

Clipper Maintenance: Brush off your beard trimmer (& clippers) after each use.

Directions:

  • Using the electric razor
  • shave your head from the base of your hairline along your neck, stopping halfway between the hairline on your neck & where you placed your fade line (the line you marked on your head). When you are shaving the sides of your head, you will shave your entire sideburns stopping halfway before the fade-in & above the ear stopping 1/2 way before the fade-in.
  • You have just created a new fade line with your electric razor that we need to blend in.
  • Switch tools to your beard trimmer.
  • Cut the hair halfway in between the new fade line (from where you stopped with the electric razor) and the original fade line (that you drew on your head).
  • You should only be going 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch up with the beard trimmer. Very tiny, tiny movements with the beard trimmer.
  • This will make that second fade line disappear. You are now fully faded up to the fade line you drew!

Step #6 Blending the Original Fade Line

How To Hold The Clippers When Cutting Your Own Hair: Hold the clippers in your dominant hand. Place your 4 fingers on the top of the clippers & place your thumb on the bottom of the clippers.

Directions: All 3 steps in this section are working on fading the fade line (that you would have used a marker to draw on your head). When you are done with these steps you will NOT have cut higher than a total of 1/4 of an inch above the marked fade line.

  • Using your clippers with no attachment,
  • Step A: Push the clipper lever away from you
  • Starting at the fade line you drew with the marker shave a small 1/4 of an inch upward.
  • Step B: Pull the lever roughly half way towards you
  • Again, starting at the fade line you drew with the marker, now cut only 1/8 of an inch. In other words, you are cutting the lower half of what you already cut in Step A.
  • Step C: Pull the lever all the way towards you.
  • Starting BELOW the fade line you drew with the marker, shave a small 1/8 of an inch upward. The goal is to shave from under, to over the fade line (marker line); so you are cutting over the fade line. In this step you will see the original fade line disappear.

Fun Fact: The closer the lever is to you, the closer to the skin you will get with the clippers.

Step #7: Continue Fading & Cut The Top

Special Instructions: If you want longer hair on the sides than Jeremy you would have drawn your fade line lower & will need more clipper attachments to finish the fade than what he uses in this step.

Note: Clipper Attachments have several ways to label the same length (An assigned #, a color, length in inches, & length in millimeters). We will list them all out for you to make it super easy for you to choose the correct attachment.

Tip For Success: Listen for the sound of the hairs being cut by the clippers. There are usually hairs that were missed by the clippers on the 1st pass. You’ll know when all those little hairs have been cut in that 1 area your focusing on when you don’t hear hairs being cut anymore.

Directions:

  • Step A: Pop on the attachment: #1, color red, 1/8″, 3mm.
  • Push the lever away from you
  • Almost directly above the marked fade line look for a little puffiness of hair. In this next step we will fade this puffiness away.
  • Start at the original fade line, that you drew on your head.
  • Cut anywhere from 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch upward, with the goal of cutting over the puffiness so its fades away.
  • Step B: Keeping the same attachment on (#1, color red, 1/8″, 3mm)
  • Pull the lever all the way towards you
  • You will now cut the bottom half of the cut you made in Step A. Starting at the original fade line, you will cut 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch.
  • Step C: Pop on the attachment: #1 1/2, purple, 3/16″, 4.5mm.
  • Push the lever fully away from you
  • Begin cutting where you stopped cutting on Step A. Where you start cutting in this step will be either 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch above the fade line depending on how high you cut on Step A.
  • Cut 1/2 of an inch upward.
  • Step D: Keeping the attachment on, pull the lever all the way towards you.
  • Starting where you left off on Step A (Which is also where you start cutting on Step C).
  • You will now cut 1/4 of an inch upward. In other words you will cut the bottom 50% of Step C.
  • Step E: Pop on the attachment: #1/2, green, 1/6″, 1.5mm.
  • Push the lever fully away from you
  • This is a clean-up step.
  • Repeat Step A (but with this green attachment & the lever away from you).
  • Step F: Keeping the same green attachment, pull the lever all the way towards you.
  • This is also a clean-up step.
  • Start anywhere (we are just catching missed hairs) below the original marked fade line.
  • End 1/16 of an inch above the original marked fade line (be careful not to cut higher than this).

Unsure if you need to continue to fade higher? Click this link & scroll down to “Step #10” to watch a video on how to determine if you are done fading.

Cutting The Top With Clippers

Tips For Success:

  • Before you begin to cut ensure your bangs are pointed up (not flat against your head).
  • Always move the clippers in the direction starting at your forehead & ending at the crown.
  • Run the clippers through your hair like a comb.
  • You will hear the hair being trimmed.

Directions: Taking a little of the top push the lever fully away from you. *Choose the appropriate length clipper attachment. For Jeremy’s hairstyle he suggests a #10, #12, or #14.

*These size attachments are extra long & must be ordered separately. When you are purchasing extra long attachments be sure to buy the attachments that match your clippers. To determine the length attachment needed to trim the top of your hair, use your ruler. Make a decision on how many inches you want your hair length to be, then choose that corresponding attachment (attachments have inches listed on them).

Want to learn more about trimming the top with clippers? Click this link & scroll down to “Step #11 Option#1” to watch 2 more videos on trimming the top with clippers.

Step #8 After Shave & Final Remarks

After shave is a must when you go to the skin on your head with a blade or an electric razor! This will help you avoid any irritation on the skin.

A few things to go over at the end:

  • Did your haircut not turn out how you had hoped? DON’T SHAVE YOUR HEAD!! Book a private virtual coach who will work with you one on one, in your preferred language, at your pace, teaching you how to fix your cut making it the best it can be. 
  • Snap your after photo & Share Your Experience with us : )

Important Disclaimer For Those Aspiring to Learn How To Cut Hair: To become a licensed hair stylist costs thousands of dollars & takes a substantial amount of time. The Military Haircut Academy is NOT intended to license you. We will teach you only the skills needed to cut your partners hair exactly the way he/she likes it or to cut your own hair exactly the way you like it.