After years of haircuts every four weeks he finally cracked and said that we needed to get a pair of clippers so that I could cut his hair at home. He gave me very strict instructions on what I was to get - I wasn't to get any cheap, crappy clippers; he has tried them before and they don't work on his hair. They needed to be salon quality. So we decided to take the Remington Powerhouse Clipper for a test drive to see whether they had what it takes to tame his wild locks!
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| Image courtesy of beautydirectory |
What they say: For the man that wants total control over the stubble on his head – not just his face – Remington introduces the new Powerhouse Hair Clipper. With an all-new Pro Power Motor, it is Remington’s fastest and best performing clipper yet. Providing the power to cut significantly more hair with every stroke, it delivers outstanding performance on all hair types and textures. The blades are coated in titanium and are self-sharpening to provide superior cutting performance. Other features include three interchangeable comb attachments for adjustable lengths ranging from 1mm to 42mm and Micro USB charging technology add up to make this the home-groomer’s clipper of choice. The clipper can run for up to 40 minutes when fully charged.
What we thought: Our first test drive of the clippers was not a good one, and we may have ended up having a little marital tiff over them! We did not find the instructions that easy to follow; however, it may have been that we were approaching the process with an assumption that we already knew what we were doing. Hubby works in the corporate sector so he has to have a sensible haircut - he didn't want it too short. In the past he has gone for a number 3 so that is what he wanted with this cut. The comb attachments have numbers on the side for the different cutting lengths. I set it to 30 assuming this would be the equivalent to a number 3, but when I started clipping no hair was being cut. Hubby was getting annoyed with me and was telling me that I was doing it wrong (I may have responded with 'fine, do it yourself then' before calming down and having a second attempt). I eventually worked out that the numbers referred to the length in millimetres that the hair would be cut so I was attempting to cut his hair 3cm long, which was longer than it actually was. Once we had made this realisation I switched attachments and tried again, and immediately cut a bald patch into his hair. This initial hairdressing session was conducted on Christmas Eve - he had 2.5 weeks off work so figured if I messed it up it would have just about grown back by the time he had to go back to work - good move! I then experimented with different lengths until we came across the one that was most suitable - 18.
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| Comb attachments |
Once we had worked out which attachment we set the clippers to, cutting was a breeze. It takes me about 10 minutes to do his whole head, and that is mostly because I am being a perfectionist. I will go over it about 3 times until I can no longer hear the buzz sound of hair being cut so that I know it is all even. I then remove the comb attachment and shave the hair at the nape of the neck with the blade so that it is even. This is my favourite part - it makes me feel like a real hairdresser!
One thing we have noticed is that the clippers perform better when plugged into a power point rather than running on battery. It may be that we hadn't fully charged them but they definitely buzz louder and cut easier when plugged into power than when running on battery.
The clippers are not too loud to use which is excellent as I usually conduct our hair dressing session in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed.
As well as hubby's hair, I also tried cutting The Crazy Kid's hair with these clippers but that was a fail. Just before his second birthday his hair was still very fine and, apart for one tuft on the top of his head, it really wasn't much more than peach fuzz. I know in some Asian cultures they shave their babies head to encourage thick hair to grow to grow back. I decided to adopt this philosophy for Crazy. I was too scared to use a razor on a wriggly 2 year old so though that these would be the perfect alternative. Unfortunately his hair was just to fine and kept sliding straight through the clippers - it was like attempting to cut animal hair. It might actually have been a blessing for Crazy that the clippers didn't work as I was planning on shaving a Christmas tree into the back of his head (I do tend to get rather festive)! Since this initial attempt his hair has thickened up. I attempted to clip it on one other occasion but unfortunately he now has a fear of loud noises. Although the clippers aren't particularly loud, the constant buzzing terrified Crazy so they have joined the list, along with vacuum cleaners, blenders and jackhammers, of appliances we can't use around him!
Since getting the clippers in December, I have cut hubby's hair each month and, apart from our early issues, we have not had any problems with them. Actually I lie, I have had a problem - I keep getting hair splinters when I cut his hair. I had a really tender foot and when I checked it I found a hair growing out of it. This scared the crap out of me as the skin on the sole of your foot cannot grow hair so I immediately thought the worst. When I googled it I came across 'hair splinters' - an affliction that commonly affects hairdressers. I pulled on the hair in my foot and it slid straight out - I had a damn hair splinter and not some scary disease! I got another one in my lip after the last session. But, other than hair splinters, we have no complaints at all about the clippers and would recommend them to anyone who wants to cut their own hair and requires salon quality equipment.
These clippers retail for $73.95. Considering my husband was paying $25 per haircut it makes them excellent value as they have paid for themselves after 3 months.
Do you cut your own, or your family member's hair at home?
Does anyone have a tip for avoiding hair splinters?!
All opinions are my own and I received no remuneration for this post. These clippers were provided for consideration.
