Hair Not So Apparent

[fragger]

No longer having a lustrously full head of hair as I once did (and having it further thinned on top by 30+ years of repeated squashing down by motorcycle helmets), these days I prefer to keep my hair short and buzzy. I also hate getting my hair cut, so my customary approach for some years now has been to let it grow for three or four months until it starts to look like the proverbial half-sucked mango seed, then steel myself for a trip to the local hairdressers and have them plow through it with a #2 clippers.

But I recently discovered this: The Remington "Rapid Cut" Turbo Hair Trimmer:

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This little machine is brilliant! It's really easy to use, and it does a good job on my beard as well as my head. The local hairdresser hits me up for twenty bucks whenever I pay her a visit, so for a hundred dollars, this trimmer will pay for itself in another four trims. And now that I'm no longer reliant upon the hairdresser's ministrations, I can whittle down my hair myself every few weeks and thus avoid the chew-toy look altogether.

The business end is a nice head-accommodating curved shape, and wide at 70mm (2.75 inches). The body is ergonomic and allows me to grip it comfortably from any angle. It comes with 12 combs which will cut to lengths ranging from almost bald to one inch, a little bottle of blade oil, cleaning brush, recharging cable/plug, and a good-quality carrying case which holds the lot (once you figure out to best way to organize all the bits inside it). It's water-resistant and the battery keeps its charge for ages. It has two speeds: normal and trail-blaze (a.k.a. the "Turbo" of the title). Normal speed is just fine for my hair.

As you can see, this joker seems pretty happy with the result:

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That's me of course, after my first apprehensive trimming session (perusal of a few "how to" videos on You Tube was very helpful). I used a #3 comb, usually I get a #2 at the hairdresser but I wanted to err on the side of caution first time around. Actually, I went with a #4 to start with, but the length wasn't quite where I wanted it and my confidence had received a marginal boost, so I redid it with a 3. Next time, I'll do a 2. I used a 4 on my beard, and it came out the length I like. All up, it took me about twelve minutes to do my whole head, including time spent cleaning the trimmer afterwards (which is also a breeze to do). I also didn't have to find a parking space, wait 15 minutes past my appointed time with nothing available to read but women's fashion magazines and celebrity gossip rags, nor feel obligated to make conversation with anyone, except myself.

So if you're a buzz-cut aficionado like me and you want to save yourself a bunch of haircut money, I highly recommend this cool little machine.

[PZ]

That looks like a fine haircut fragger 

The older I become, the shorter I like my hair, so this might be just the ticket for me should my wife not want to do my "do" any longer 

[Dweller_Benthos]

I still go to "a professional" to get my hair cut, and sometime she gets a little too rambunctious with the trimmer and makes it a bit shorted on the sides & back than I prefer. Especially in the colder weather, I still like a little "insulation" there if you will.

[fragger]

Indeed D_B, when I first started getting my hair cut like this I had to invest in a few beanies for the winter

This type of cut has its selling points though. It's very low maintenance, doesn't get pillow marks in it, dries in no time when I get out of the shower, and I can drive on the freeway with the windows down and not get it all mussed up. In fact when it has been freshly number two'd, a gale force wind wouldn't budge it

A #1 cut is too short for me, though. I still like to resemble a respectable citizen, not a Russian mobster or a skinhead.

[PZ]

A #1 cut is too short for me, though. I still like to resemble a respectable citizen, not a Russian mobster or a skinhead.

I'd agree with all your statements, fragger 

[nex]

So far I'm lucky in the hair category, my dad and mom passed away in their 80's
and both had still most of their hair.

If I don't  go to the barber twice a month I'll begin to look like a mop

[PZ]

  not a bad problem to have, nex!

[mandru]

Looking good fragger.  Hard to believe it's a self cut. 

I tried looking up the Remington "Rapid Cut" Turbo for availability he in the US but that product is only available in Australia and New Zealand.  There is s similar product here which looks like Rapid Cut Turbo but Remington played around with the look of the case on the unit.

Several months of COVID-19 restrictions for access to barbers as well as having to be masked out in public have left me looking pretty long and shaggy.  So I'm thinking of grabbing one of these for my self.

[nex]

Looking good from the front fragger, hopefully the back does too...........
If I do a home job I'd never show the back, and start wearing a hoody   

[PZ]

...If I do a home job I'd never show the back, and start wearing a hoody   

At my age I don't really care how the back looks - I never see it anyway 

[fragger]

Thanks, chaps

mandru, I found this one at Remington's site (link below), I think it's the forerunner version of mine. Mine has the model number HC4300, the one at Remington is HC4250. It's called the "Shortcut Pro Self-Haircut Kit". I think the difference is that it doesn't have the dual-speed function, and comes with 9 combs instead of 12, hence the lower price. A notable difference is that the power switch is on top on the US model, whereas it's at the back in the Oz version and is a three-way switch (Off, On, and "Turbo"). This makes me think the US version is single-speed only. Dunno if you really need the Turbo function anyway unless you have really coarse, thick hair. "Normal" speed was plenty for what I needed.

Seems odd that an updated model would be available in Aus/NZ but not in the US, given that Remington is of course a US company. I can't fathom that, unless the dual-speed function has got something to do with household current (220-240v in Aus, 110-120v in the US, please correct me if I'm wrong). Sounds unlikely, but I can't think of any other logical reason. It's just a trimmer after all, not something that uses a boatload of power.

https://www.remingtonproducts.com/products/mens/clippers-and-trimmers/hair-clippers/hc4250-shortcut-clipper-pro.aspx

nex, regarding the back of the head and neck, you can use the trimmer without a comb and hold it at a 90 angle to your skin to remove almost all of any sparse, fluffy stuff you may have there. Won't shave it completely smooth, but will remove nearly all of it. Getting a nice straight line with it might take a bit of practice. I used my other hand to guide the trimmer to where the fluff started and moved it downwards in strokes, that seemed to get the fluff off pretty well. I'm not too fussy about that. I only care what people think of me when I greet them. I don't care what they think when I leave

[mandru]

 

fragger that was exactly the unit I was looking at here and if I order it online from Walmart (a big department store here in the US) the price drops from Remington's $59.99 to an even better $47.48.

I would think that while the chargers are set to handle the different line voltages the batteries of the two shavers would likely operate at the same DC voltage.  Other than a Star Trek phaser I've never seen a 240V battery for a handheld device. 

It's possible the US unit is not sold in AUS is that I see there is a product warning on the US version from the state of California that there is a chance of exposure to the chemicals of Styrene and BPA (Bisphenol-A) if your country bans the import of products containing those chemicals.

That being said California has a strict ban on all Licorice because of homeopathic level traces of lead.  But then the State of California is so over reaching with their food bans and restrictions that if it occurred to them they would probably ban shoe laces as a potential choking hazard in order to protect their drug hazed junkies who might mistake them for the Licorice they are craving. 

On other matters I don't really need the Turbo function because my hair has always been so fine (vs coarse) that the entirety of it when pulled back in a hair tie makes a skimpy rat tail instead of a pony. 

[fragger]

Here's an update on my Remington hair trimmer.

I'm still really happy with it, and it has now more than paid for itself in haircuts. However, I learned a valuable lesson yesterday.

Deciding it was time for my monthly trim, I had a shower, got out the trimmer and the #2 spacing comb and confidently bellied up to the bathroom vanity. Since I like to start by trimming front-to-back up the top-centre of my head and then working my way to the sides, I lowered my head over the sink so that the hair falls in there, where I can then scoop it all up in a paper towel once I'm done and throw it in the rubbish. I don't really need to see what I'm doing as my hair is so short that I can trim it by feel.

So I did the first pass, but it felt different for some reason. The reason became immediately apparent when I lifted my head and saw myself in the mirror.

Guess who'd forgotten to snap the spacing comb onto the trimmer first? My head looked like a firebreak had been cleared up the centre of it. The shaved strip wasn't completely hairless, but very close. An extremely short stubble remained, like an afternoon's worth of beard growth.

Since a reverse-Mohawk is unfixable, I had no choice but to do the rest of my head to match. From time to time in the past I've wondered what I would look like bald, now I know. It looks alright on me actually as I have a decently-shaped skull, but it doesn't make for an ideal winter do. Blimey, does my head feel cold when I go outside. I had to break out my beanies.

It's not like it won't grow back, so I find it pretty funny

Two lessons learned:
1) If I ever go permanently bald, I now know that I don't look half bad that way.
2) Make sure the bloody comb is attached before trimming.

[Dweller_Benthos]

So many terrible accidents have happened because of an ill-fitting comb. Maybe we should set up a charity fund?

LOL

[nex]

  You've just made my day fragger!!  And you can't even fire your barber