Everything You Need to Know to Trim Your Hairline at Home (Front, Neck, and Sides)

 

Trimming your hairline keeps your style neat and extends the life of your haircut so you don't have to visit the barber as often. If you're curious about doing this yourself at home, we can help you out! Below we've answered the most common questions on trimming hairlines to help you easily create a fresh, crisp line all the way around. 

 

What are the best tools for trimming your hairline?

1. 
   Go with a trimmer for the cleanest, straightest lines. Trimmers are smaller than clippers, so they’re easier to maneuver and do finer detail work around your hairline. Plus, since trimmers are made specifically for cleaning up hairlines, they're the ideal choice!^[1]

   • Trimmers are electric cutting tools with blades designed specifically for cutting shorter hairs, like facial and body hair, very close to the skin. They're perfect if you need to do detail work like trimming hairlines and beards.
2. 
   Grab a handheld mirror if you’re trimming your own hairline. If you don’t have a decent handheld mirror, cleaning up your own hairline (especially the neckline) is going to be tough. A cheap handheld mirror is all you need, but if you plan to start trimming your own hairline often, consider investing in a 3-way mirror system for the best visibility.^[2]

   • A 3-way mirror system is a tri-fold vanity mirror that you can mount on a wall or a tabletop for excellent visibility. The 3 mirrors can be angled and adjusted, as needed, and you can fold the whole thing up when you're done for easy storage.
   • If you’re concerned that you aren’t coordinated enough to hold a mirror and trim simultaneously, you’re not the only one! Try mounting your mirror or using one with a solid base to free up both hands.^[3]

Question 2

How do you trim your own neck hairline so it looks even?

1. 
   Stand with your back to a big mirror and hold the smaller mirror. Can you see your hairline in the back clearly in the handheld mirror? If you can't, move your hand to adjust the angle until you have a clear view of the back of your head and neck.^[4]

   • Shaving your neckline by yourself takes a little practice! If you've never done it before, professionals recommend getting someone to help you out for a few minutes. A helper can easily trim any spots that are hard for you to reach and confirm the straightness of your line.^[5]
   • If you're determined to do it yourself, just remember to work slowly and monitor the line constantly in the mirrors as you create it.
2. 
   Angle the blade against your neck at the far end of the neckline. It’s best to start on one side of your neck and work your way to the other side for a clean, straight line. Hold the trimmer in your dominant hand with the teeth of the blade facing the back of your neck and place the blade flat against your neckline. Tilt your wrist at a 90-degree angle so the trimmer is parallel to the floor.^[6]

   • If you're holding the trimmer in your right hand, reach across your chest and around the left side of your neck to cut the left side of the line. To trim the right side, you can keep using your right hand to cut the line or hold the trimmer in your left hand and reach across/around like you did for the left side.
   • Holding the trimmer at an angle prevents skin irritation and helps you create a nice, straight line.
3.  

    

3. Use gentle pressure to make the horizontal line across your neck. The initial cut creates the hard horizontal line that you'll use as your guideline all the way across. Once you make the initial cut, gently drag the trimmer down your neck to clean up any stray hairs below. Then, moving along the hairline, continue lining up the blade with the freshly cut line and dragging down using small strokes until your reach the other end of your neckline.^[7]

   • Follow the shape of your natural hairline! If you go too far up, your results won't be great.^[8]
   • If you want a more rounded neckline, shave off the corners on each side of your neck.

Question 3

How do you line up and trim your forehead hairline?

1. 
   Start in the middle of your natural forehead hairline. This is the best way to ensure you end up with a straight line that follows the natural shape of your hairline. Hold the trimmer against the natural hairline and turn it on. Use gentle pressure to cut the initial guideline in the center of the forehead hairline.^[9]

   • If you have a widow's peak, start in the middle as a reference point only. Don't cut the widow's peak off, though! It's not something you can "fix" at home. Instead or creating a straight horizontal line, work along the edge of your natural hairline. Always use your natural hairline as a guide.^[10]
   • If you really dislike your widow's peak, talk to a stylist about helping you reshape your hairline. It may be possible to partially remove and disguise a widow's peak, but let a professional handle it. Watch how they do it, though! You can trim and maintain it at home once your stylist creates it.^[11]
2. 
   

3. Clean up the line with a straight razor if you need to. If you’re going for a super hard forehead line, finish up with a straight razor. Hold the blade facing up toward the ceiling and drag it up against grain of the hair growth to remove stray hairs and clean up the line.^[13]

   • Be careful and go slowly so you don’t cut yourself!

Question 4

How do you trim the sides of your hairline?

1.  

    

2. Use the tip of the trimmer along your cheeks and around your ears. When you trim the forehead and neck, you’re using the flat edge of the blade to create straight lines. For the sides and ears, use the tip of the blade to create more fluid lines. Start at your sideburns and work up first to connect to the vertical lines at your temples. Then, trim around each sideburn, over and behind each ear, following your natural hairline, to connect the sides and neckline.^[15]

Question 5

Can you change the shape of your forehead hairline?

1. 
   It's best to follow the shape of your natural hairline. Creating an unnatural hairline is hard to do on your own and if you mess it up, you’ll have to live with it for quite a while! Most professional barbers stress following the natural hairline for the best-looking results.^[16]

Question 6

How often should you trim your hairline?

1. 
   Shape up your hairline and edges once or twice a month. The exact timing depends on how fast your hair grows, but most professional barbers recommend shaping up your own edges in between haircuts every 2-3 weeks or so. That way, you maintain a nice clean line without taking too much off.^[17]

Follow the natural hairline to connect each side to the center guideline. Work your way slowly from the center out to each side, connecting the lines until you reach the far side forehead line, which usually lines up with the arch or tail end of each eyebrow. Make the line as straight as possible without straying from your natural hairline.

• It’s important to follow the natural hairline; if you take the line too far back, your cut will look unnatural and then you’ll have to wait for it to grow out.^[12]

 

 

 

 

 

Hold the blade vertically to connect the forehead line to the sides. After cutting the forehead line, you need to trim a vertical line from each endpoint of the forehead line down to the ear/sideburn area on each side. This cleans up the line and connects the sides to the forehead. Turn the trimmer so the blade is vertical instead of horizontal. Create a straight, vertical line from the far edge of the forehead line, stopping where your natural hairline starts to curve down your cheeks.^[14]

• If you're having trouble visualizing this, remember that each vertical line will pass over your temple area to connect the forehead line to the sideburn.