Dual-phone method for self hair cutting

Of all the youtube videos, I still couldn't find one that uses smartphones as a back side mirror. If you do not do this, you do not have a full straight backside view of your haircut. Without this view, many cuts are not feasible.

The good thing about the dual-phone method is that it's free; you just need to find two phones to use for the duration of your hair cut. Tape one to the wall or bathtub tile with the back camera facing out. Use the other like a handheld mirror.

The apps to use are two-way video chats like facetime, hangout or skype, in which you just need one side of it. What I actually use is IPCam to turn the phone on the wall into a webcam. On the handheld, I use Tinycam for the display. They work together and both free.

The alternative is a hinged three-piece mirror found on youtube, costing a silly amount of money. Of course, you can do it yourself but phones cost nothing and you need to do almost nothing. Of the 3 pieces of mirror, you only need the two side mirrors. They cannot be too small that you have to get very close with a limited view. With a smartphone cam, you can see at any angle you like. For Tinycam, if you double tap the screen, the image will zoom into the point of contact.

You do need two decent phones with decent wifi connections or else there will be a lag between the actions and the image on the handheld phone. Though it's not a big deal if you only want to see the result after some cutting.

I tried something similar many years ago. I used an old camcorder as the back camera, attached to a portable DVD player with video input. It sort of worked but you really need a tall tripod to mount the camcorder. It's a bit of trouble to hold the screen and you can knock out the whole system anytime. It's not possible to do it in the bathtub, my favourite place for the ease of cleaning.

I forget all about it because I developed my way of self-hair-cutting and has been using it for a couple of years now. First, you need Flowbee since it is what hair stylists do for the most part. Then, you need a Philips trimmer designed for self-hair-cutting.

The Flowbee allows you to cut all your hair to the same length, without which you have to do it approximately with two hands, having to mount or hang the handheld screen onto somewhere convenient. Some new stylists have trick clips to do it more precisely; you can do it blind with the clips. Flowbee is for short hairs from a quarter of an inch to several inches, more suitable for men. Though, it's as clumsy as a dinasour when the vacuum is attached.

The trimmer head of the Philips can be rotated at any angle, so you don't need to twist your arms to trim your back hair. It has all the attachments so you can fade and blend if you know how to. It has been a couple of years now and still works like new.

My tip to get a straight horizontal endge at the back is to use a strip of velco, the tough side, wrapping half the head at the back, attaching to a rubber band to wrap around the head from the front. Wear the velco band from the top of your head. Slip the band down to the hairline where you want to cut and then use the trimmer.