How to Cut a Chelsea (French/Fringe Cut) Hairstyle

The day I decided I wanted to get a Chelsea (also called a French or Fringe cut) I immediately went online to see if I could find instructions on how to do it. I was sadly disappointed - to this day I have not been able to find instructions on how to cut a Chelsea. Since you're taking a pair of hair clippers to your hair, I would think that a simple how to would be helpful in preventing any hard to fix mistakes.

First of all, make sure your clippers are sharp and well oiled. Otherwise they may not cut well, causing you to waste time and also possibly be in pain as another symptom of dull and/or unclean clippers is pulled hair. Wahl is my favorite brand to use, but other brands are fine as well. You may want to cut it outside so as to avoid clean up, but if you're cutting your own hair I would recommend doing it in your bathroom so you can look at yourself in a mirror. Now put a towel over your shoulders and select the length you want to cut your hair at. One inch to ¾ inch will do for starters so you can get used to the feel, then you can go shorter once you're more comfortable with the clippers. Brush the sections of hair that you want to keep towards the front of your head and secure them with one or several hair clips.

Now turn on the clippers and slowly run them up the back of your neck until you feel them pull a little, then pull them back and shake the hair off. Continue to do this until you've cleared the back of your head. Don't be surprised if you have to go over an area more than once to get it even.

After you have the back of your head cleared, move on to the sides. Do not worry about the hair around your ears for now - simply move the clippers from right above one ear to right above the other ear (across the top of your head). Make sure to go slowly and carefully when cutting near the hair you want to keep. Next, reverse it so that you're going from the other ear.

Once you've finished with this, finish the top by moving the clippers from the back to the front of the top of your head. Now you should just be polishing up the job that you did when going from side to side.

Finally, pull back the top of your ear from your head and move the clippers slowly around the outline of where your ear meets your head. Be careful with this - a nicked ear is not fun. You may need to do this a few times to get all the stray hairs.

Unclip the hair you brushed to the front and shake it out. Now remove the towel and brush your hair the way you normally do. Go check yourself out in a mirror. You should now be seeing a fantastic Chelsea cut in the mirror. Have fun! These cuts are easy to style, easy to maintain, and very cool in the summer.