How To Stop Clippers From Biting (Tame your clippers)
So you want to know how to stop clippers from biting.
Well, You’re in the right place for answers.
We’ll go through why hair clippers bite, how you can stop them from grabbing your skin, and why they should have never cut you in the first place…
All answers are detailed in this post, so with that said, let’s begin.
How to Stop Clippers From Biting
The main ways to stop your clippers could grabbing your sin, would be:
- Pulling and stretching out the skin before you cut.
- Make sure the cutting blade is always behind the front cutting blade and aligned
- Use hair-clipper guards.
These are the most effective solution, and in this article, we will address each and how they can be beneficial.
Why Are My Clippers Biting
Hair clippers really shouldn’t bite ( that’s any hair clipper made with any sort of integrity that is).
When clippers are made, the front cutting rail blade (the big blade) is always set to be in front of the cutting blade (small blade) at all times.
All clipper blades will always have this space (a sort of buffer zone).
Close your clippers. If the cutting blade is above the back cutting rail, your hair clippers will bite, actually no, they’ll cut!
It is very unsafe and your need to fix it urgently, I talk more about this later.
But sometimes this zone is just small, and nothing more. It’s a technique called zero gapping.
You can read more from the guide below:
The Ultimate Guide to Zero Gapping Clippers: (All You Need to Know)
That’s one of the reasons your Clippers bite.
Another reason could simply be the way you cut hair.
Look to change the angle at which you place your clippers on the skin and it can solve this problem.
The angle at which you come in to cut long hair or regular-length hair can be dictated by how hair or skin interacts with your blades. Try and reduce the amount of blade/ teeth touching your skin
So angle the clippers so that only a small amount of the top cutting rail is actually in contact with the skin, most of the contact on the skin should be from your guard blade.
It may take a bit of technique but mastering this skill will kit only reduce biting but improve your cutting skills.
But on the off chance, this still doesn’t solve your problem. Below, I outline some other solutions.
How do I stop my hair clippers from Biting
Hair clippers cutting your skin shouldn’t be common!
Hair clippers are built to not cut the skin at all.
Whether it’s high-grade clippers or relatively cheap/bad ones. They are manufactured to do them on and only job.
So if yours have always been biting, thinks about changing the brands you use (we’ll touch on this later).
However, at times, outside factors can cause our clippers to bite our skin.
So what are the main methods of how to stop clippers from biting skin? I explain below.
Stretching out skin
Pull and stretch out the skin before your cut to make sure the skin doesn’t get trapped between the cutting blade Teeth.
The back of your hand is flat skin, so if you end up biting yourself with this test, you either need to fix this problem or get new clippers as the pair you currently own, simply are not safe.
I run through a possible fix below
Why Do Clippers Bite
Zero gaps. This is when the cutting blade is pushed right to the edge of the cutting rail when the leave is closed.
This allows for the sharpest possible cut a hair clipper can perform.
However, as clean as a clipper might cut, this technique can be quite dangerous.
With the cutting blade being so close to the tip of the front cutting rail, it increases the chance of clippers biting.
Also, at any point where the cutting blade passes the front cutting rail then clippers will certainly cut skin very badly.
This doesn’t have to happen from even zero gapping. Clipper blades are always moving and cutting and they can easily misalign and come out of place.
You may even drop them. It happens.
But it’s something you cannot ignore and it must be fixed.
Here is how you can do so:
If your clippers still bit after the steps, then you should look to replace them, or from now on simply use guards.
Use Guards
If you feel unsafe use guards.
Start with the lever on your clippers open (the cutting is back).
Also, use a guard on your clippers and test the clippers on on hair.
If your notice no bites then at that level, then you can slowly start to close the blades and remove the guards.
Keep dropping down the level until you find the point where your clippers bite.
From here, inspect them and find out why this is the case.
Next, I will go over some other reasons in detail as to why your hair clippers may be biting.
How do I stop my hair clippers from pulling
There are other ways your clippers can hurt your skin other than cutting.
This would be hair-pulling.
This may not be a reason why your clippers are biting but it is a sign of very bad future biting. Don’t ignore it.
Hair clippers can pull hair for a few reasons, the most common reasons are:
- Blunt/ Damaged blades
- Low-quality/ bad hair clipper oil
- Incorrect tension/alignment on blades
- Overly coarse hair.
Regardless of what caused this, clippers’ hair pulling can give the illusion of clippers biting your head.
To fix this issue, you can use can try to angle your Clippers better as I mentioned earlier.
However if not successful, you can look to use methods provided in my guide on how to fix hair clipper pulling.
If after all of this, your clippers still bite, then your clippers are faulty and you may have to invest in a new pair.
check out my guide on the best clippers for fades below:
Best Clippers for Fades (Master The Art Of Fading)
Conclusion
In this article, we went on to the possible solutions on how to stop hair clippers from biting.
These are:
- Pulling and stretching out the skin before you cut.
- Make sure the cutting blade is always behind the front cutting blade and aligned
- Use hair-clipper guards.
In the case where none of these methods works, check the website of your clipper manufacturer and speak to their customer service.
If you still struggle to find solutions to your problems, you may need to look to get new hair clippers if your safety is a priority.
If you have found this article helpful, check out another article such as how to oil your electric shaver.
FAQ
To not cut yourself with clippers, always make sure the cutting blade is behind the front cutting rail blade, stretch out the skin as much as you can before cutting and use guards when possible to reduce the contact with skin.
If your clippers continue to bite, check the blade for any defects or damage, adjust the tension accordingly, and replace the blade if necessary.
