More and more men are trending it like Beckham — trimming down shaggy manes to close-cropped, action-figure haircuts — only to realise the maintenance involves biweekly wind sprints to salon, or the risk of nicking one’s own head with barber-grade clippers.
But what if you could buzz the tower cheaply, easily and error-free in the privacy of your homes? Such is the promise of Remington’s ShortCut, a cordless clipper designed for the shorn legions.
It deploys the “world’s only curved cutting system”, self-sharpening blades and a 40-minute charge (enough for a rugby team) to make the pate Justin Timberlake-like. All for $30 (Dh110).
Anything advertised with the tagline “You can’t mess this up!” (and a video of a guy peddalling a unicycle and dodging balls while taking a little off the top) is begging for a challenge.
And because my own dome is a near-desert up top and more densely wooded on the sides, I had the right testing ground.
After reading the directions and making sure I had the right plastic attachment, I turned on the ShortCut and began to move it along the scalp, back to front, from the nape to forehead. In six slow and steady strokes, I was shorn.
Quick? Certainly. Error-free? Not on the first try.
The resulting uneven spots in the back looked like mange and the longer tufts over the ears were reminiscent of rockhopper penguin plumage.
A second attempt — after the test lab had grown back — proved a much better buzz.
I managed to deploy the secondary pop-out trimmer on the sideburns. What made the difference was gripping the clipper in the palm like a hairbrush instead of with the
fingertips.
The verdict: If you can stand still and follow directions, the ShortCut can keep your coif close cropped.
How you break the news to your barber is up to you. Information, availability and a guy on a unicycle can be found at www.remingtonshortcut.com
