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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

Remington ShortCut Clipper
Remington is playing the David Beckham/Justin Timberlake card in promoting its ShortCut Clipper, a product designed for men - and presumably women after the shaved-head Sinead O'Connor look - who want to cut their own hair.

"With guys like soccer star David Beckham and music maven Justin Timberlake sporting the short look," a statement says, "guys everywhere are following their lead and getting a 'buzz.'"

Since I'm no soccer star, music maven or guy rushing to get an ultra-short haircut, I presume the fact that I've been cutting my own hair for years persuaded the 4you editors to hand me the ShortCut, along with instructions to try it out and write about it.

Well, I did. Sort of.

The Conair clippers I normally use allow me to cut my hair to a No. 6 length (3/4 inch), then go down to Nos. 4 and 5 for the sides, 2 and 3 for sideburns and trimming, and the bare clippers for around the ears.

The Remington ShortCut is aptly named. Your choices are short, shorter and shortest. The longest setting is No. 4 (a half-inch). Not wanting to go quite to the buzz-cut look, I put Plan B into effect.

I grabbed a neighbor kid, eighth-grader Kent Kimura, and, with the blessing of his mom, put the ShortCut to the test in my kitchen.

It looks - and works - more like a hairbrush than traditional clippers. You set the dial to one of five settings (an eighth- to a half-inch), and run it through the hair like a comb or brush. It's extremely easy and works well. The comb-like teeth and the blade itself are curved, so the ShortCut rests evenly on the head as you move it through the hair.

In fact, I can't fathom a way of messing up, short of not charging the device properly or completely missing part of the head. For those who have never cut their own hair, which presumably encompasses most of the population, that's reassuring.

The downside: Have I mentioned how short this thing cuts? Kent, my guinea pig, wanted to keep the hair in front longer, so I tried to work around that section. Eventually, I brought out my trusty clippers to finish the job.

The ShortCut does have a pop-up trimmer for the area around the ears and neckline. It claims to run for 40 minutes, which is at least four times longer than you will need to cut your hair, and has "self-sharpening blades that never need replacing."

Kent's mom thanked me and hasn't called to yell about his new do, a No. 4 with a little extra in the front. To me, that's far more important than chasing a Beckham or Timberlake look.

The ShortCut is available at Target and Wal-Mart. The standard version costs $29.99 and the high-end chrome model is priced at $39.99.

Marty Strasen

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