With Japan in a ‘state of emergency’ due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of the nation’s barbers and hairdressers have had to temporarily shut up shop. Cooped up at home, getting a haircut has become impossible.

Miles of hair that should be lying on the floors of hair salons are still attached to their owners’ heads. It would seem that many of us are condemned to having less than stylish hairstyles for the foreseeable future.

But help is at hand. Beauty salon owner Koichi Goto has posted a YouTube video explaining how to go about lopping off your locks yourself. If you speak Japanese, just follow the instructions in the two videos below.

If you don’t speak Japanese, here are Koichi Goto’s tips in English. All you need to get started is a comb, a pair of scissors and a small bag of hair grips, which you can buy at any 100-yen shop.

If you have long hair, and would like to keep it that way, first separate your hair along your centre parting. Separate your fringe from the rest of your hair and tie it with a hair grip, taking care that it’s right in the middle of your fringe.

Next, separate the rest of your hair into four bunches and tie each bunch with a hair grip. Take care to pull each bunch flush with the contours of your face and you’ll get a good idea of how much you should cut off. Adjust the position of the grip on each bunch up or down, making sure that all the grips are at the same height. Each grip should hold the hair tight so as to get a nice clean line when you cut it.

Then cut off the end of each bunch, keeping the scissors at a right angle to your hair. If you end up giving yourself too severe a step, you can blur the line by bunching your hair again and then making a few diagonal cuts. Be careful not to cut your fingers with the scissors!

Thanks to Koichi Goto’s videos, the ‘state of emergency’ no longer condemns you to living with a shapeless mass of hair on top of your bonce! As one woman who commented on Koichi Goto’s video wrote, “Because of the coronavirus, I couldn't go to the beauty salon. I was in trouble, but Koichi’s tips have saved the day!"