"It Can't Take Too Much More, Captain!"

Anyone that knows me well knows that I cut my own hair and have cut my own hair since 1993. In the intervening years, I've only had to pay for haircuts twice, both at an Army barber, once b/c my buddies said they were the best haircuts (NOT), and once last year at NTC when I came out of the field and looked like Bozo the Clown and with no way to cut my hair.

Back at Meade, I cut my hair every 10-14 days. It worked out well with the exception of the clippers being SUPER loud and working with heavy vibration. Probably b/c I was plugged into a power strip that ultimately plugged into a 220v outlet.

Ooooh, those sneaky bastards. Looking back, I realize it wasn't plugged into a 220v outlet, but was plugged into a step down transformer, which was plugged into a 220v outlet. The transformer, for those that don't know, steps the voltage down from 220v to 120v, the voltage the products from the US uses (everyone else in the world uses 220v AND the metric system...another shining example of Americans refusing to join the world community, but I digress).

So, I get to FOB Falcon, and the first time I have to cut my hair, I plug in my clippers to the 120v-240v power strip that is plugged into the 220v outlet. Buuuuzzzzzzz. Same loud clippers, same heavy vibration. Okay. So, I start cutting. Then my clippers start smoking! I shut them off and sniff and by George, it is smoking. So I let them rest for about a minute, then turn them back on and start cutting again. Sniff, sniff...there's the smoke again. I suddenly realize that the power here is too great, and that I don't have a step down transformer to regulate the voltage. My poor clippers are getting over-juiced, and they can't handle it.

So I quickly cut my hair on the next pass, and as I make the last swipe on the back of my head, the blades seize up.

Um...uh oh.

I click the on-off button.

I get a hum, but no blade movement.

Hmm, this isn't good.

I let it sit, while I grab the battery powered finishing trimmer which I use on my neck. These trimmers aren't made for heavy duty work...the blade is about the size of my thumbnail. I finish up with these little trimmers.

That had me worried...I was afraid I was going to have to pull out the razors and shave my head completely b/c I would've only had half done.

I tried again later to turn on my clippers, but they're toast. I think the voltage just was too much for the motor to handle. And I had just bought those ones three months before...really nice moderately priced ones. Now I have to go find a friggin battery powered or cordless/rechargeable clipper so as to keep this from happening again. Grrr.

But what a funny story, don't you think?