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DIY Haircuts - Good to know


Ever been inspired by those great YouTube clips to cut your own hair? Yes, you can cut your own hair, just be careful!

I love to save a buck, I'm a bit of a cheapskate, and along with my daughter, I really dislike going to the hairdresser. Maybe it's the superficial conversations, having to sit in front of a well lit mirror staring at yourself for an hour ...or the trashy magazines telling me to love myself and how to fix all my imperfections at the same time.

I have been appointed 'the hairdresser' by my daughter, and have cut my own hair several times and mostly just let it grow long.

After a bout of Head lice from the school, my hair was seriously suffering from various attempts to create a killzone and deal with my ongoing paranoia......so I really needed to have a trim. It had been 18 months since I stepped in a salon and usually I just kinda copy whatever the last haircut was and take a few inches off, but it had been too long between cuts and I decided that was just not gonna work.

What did I do? Turned to Google of course and found some great YouTube clips of all these successful home haircuts, YAY. The method I settled on was to first put your hair up in a super high pony tail on top of your head...then you just cut straight across it, holding the ponytail forwards and you end up with perfect layers. I am not going to share the video because this was a shit idea and it resulted in possibly the worst haircut I've ever had.

I have to admit, I once had some kind of a mullet as a child in the 80's - see pic below - and I haven't decided which was worse.

Me in the 80's

My next stage was trying to fix it and this actually made it worse. After a few months of deliberating going to the hairdresser and also determining how I would explain my 'hair situation', I have attempted to fix it again.

The result - not too bad, I don't love it, but my next haircut will be done by a professional!

My Advice if you're considering the DIY option for the first time

Keep it simple

Have good lighting

Be prepared for catching your cuttings (you don't want this to go down the drain)

Set aside quite a bit of time

Always use super sharp scissors (sewing scissors are perfect)

Have multiple mirrors on hand (you will need to check all angles)

Have someone you trust to check

Do your research, and do not implicitly trust YouTube (Do not do the ponytail thing!)

Worst case scenario - you will have to go to a hairdresser and have it neatened up, not a big deal

For me, DIY is still my preferred option despite the recent unsuccessful attempt. Personally, I would avoid any complicated styles or going very short as this could prove impossible to fix and you will just need to wait for it to grow out. Wavy hair is much more forgiving with unevenness, I can cut straight on others but it's much harder to do on your own hair.

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