Saturday, January 14, 2012

Confession :: I Cut My Own Hair.

Chalk it up to boredom.  Or to the inevitable mama-comes-last syndrome.  But I have not had my hair professionally cut or trimmed in almost one full year.

Aaaand....I have taken to cutting it myself.

There.  I've said it.

Before you think I've lost my marbles {let's face it...you do think that don't you?} let me 'splain.


{Me & the Kiddo at Christmas...my hair 3 weeks ago}

See, I have long hair.  And I'm a true, picky long-haired girl.  Meaning, I can't just go get my hair cut anywhere or by anyone.  It's hard to find someone to cut hair well...period.  But when you have long hair you have the extra problem of someone cutting off too much.  Or layering it poorly.  Or razoring it after failed attempts at point cutting, thus giving you horrible split ends in 2 days flat.

I have found someone who cuts my hair beautifully....and she's not super expensive...but she's across town.

And I have a little one.

So a $45 hair cut every 8-12 weeks now also includes finding/paying someone to babysit.  During the day.  Which limits options.  Which means I went from February to August last year without getting even a teeny tiny trim.  And my hair grows fast naturally.  And since I'm still on prenatal vitamins....well you get the picture.  My hair grows l.o.n.g. and f.a.s.t.

So I got curious.  How did people cut their hair way back when?  You know, before the hair salon was invented?  I started googling and found some seriously scary self-trim methods on YouTube by some very bold ladies.  No, no, no...cut my own hair??  I can't do this.

Then I found this and this.  And one night after I put Kiddo to bed I got really brave and tried it.

I have to tell you, my hair was so ridiculously long at that point that I really couldn't see the harm.  If it looked horrible, I would just call up my fabulous hair lady and tell her I'd had a bad run in with a YouTube video and a pair of scissors and all could be mended.  I had about 10 inches to lose at that point....plenty of hair to mess up on.

Only I didn't mess up my hair.  And my ends, which were scaggy and split, had that lovely freshly-cut thickness.

I haven't looked back.

{My hair after cutting this morning}

If you are crazy like me, and think you might want to wage war with your locks, here are some things I've learned::

- It's best to cut your hair dry.  It causes less damage to your hair and if you have weird cowlicks you won't accidentally cut your hair unevenly.
- Don't freak out after you make the first cut.  It looks bad before it looks better.
- Go slow and take your time.  Double check and triple check.  You will get more confidence as you go.
- Point cut your ends so that your cut doesn't look so blunt and choppy.
- Wash and style your hair when your finished.  Then you can see if anything stands out as needing to be trimmed up further.
- Start small.  If you're cutting a lot off, go inch by inch instead of cutting 3-4 inches at once.  You can always take off more, but you can't put it back on.

I have to say there is something seriously addictive about cutting your own hair.  I've done this 7 or 8 times since August and it doesn't get old!  I still get nervous right before the first cut, my arms get tired about 2/3 of the way through, and when I'm finished I have this pride of accomplishment {and the knowledge that I can go spend my $45 on anything I want}.  ;)

What about you?  Have you ever taken drastic measures with you hair?  Did it turn out well?

3 comments:

  1. Yes I used to do it all the time. I used to layer in the front and back and used to Point cut it. I can't do it now do to the kind of cut I have; and to make things worse my stylist is no longer cutting hair.

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  2. Is that why your hair always looked like you'd just had it cut? You've been holding out on me! You should've told me about this years ago! :)

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  3. I cut my own bangs but I don't think I could ever cut my hair. Shoot, I can hardly flat iron the backside of my head! LOL!

    You did an AWESOME job!

    If you ever wait someone to watch that sweet baby, you can always bring him by! I am home with Colin during the day and I wouldn't charge you! :)

    Sara

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