In the 7 months since I quit my job, I’ve taken an array of rather interesting measures in order to reduce my spending (more on this in a future post). Last week, I tried a new money-saving tactic: I cut my own hair.
To some women, the thought of cutting their own hair (or even letting a friend do it) brings on a panic attack.
But I’m not most women, and there were several factors that led to me taking the risk. First, I really, honestly, genuinely don’t give a shit about my hair. It’s up in a bun 95% of the time and even when it’s down I usually just let it air dry.
Second, my hair is fairly wavy, which means it’s pretty forgiving of a bad haircut since the waves mask most imperfections.
Third, my hair was long enough that even if something went disastrously wrong there’d be plenty left for a professional to work with. So it wasn’t even that big of a risk!
And lastly: I love a good experiment. Even if it means sacrificing the ends of my golden locks. Anything for science.
Before the haircut
To prepare, I watched about 10 minutes worth of videos on cutting your own hair on YouTube. I also sharpened my kitchen shears with a knife.
It’s worth noting what I did NOT do. I did not take a shower; I did not get my hair wet; I didn’t even brush it (as proved by the knot in one of the photos below).
Here’s some “before” photos of my hair before the big cut:
Yes, there’s a stuffed turtle randomly hanging out on my bathroom floor.
Quite a lot of hair back there.
Definitely didn’t brush it.
During the haircut
I did what the video said to do; I put my hair up in a ponytail near my forehead and went for the chop. Easy.
Forehead ponytail poof.
Showing off my ace selfie skills and my pre-cut ponytail, ready for action.
Mostly-cut ponytail.
Then I let it down and did some trimming to even things out. Also easy.
Haircut experiment results
Here’s the final product. It doesn’t look like I took a ton off, but that’s because my hair was actually really long to begin with. In fact, I took more than 4 inches off the back, as you can see from the photo of the rejected hair. My hair went from mid-rib cage length to mid-boob length in one fell swoop.
This certainly doesn’t qualify as a disaster.
It looks fine. Absolutely fine.
Goodbye hair! Now I’m ready for summer.
Hopefully you’ll agree that it looks fine. I didn’t create a disaster, and I didn’t need to sheepishly head to the salon afterwards begging for forgiveness and a fix.
Total time spent: 20 minutes (10 watching YouTube; 10 cutting). I can skip the first 10 minutes next time.
Total money spent: $0.
Biggest takeaway: my favorite part wasn’t even that I saved money or time. The best part is the feeling of empowerment you experience when you do something yourself, rather than require someone else to do it for you.
I won’t be going back to a salon anytime soon.
Share this Post