Money Saving Monday

Consider Cutting Hair Yourself!

A long time ago before my husband and I were married, I tried cutting his hair myself with just a pair of scissors- let me just say the results were far from perfect!  He ended up having to go to a barber shop and get it re-cut, (lol).  Since then, I had kind of decided that cutting hair just wasn't my forte- to say the least.  Well, then my husband started a different job and it seemed like it was really hard to make time for him to go to the barber shop- it would always be closed by the time he would get home from work, and it was hard to work in the time for he and my son to make it their on Saturdays.  When they would go, or when I would take my son there myself, we would have to wait sometimes 45 minutes or more (they don't make appointments at our local barber shop- first come, first served), then it would cost $12 apiece (plus tip), even for my four-year-old.  

I started to reconsider cutting their hair myself- I mean the barber would just use electric clippers for their entire hair-cuts- why couldn't I figure this out?  So I convinced my husband to give me another shot (I told him we could go eat dinner out at Red Lobster for all the money that we would be saving if he would let me do it myself) and I got online and started doing some research.  I ended up purchasing these clippers from Amazon (plus I used gift cards that I earned through Swag Bucks to get them for almost free!  These clippers are actually at a great price right now, I paid about $29) and they have turned out to work really well for us!  

I just cut my husband and son's hair for only the second time yesterday.  You can see my little boy's hair cut in the picture above.  It is definitely not perfect- but the little mistakes are barely discernible, and I figure that all I can do is improve from here.  Even if I had totally paid for the clippers set out of my own pocket, it already would have completely paid for itself!  

If you have a family with several males, you should definitely consider cutting hair yourself.  I don't give my guys buzz cuts (it may look like it in the picture but I actually use a shorter guide on the bottom part and fade it into the top), but if that if your guy's style, then cutting hair is definitely something you could do.  The clipper guides mostly keep you from messing up and going shorter than you would like.  

A couple pointers for cutting hair yourself the first time: 

• Make sure you read the directions that come with the kit you use.
• Look up videos on cutting hair on the internet (such as you tube) and watch a couple, or consider checking out a book about it at your local library.
• When you first start cutting, even if you know you want it pretty short, start with the longest guide until you get the hang of it and work your way down from there. 
• You may want to consider cutting hair outside to keep the mess under control, especially if you don't have a lot of room where you have hard floors.
• Re-check everything before you actually make the cuts.  Make sure you have the guide attached that you are meaning to use and re-check your directions before you make each cut.