How to Skip the Salon and Cut Your Own Hair

Have you ever gotten a haircut you were less than happy about? *Hand shoots up.* Unfortunately, bad haircuts are a pretty common occurrence and happens to the best of us. So why do we put ourselves though it?

Let’s face it: Going to the salon can be a pain in the you-know-what. Not only do you have to figure out what cut, color, and style you want – a job in itself – but you have to figure out a way to properly explain that to your hair person. That can be the hardest part about it, right? Probably why so many of us end up pretty disappointed in our new ‘do.

Also, who has a few hours to even spend at a salon? And let’s not even talk about how much haircuts can cost these days. Depending on what services you get, you can easily burn a hole right through your wallet— again, for something you’re not even necessarily going to like!

You probably can tell where this is going. Why don’t we all just commit to cutting our own hair?

Well, we can give you the obvious answer: You’re not a trained professional and you probably have no idea where to start. But we promise—it’s really not as hard as it seems.

Before you actually start cutting, there are two things you need to do in preparation. First, and probably the trickiest part, is learning what type of hair you have and the cutting technique that would work best for it. For example, someone with curly tendrils probably won’t use the same cutting technique as someone with pin-straight locks. Each type of hair requires a different haircut method.

Next, you’ll want to invest in a good pair of scissors designed specifically to cut hair. (Read: put down those kitchen shears or sewing scissors!)

Sometimes referred to as barber or hair shears, this type of scissor is much sharper and usually has some type of finger brace to give you some control over the cut. You can find them online or at a local health and beauty store for something like $10 to $20— much less than a trip to the salon would cost you, that’s for sure.

All right, now that you’ve done your hair research and have gotten a good pair of hair shears, it’s time to get to work. Don’t be scared—remember what we said: it’s not as hard as it seems! There are lots of different ways you can go about cutting your hair.

Some choose to tie it in a ponytail and begin cutting it that way—others throw it over their shoulders. The trick here is cutting in small sections, cutting only small sections at a time, and working your way around to all the sections of your hair.

You’ll also want to always underestimate how much hair you want taken off. You can always cut more off, but you can’t put what you cut off back on!

It might take some practice, but it’ll all be worth it. For more on how to cut your own hair, check out the video below!

Have you ever cut your own hair before? How did it come out?