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Trimming my own hair is something that I’ve been doing for quite a while now to save money. When my hair was short and layered, I used to have to get my hair cut every month. At a cost of about $20 a month, the cost to maintain my hairstyle was over $240 a year!
My new hair style, which is basically shoulder-length hair with bangs, is much more budget-friendly! The only thing that needs cut every month is my bangs and I cut those myself with a pair of moustache scissors (available in most mass merchandise stores) using my eyebrows as a guide. My need for an expensive professional hair cut has been reduced to about four times a year.
For men who prefer short haircuts, the savings can be even greater. My brother uses a Wahl home haircutting kit (basically a razor-like device with multiple attachments for cutting the hair to different lengths) to cut his hair. Since he likes to keep his hair really short (about 1/2 ” all over) he has no trouble getting the look he wants. The Wahl device costs between $20.00 and $40.00.
If you have a steady hand (or a friend with a steady hand) you may find that home haircuts can save you a great deal of money.
Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved
18 responses so far ↓
1 Smockity Frocks // Aug 17, 2007 at 9:43 am
Great tip! I cut hair for my whole family, including my own, too. It saves a bundle!
2 homemom3 // Aug 17, 2007 at 12:35 pm
I’ve been trimming my own hair for over 10 years now and don’t plan on stopping. I got my hair cut twice during that time, once was a simple trim nothing else and it cost $40. Never again. I tried getting my hair colored and it costs me $80 but only because that was the price they gave me over the phone, when they saw my hair they wanted to charge more because of the thickness. So I don’t even do that anymore….too much and too thick.
3 Laura // Aug 17, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Hi Smockity Frocks and homemom3!
When I color my hair (which isn’t often LOL), I do it myself too. I almost added that into the article then I decided to leave it at haircuts.
4 IngaOz // Aug 17, 2007 at 6:19 pm
I don’t cut my hair often, but when I need that I just ask my mom. She always says: No, no… but then… I don’t leave her alone until I get what I need. As about coloring – i do it myself. I maded curls year ago ad it was very expensive and damaged my hair so much, so – not again for at least 2 years 😀
5 Laura // Aug 18, 2007 at 9:02 am
Hi IngaOz! Is your mom a beautician?
6 homemom3 // Aug 18, 2007 at 10:58 am
haha, I tried coloring my hair once…let’s just say hot pink isn’t my color, especially when it was suppose to be red.
7 Laura // Aug 18, 2007 at 4:19 pm
homemom3,
He, he — that sounds like something a teenager would pull. How old were you at the time?
8 Domestic Divapalooza // Aug 19, 2007 at 6:32 pm
My husband likes getting his hair cut at Great Clips. Fiona gets a kick out of being able to go with him. That’s when she has her bangs trimmed. Miss Kinsley gets hers done there too.
When it doesn’t work out that Don can get his hair cut at home I usually trim up their bangs myself.
Lauren gets her hair trimmed and/or cut shorter every six months depending on her mood.
I like to be pampered at the hair salon so I try to remember to take time out for myself in this way.
9 Bethanyrb // Aug 20, 2007 at 8:29 am
I thought it very interesting to find your post today. (I was looking on Crystal’s Frugal Friday list.) I just cut my own hair last Thursday for the first time. I was real excited to do it and did a good job. 🙂 I’m looking foward to saving a lot of money in the future by cutting my own hair.
Oh, and I don’t have a straight cut. It’s layered at the ends and I curl it out. It was hard to get started but after that it was just snip, snip, snip!
10 WhatWorksForMom // Aug 20, 2007 at 4:18 pm
I cut my hubby’s hair and haven’t gotten pretty decent at it. My hair? Not so much! This is a good money saving idea!
11 homemom3 // Aug 21, 2007 at 12:01 pm
hahaha, now I’m not telling. lol. Let’s just say I wanted it done, neighbors at the time said they’d help and they ended up not being there once I started it. I had never done my hair, had always gone to salon. It was suppose to be a pretty red….it didn’t happen.
12 Laura // Aug 22, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Hi Domestic Divapalooza, WhatWorksFormMom, Bethanyrb, and homemome3!
I’m glad you all liked this post.
Domestic Divapalooza — I think it’s fine to pamper yourself at the salon once in a while (I almost typed saloon, lol). However, if I’m looking to cut back (which I have been lately), salon haircuts are definitely a way to save money.
Congratulations Bethanyrb, on your first homecut. I was very nervous the first time I did it too. I think we all remember times as kids that we tried to cut our own hair and those times were disastrous.
WhatWorksForMom–I agree, the men’s hair is definitely easier to cut.
Hi homemom3! I’ve always heard that you should stick to a shade close to your natural color. I’ve never been brave enough to go out of that range.
13 Brian // Feb 4, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I have been cutting my own hair now for a few years. Saves a ton of money and it’s always like I like it.
TIP: you need to setup a favicon for your site instead of using the default bluehost one.
https://opinionmom.com/favicon.ico
14 Laura // Feb 4, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Hi Brian!
Thanks for stopping by.
I’ll look in to favicons.
15 Laura // Feb 4, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Brian,
That’s definitely something that I need to look into more. I’ve seen other bloggers doing it, but I didn’t know what it was called or how to do it.
16 BeccaATX // Aug 2, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I have been cutting my hair for the past couple of years. Not only does it save $, but I like the idea of customizing my own hair style. I typically use scissors to cut my hair; however, I would prefer to start using a razor comb to cut my hair. The problem is I don’t know WHICH RAZOR COMBS WORK BEST FOR CUTTING HAIR. Does anyone have any suggestions or information regarding which razor comb to buy?
17 Natalie // Jun 2, 2009 at 9:42 am
I started cutting my own hair after the frustration of never getting what I wanted. This Christmas after getting the most humiliating haircut the day before parties began I decided no more! My hair is medium length with layers, if you start cutting at the bottom you can then comb layers straight up and cut a bit off the top to create layers. I cut a tiny bit about every 10 days and it’s very neat to have a fresh haircut all the time.
The trick I’ve found that works for me is to cut only about 1/4 inch often, if you cut more then you’re getting into zones where you may not know how it’s going to look.
I also color my own hair and have had so many compliments over the years. I color it every 3 weeks (just do the roots), all in all it costs about 10$ a month for me to have great looking hair.
18 The Pulse of the Blogosphere // Oct 1, 2010 at 2:51 pm
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