Monday, October 5, 2020

First Time Ever I Cut My Own Hair

Only blurry selfies to share.😁. They do show you the end result.
Although THE SAVVY SHOPPER tries to save money, in normal times I'd never cut my own hair! A few things, like a good haircut, are worth every penny! After 7 months of COVID, my hair was becoming Rapunzel-like and needed a trim. Longer hair doesn't look horrible on me, but medium-long hair is less work and more polished! So as long as I'm trimming my own hair ... I might as well take off several inches!

 But my longtime hairdresser, Penny's job isn't in jeopardy. Truthfully I need her more than she needs me! After cutting my hair for a few years she suddenly left my neighborhood salon (due to an unfair occurrence) after she had worked there for years, and I was crushed! 
My long hair on a good day.

In time, I saw her again and then felt comfortable asking for her home phone number. When she gave it to me, I said, "Ah, ha, now you'll never escape from me again!" A decade+ later, she's become my friend and comes to my home to cut my hair, after her regular job or on her day off from her new salon. Often I have dinner ready so she has something to eat when she arrives. Sometimes she cuts my hair for free ... but I don't let her not charge me too often because she lives way uptown in the Bronx and it requires her time, skills and energy to come to my home to give me a precision haircut. 

Moreover, Penny no longer has other private clients in my neighborhood, and I only need a cut ... not her full services of color or highlighting which would make her travel to my home more lucrative. She really doesn't make enough money coming to my home for just a cut although she's too classy to say so. She really only cuts my hair because of our history.

If I had an event to go to and ask her to come, she'd make time for me, not the scenario with COVID, so I wanted to try cutting my own hair ... once! BTW at her new salon, her boss sets the price of haircuts much higher, and he gets a big percentage of each job/client who comes into the shop. Also, I can't walk there, and I'd rather not take a subway all the way downtown if I can avoid it, limiting the risks of getting COVID whenever possible. (Likewise, I want to keep Penny safe by not asking her to ride the subway anymore than she already must.) 

 So that's the backstory of why I cut my own hair. Plus I thought if this pandemic goes on another year -- with spikes of COVID, could I master the skill to do it? The answer is, not as well as Penny!

 Yet if you must cut your own hair, too, here are tips ... 

 I began by watching YouTube tutorials 1st. (Not all the techniques are spot on. In my non-expert opinion, flipping all your hair over your head is useless if you want to cut straight. Another YouTuber suggests binding your hair in a ponytail at the nape of the neck and cutting an inch or more off to get started. Don't do it! You'll end up with a tress of hair too short in the wrong place that must be fixed!!  

 Here's what works ... I parted the hair as if you are making pigtails, leaving it untied, bringing each side forward and cutting it section by section from front to back. I kept combing and comparing sections to the corresponding sections (stains of hair from side to side, as well as, the left side of the head to the right side of the head). I used a handheld mirror to look at the back hair and sometimes brought locks forward to snip. Also, micro-conservative snipping is best! Never cut too much hair at once. Go back and snip the same section over if needed -- little by little rather than cutting off too much length at one time. You don't want to do this -->😱

As my Facebook friend, Patti, says a DIY haircut "takes a bit of tweaking! One side then the other and then the handheld mirror to see the back! Then the fine-tuning!" She's absolutely right. It's a time-consuming process achieved by tiny snips at a time ... use a slow, steady hand. Nothing drastic.

Another tip is to only use real hair scissors. I had a pair because decades ago I wore bangs that I trimmed in-between salon visits.

 I learned cutting your own hair is not easy! This could've gone very, very wrong!! I cannot wait to see dear Penny again! Add hairstylists to society's list of most important people.


Update - January 28, 2021: Third time's a charm. In a year like no other, I'm ready to retire as my own barber!

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2 comments:

  1. Debra TurnerOctober 8, 2020 at 10:18 AM

    Readers, in trying to delete some of the spam comments on the blog, I by mistake deleted legitimate ones. Blogger updates its formate making it more difficult to know which comment you are deleting! Rarely do I welcome technical changes as so very often they are not an improvement! So luckily I had this comment to cut and paste before it disappeared forever:

    Patricia has left a new comment on your post "First Time Ever I Cut My Own Hair":

    You did a really, really excellent cut Debbie. It looks beautiful. I do not think I would have the nerve, and am going to try another home salon visit soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debra TurnerOctober 8, 2020 at 10:20 AM

      And my reply:

      Debra Turner has left a new comment on your post "First Time Ever I Cut My Own Hair":

      Thanks, Trish! It took me seven months to work up the courage to try. And now several days later when I pass a mirror I still look to see if I pulled it off. :)

      With genuine hair scissors and the ability to cut a straight line, I bet lots of people could successfully cut their own hair (if they must)! I wasn't worried about the front or sides, it is the back we can't reach. You have to keep combing your hear forward to where you can reach it. Then you compare the back locks from the point of view on your shoulders to ensure they (left side and right side) are even. But what you might be able to do, Trish, is cut as much of your hair as you can see and ask Mr. C to cut the back. That would be like cutting bangs — not too difficult. I think you can do it, Trish because you have practice cutting when you sew. And you knew if Mr. C could help, or best not. :)

      In the 1980s a Korean girl, a student, who lived in a building when I once lived asked me to cut her long hair. She knew I trimmed my bangs in-between salon appointments, perhaps its why she asked me. I had the confidence of youth (that means untested, totally inexperience:) and I cut her hair 2 1/2 inches. So I always believed I could cut another person's hair, yet was unsure about my own! And I will still say it is hard!

      And then you have to know your limitations. Had Penny cut my hair, I would have asked her to cut it shoulder length. I cut it longer to give myself a margin of error to fix any mistakes.I have one too short lock of hair I managed to fix from trying to that not-a-good--technique-cut-hair-in-ponytail from YouTube that I mention in the blog.

      My hairstyler and friend, Penny is the bomb! The professional! Much faster too!

      Delete