Cutting Your Own Hair

Woman who is ready to cut her own hair
Photo: Depositphotos
Q: What are the pros and cons of cutting your own hair?
 
A: The pros are:
 
You save a lot of money. A high-end salon delivers cutting-edge service, with a pricelist to match. While I always recommend going to a stylist instead of trying to do your own hair, I know that this isn’t always possible. We all have our priorities and budgets, and it's up to you to decide what’s more important in life when it comes to your personal expenses.
 
You garner a lot of experience and practical knowledge when you do your own and friends or family’s hair. This is especially important if you’re thinking about studying to become a hairstylist. My earliest memories of playing with my mom’s and sister’s hair are probably when I was about five years old.
 
I’ve been doing hair all my life, since I was a preschooler right though high school. The things I learned while playing and experimenting with my own hair and that of my friends have been invaluable, even after more than ten years as a professional stylist.
 
If you’re really good at doing your own hair, you’ll probably never be unhappy with the results. You’ll never have to experience the acidic sense of disappointment of walking out of a salon with tears stinging your eyes, because the stylist messed your hair up or didn’t do what you asked for. But people only get very good after they’ve made a ton of mistakes and learned from them.
 
When I was in high school and in college, I burned my hair off at least three times when over processing it with bleach. By now, I’m an expert on judging how much chemical a client’s hair can take, and I don’t take chances with my clients. But I only have this knowledge because I destroyed my own hair too many times that I care to remember.
 
The cons are:
 
You’re probably going to mess up your hair more than once. Practice makes perfect. Practice also makes for a lot of mistakes. If you haven’t the proper training, knowledge and experience, you’re going to mess up pretty frequently, especially when you attempt procedures that are out of your depth. And then you’ll only have yourself to blame.
 
You probably won’t be able to do hair as well as a professional stylist does, ever. I can’t stress enough that hairdressing is a professional and VERY competitive field. The people who make it in this industry have a talent and inherent passion for doing hair, combined with hundreds of man-hours per month, progressively only getting better and better as they mature in their niche. A do it yourself hairstyling enthusiast just can’t compare to a professional.
 
You miss out on the whole salon and personal stylist experience. This might sound like a cliché, but there’s a good reason that women love the salon. They get pampered, get to meet new people and often make friends in the comfy chair of their stylist. Clients often also become very close friends to their stylists, because stylists are mostly very empathetic and good listeners. Hence the age-old jokes about hairdressers moonlighting as psychologists.
 
©Hairfinder.com
 
See also:
 
How to cut hair
 
Hair horrors and mishaps
 
Can you really cut your own hair?