Save Some Cash–Cut Your Own Kids’ Hair!

Hair, hair, hair. Does it never stop growing and needing cut??? Fortunately, you don’t have to pay the salon for haircuts! I’m going to share with you a couple of methods we’ve used to save on the cost of haircuts. Here’s my son in need of one . . .

First option is to find a neighbor or friend who knows how to cut hair and trade them something (sometimes all they’ll want is some good conversation) for haircuts. With that, I want to dedicate this post to Jackie Neff, our dear neighbor who cut my family’s hair when we were kids. Jackie’s house was like an extension of our own. We were always welcome there and were good friends with her own kids. She never charged for her services–she just loved sharing stories with my mom. Jackie was a beautiful, strong woman with a sparkle in her eyes and an infectuous laugh. She could light up a room just by walking in. Both our families ended up moving from our homes, but she remained close friends with my mom especially and attended (and helped with) ALL of us kids’ weddings (better attendance record than any of our grandparents even). Jackie passed away two weeks ago and will be greatly missed.

If you use the neighbor method, go with your hair already washed and wet if you can–don’t make them do all the work if you’re not paying them. These folks are also handy if you try method number two and mess it up! They can usually fix your mistakes. ;-)

Now, method number two of saving money on haircuts is to do it yourself. This is what we do most of the time now. Today, we’ll be cutting my son’s hair. There are some fantastic videos on cutting hair on YouTube, so if my exlanation doesn’t make any sense, maybe check those out.

I am NOT a trained cosmotologist/barber/hairdresser, I just got lucky and married a man who’s sister cut hair. She gave me a total of two lessons and I was on my own, and now after 13 years of marriage, I’m feeling a little more competent at it :).

So here goes your instructions.

FIRST gather your gear:
1. Sharp little scissors (mine are Fiskars I think–they’re not official hair cutting scissors, but I’ve never cut anything but hair with them to keep them sharp).
2. Comb–Not too narrow or wide of teeth. You know, your average comb will do.
3. Haircutting apron/cape for your victim to wear–I bought mine at the beauty supply store many moons ago.
4. Spray bottle of water. My husband likes hot water in his–not sure how much difference it makes, though.
5. TV or laptop with a movie ready to go. Okay, this one’s optional, but it gives your kid (or husband) a little longer sit-still-ability, and you’ll get fewer “are you sure you know what you’re doing”s from your husband. I don’t usually use this anymore as I’ve gotten a little quicker at the haircuts, but used this tactic A LOT when I was first starting.Next, gather your victim and put the cape on him. Make sure it’s nice and tight around the neck so as to cut off circulation–I mean keep the hair from falling down his neck. I’ll give you a warning here–my son was feeling a bit silly while I was taking pictures. So just enjoy the faces.I sit him up on the barstool so he can’t get too comfy. Well and so that I can reach his head better without bending over so much. Now, you can have him wet his hair before coming to the stool, or you can use your spray bottle to thoroughly wet the hair. You’ll also want it clean, but I knew he’d just washed it that morning, so that’s clean enough for me–I used the spray bottle. Comb it out.Now you need a plan before you start cutting. I’m going for the classic boy haircut look, so I’m going to kind of follow the red lines as I cut his hair. Yes, they were imaginary lines at the time. Closer to the head at the edges/sides and a little farther from the head on the top. (Okay, my lines aren’t exact, but you get the idea, right?)Closer at the front than the crown (he’s got a real tight curl at his crown that makes his hair stand straight up if it’s too short). Real close at the back and nape of neck.Now we get started. I start on one side and work around the back to the other side. I comb the top out of the way–I’ll get to that later. Select a vertical strip of hair about 1/2 to 1 inch wide and comb it away from the head. Trap it between your fingers like this:At the sides and back, I cut the hair pretty close to my fingers when I’m holding the hair with my fingers right against his head. When I took that picture, I had already done some cutting, so there are some short hairs and some long. We’re going to cut the long to match the short, like this:When the sides and back are done I start on the top. I select a strip right out of the middle from his forehead to his crown and cut the angle I want to have going that direction. Then as I work perpendicular to that first cut I can match the rest of the top to the length I cut in the center of the top. Make sense? Kind of? Here’s a picture of a section perpendicular to the forehead/crown cut:

See how there’s short hairs on the right and the left side? The ones on the left are from the forehead/crown cut and the ones on the right are from cutting up from the side. I’m going to cut a line that connects these two sections like this:Those other long hairs on the left are actually on the other side of the forehead/crown cut, so I’ll cut them when I get to that side. Also notice that my fingers are NOT right against his head here. You kind of have to angle up to that point as you get near the top of his head. I comb through the hair a couple of different directions when I think I’m done to find any strays I might have missed. After the top and sides are cut, I comb all the hairs to the hairline and trim his sideburns, around his ears, around his neck, and around his face. All this has to go:Once that is all done, we use one of dad’s razors (not mine!) to shave the little fuzzies from his sideburns and neck–just gives a cleaner, more finished look to the cut. When you’re all finished, send him directly to the shower to wash all the stray hairs off, shake the cape outside and sweep up all the hairs. Lookin respectable now! Well, at least mom thinks so . . .

Keep preparing!
Angela