Do You Cut Your Own Hair?
Filed under: Cuts & Style, Hair
A few years ago, a popular hair product company sent a press release about its new line of hair-cutting scissors. Unfortunately, they also sent me a pair.
I don't know what it was, but from the moment I picked them up, I was under the illusion that I'd somehow earned a cosmetology degree. So not the case.
From small transgressions, like snipping away at individual split ends, I built up to larger offenses, like "angling" the hair around my face, and "evening out" unwanted layers. These types of things rarely end well, but since I was growing out my hair anyway, I convinced myself I could pinch-hit in the styling department until my hair reached below my shoulders.
But the other day I found myself somewhere I haven't been in years... a hairstylist's chair. I was only there for a Davines conditioning treatment, but as Pasquale Ferrante, co-owner of the Ion Studio in NYC's SoHo, surveyed my hair, he changed the subject. "You cut your own hair?" he asked.
"No!" I replied. "Well, yes, but ..." My excuses sounded feeble.
"Can I fix it?" He asked, ever so sweetly. Of course, I let him. And thank God. While I watched all of his many learned techniques, it made me realize how silly I was chopping away large sections in a single blunt snip. Never again! Most likely.
Am I the only person out there who cuts my own hair? If you've ever given yourself a haircut -- for better or for worse -- I want to hear about it! Leave a comment below. And stay tuned for our awesome video on the one kind of trim you can attempt at home -- your bangs -- coming soon!
Haircuts: Best left to the pros? Photo: Eyewire
I don't know what it was, but from the moment I picked them up, I was under the illusion that I'd somehow earned a cosmetology degree. So not the case.
From small transgressions, like snipping away at individual split ends, I built up to larger offenses, like "angling" the hair around my face, and "evening out" unwanted layers. These types of things rarely end well, but since I was growing out my hair anyway, I convinced myself I could pinch-hit in the styling department until my hair reached below my shoulders.
But the other day I found myself somewhere I haven't been in years... a hairstylist's chair. I was only there for a Davines conditioning treatment, but as Pasquale Ferrante, co-owner of the Ion Studio in NYC's SoHo, surveyed my hair, he changed the subject. "You cut your own hair?" he asked.
"No!" I replied. "Well, yes, but ..." My excuses sounded feeble.
Am I the only person out there who cuts my own hair? If you've ever given yourself a haircut -- for better or for worse -- I want to hear about it! Leave a comment below. And stay tuned for our awesome video on the one kind of trim you can attempt at home -- your bangs -- coming soon!
mari stanley 6-05-2009 @ 5:52PM
Wow! This will be an excellent video! Can't wait! I actually just trimmed up my bangs yesterday! I have my little-longer than shoulder length hair in layers that I my stylist did a month or so ago, but my bangs were getting a little too long; I'm not ready for a trim all over yet, so I did a few snips according to instructions I found online. Can't wait for a video on this though!
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Ingrid 6-06-2009 @ 10:24PM
I have been cutting amd coloring my hair for about 7 years. I have visited a salon only once in all that time. I always get compliments on the cut, color or highlights.
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Sara 6-29-2009 @ 4:22PM
I cut my hair, my son's, and my mother's regularly, and have for years. Once I cut my sister's after she had tried to do it herself, and she was the only one who ever complained (but in all fairness, she had messed it up pretty bad, trying to cut it while in a ponytail). Her complaint? Too short, which considering her own chopping, was unavoidable.
I have never had any training, but after years of doing simple things like trimming my own bangs and giving my little one a bowl cut, I worked my way into layering, different styles, and a short pixie 'do for my own head--which turned out very well. Just lucky, I guess.
I do have a stylist wax my brows for me, though--I cannot seem to ever get them right on my own, not to mention my abhorrence for pulling hairs out one or two at a time for an extended period!
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zio 8-01-2009 @ 3:51AM
I have been cutting my own hair for years, but it is easy to do because I know exactly what I want. After years of showing pictures to hairstylists who said, 'yes, I can do that!' and ending up feeling like no one could hear me, I decided to do my own. I also color and highlight it, and trim my bangs when I have a fringe.
I am not saying that there are not great stylists out there but I am saying that I have never found one. To that end, I study the classics and the trends and then decide where to go from there with my hair.
Currently, my hair is in long layers with a fringe and the length is to the middle of my back. I am going to do a lob on it later tonight or tomorrow because it is growing out of control, or, I should say, it is more than I want to deal with styling. A lob, shorter in the back and blunt cut ends, is going to be a good look for my round-shaped face and high cheekbones.
I have a slight natural wave to my hair and can let it dry naturally for a natural look, or use my Instyler to make it smooth and sleek. Good old pincurls work, too, if I want a romantic look, but, as I said, I'm tired of the length.
The lob will allow me to still have longer length on the sides and front to braid or play with, and enough length in the back not to feel like a shorn sheep. Going to sharpen my scissors now... ciao!
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