Home hair cuts. Why I do them and how?

The blog post where I confess I cut my own hair, and why home hair cuts work for me.

I have long, thick, wavy (ok it tends to frizz a lot) hair. I have a lot of hair. It’s a blessing and a curse. It grows fast and is hard to manage. It doesn’t like being cut in layers (it makes my head look like a gingery brown triangle when that happens, I have learned from experience) and it’s a nightmare to do anything with other than wash, put in a bun or ponytail or leave it down. If I leave it down, it frizzes and gets in my way (I work with children. Paint, snot, rice cakes, and bubble mix frequently occur in my life, long hair and those don’t mix) and it gets really knotted and is a pain to brush.

I also have psoriasis. It’s mostly on my scalp and behind my ears and sometimes creeps down to my neck. I have had it for as long as I can remember, and it is kept at bay using special shampoos, managing certain things in my diet, and occasionally prescribed medication from my doctor.

My scalp is scaly and dry, and I have what is called areas of plaque, where psoriasis builds up.

I rarely go to the hairdresser. In fact, I usually only go once a year for a cut if that. I do go to get my hair treated to a blow-dry and straightened for events or when I want to look nice to go out but I don’t go and get my hair cut very often at all.

By rights, of course, my hair should be down to my ankles, then?

Nope, it’s not. 

Why?

Because every two months or so, I wash it (I wash it more often than that, I promise, hear me out) and then I hunt down the husband and I hand him some haircutting scissors and he cuts two or so inches off the bottom of my hair, and every few weeks I trim my own fringe.

I loathe going to the hairdresser. 

My hair does not style. It doesn’t like layers, it doesn’t like being straightened. It can be cut, blow-dried, and calmed, but that only lasts a few days, and then it’s back to its wild self. I simply cannot be bothered to spend hours straightening it, myself, and in fact, I don’t even own a hair dryer. I don’t have the time or capacity it takes to tame my hair.

I object to spending a fortune to have someone chop a few inches off my hair, and tell me I need to get layers, or highlights, or whatever the current trend is that would make me look like a demented ginger badger…

Also, psoriasis makes certain hairdressers uncomfortable. The last salon I went to, the person washing my hair took one look at my scalp and then put gloves on, and made all sorts of weird faces when they touched my hair. I did clearly explain to them what it was, that it wasn’t infectious or contagious, but they made me feel like I had leprosy. I didn’t tip them, and I didn’t go back.

I could have my hair cut short. But it grows so fast I would need to get it cut and styled every 4-6 weeks, and I live in an area where hair salons are not cheap.

So for me, home hair cuts work, and whilst they are not everyone’s ideal hair situation, I have made it work for me. I learned how to cut long hair watching some YouTube videos and some, ahem, trial, and error. Fortunately, long wavy hair can carry off the odd not quite so professionally dealt with cut, and let’s face it, hair grows back.

Do you cut your own hair? Or are you reading this in abject horror and wondering if I am totally mad? Feel free to share your thoughts?