Another man came in with an eyebrow that had been mistakenly shaved off."

Ha ha!
- Nelson Muntz

I've been cutting my own hair for years. I'm better than Bumble+bumble, about on par with the Beehive Salon, and not quite as good as In Situ.

I also grow my own hair at home.

In my job, I can't risk a bad haircut or poor color job. I will eat Spam and day old bread before I stop seeing my hair professionals....

@JuliB: Does your job security rest solely on your looks or something?

my wife and I always cut my hair.

every few months I shave it all off (the Wife gets the back) and let it grow back..

My wife has cut my hair for almost ten years now, and it's saved us many hundreds of dollars. All you need is a buzzer... thing... that cuts hair, you know?

What? Nobody's rushing back to the Flowbee?

@outlulz: my guess is stripper.

i've been going to the same barber shop and i can go in for "the usual" haircut.

anyway, i have been going less often than normal and deb (the lady who cuts my hair) calls it the "moneysworth" - she's funny. every two weeks, four weeks, or six weeks, it's still $16 plus tip.

My wife cuts her own hair and offered to cut mine (which grows only on the sides). I respectfully declined. I had to decline respectfully or she would have punched my lights out.

@kateblack: I cut my own too--since I was around 12 or so.

Of course I have thick, curly hair, so unless I'm off by several inches, it just doesn't matter. Near enough is good enough. I'm sure if it was thinner or straighter I'd be more likely to have it professionally cut.

Razor blade. Done!

@dohtem: I have a feeling that this wasn't so much a mistake as it was a drunk dare.

I'm still getting my hair cut in a salon because a) I have short hair, and a bad cut means looking like a female gym teacher (notthatthere'sanythingwrongwiththat) and b) I like my stylist and my salon. Too many are going out of business here, and I want them to stick around.

In fact, I've been considering dyeing my hair to cover the grays, and would probably pay my stylist to do it rather than risk a bad at-home job. Hey, she's gotta eat, too!

I cut my own bangs once when I was 11. 20 years later, I can still hear my "friends" laughing like ninnies.

@lotussix: Nah, you can always wear a wig.

I've let my hair grow out into a longer style, so I can get away with getting it cut much less often. I've also gone for the cheapo bang trims in between, stopped getting my eyebrows waxed, and cut out lowlighting my hair (which required a salon trip, as opposed to my allover color that can be done at home). I loved my hairstyle but it just cost too much money to keep it up.

Good lord, the disasters that I see come into the grocery store that I work in, that have just come out of the supercuts next door, makes me think that some would be better off trying to do it themselves.

I have cut my partner's hair for 5 years, and I have no training, and it looks far superior to the guys cuts that come out of there!

@JuliB: What's wrong with Spam and day old bread? Your subjective thinking has lost me.

I didn't know the Wall Street Journal was into fluff journalism. When did this happen?

Also, there's a Haircutting For Dummies book?

@dohtem:

My son cut off his eyebrow with blunt school scissors in first grade, on a dare from a classmate.

@baquwards: As with anything, if you are willing to put in a little more time you can do it better yourself. It is, however, almost worth paying someone just to deal with the cut-off hair.

I just went to the salon and got my hair cut yesterday. I have cut back on eating out, fancy coffee and a fair number of other things, but I will never get my hair cut at a chain place again.

I will nibble on my bangs in between cuts, but my hairdresser is a miracle worker. She can cut my wavy, straight, contentious hair so it looks halfway decent even if I'm not very good at styling it. Moreover, she does such a good job that it looks good while it is growing out. I can go 8 weeks between cuts on my short hair. When I went to Haircutters Anon, I looked bad when I walked out, worse 2 weeks later and like Sasquatch after a month.

Bad haircuts can be false economy.

The key is to find a good barber where you can get a good haircut for about $15 including tip. Plus get it cut shorter so you can go longer between haircuts.

My hairdresser only charges $15 a week, which includes all cuts, styling, washing, massaging, etc. I have cut back on a few things; I'll never cut back on that.

Is it bad that I laughed really hard over this story?

I go to Fantastic Sam's right now. I was going to this lady at the Aveda salon, but it was all the way on the other side of town. Then she moved and I followed her, but then she moved away and I lost her.

Sam's is open on the weekend, I can just walk in and there's this girl named Ashley who does a great job. I'm trying to grow out my hair now so no matter what they do to it, it doesn't matter. I just throw it on top of my head in a clip 90% of the time anyway. I can't wear it down at work because it's so long now that it gets in my way (past my bra strap in the back).

My bangs, which I am growing out, are a problem now. They're long enough that I need to actually style them. I might go back in and pay for a styling appointment and get her to show me how to do some cute things with them that I can do really fast in the morning.

I have a longer hairstyle that doesn't require a lot of maintenance. I also cut my bangs myself in between, but not as short as the salon does because I'm afraid I'll cut off too much, or cut it wrong. They're short enough to be bangs but long enough to go behind my ears if I mess 'em up :)

I think the real crime is still how much more the ladies spend on stylists vs the men. I know a fairly nice place where a mans cut without wash is like $20-25, women's basic cut is like $80-100 and something that takes more than 20 minutes is $100+. That doesn't include things like hair wash, coloring, styling, whatever else you women do to your hair while you're their. I know a woman's hair is usually more work but 5 X more work ? I don't think so, down with salons!

@narc1: There's also a lot more to a woman's hairstyle - layering, etc. I have longer hair, so I usually only get it cut 2 or 3 times a year. I'll pay the $70 to get a really nice haircut that'll look great for the next six months. Plus, guys have to go in at least once a month - so really, the $20 they're spending/month is still more than I spend in a year. It's all relative.

If cowlicks are the sign of a recession, then we've been in one in every single place I've lived since 1973.

@baquwards: Yeah, Supercuts blows. In college I went there for years (two different branches) but only after trial and error with the staff to get someone who didn't make me look like Lurch.

When a Fantastic Sams opened around the corner and I've switched exclusively to them. Oddly enough, 4 different people cut my hair and all were very good to excellent. Different hiring practices, maybe?

@Vandelay Import Export: I went to an barber who charged $7 a cut before I moved away from ruraltown, GA. He used a straight razor to shave heads/faces and it was usually just my brother and I with all the old/retired military guys.

Guy was no-nonsense but I guess years of working near a USMC base will give you enough skills that you don't have to take chuff from anybody, much less us kids.

My wife has been cutting my hair for years. Quick and easy and I don't have to go anywhere. Here in Manhattan, too many places are expensive and I don't like the stuffy atmosphere. Way to pathetic for me. Besides, I would rather give the money to my wife rather than some stranger.

@krispykrink: Nooo...A bad haircut is not worth killing yourself over! Maybe you can go to the beauty school and have them straighten it out!

@JuliB: I'm guessing you're in ad sales, such a vain industry.

$15-$25 for a good pair of clippers at Sally Beauty Supply. Snap on the #1 (shortest setting) guide and buzz it all off. Feels good for both parties when/if the ladies rub on it.

I've been cutting and dying my own hair for about 15 years. Last year I decided to treat myself and have a salon do it. They had to try 3 times because they didn't listen to me (about how difficult it is for my hair to take color so you have to do X), they burnt my ear, I was stressed/bored to death being there 6 hours, it looked horrible and cost a fortune.

As opposed to doing it at home for a 5th of the cost, and so what if I miss a spot sometimes or I accidentally dye my hands blue.

@TWSS: I'll never, ever dye my hair at home. Not only would I mess it up, my bathroom would look like a bad slasher movie set. I always trust professionals, and you're right: they have to eat, too!

@Vandelay Import Export: This is what hubby does, except he pays $35 to $40 per haircut. We stopped going to Hair Cuttery and places like that because we would go and only pay about $14 and save a lot of money - but he'd walk out with his hair still wet, uneven, little cut pieces everywhere, and he still never got the haircut he actually wanted because no one at any of the Hair Cuttery salons we went to spoke decent English! As someone whose family does not speak fluent English, I have to say, it's extremely nervewracking to try to communicate with someone who doesn't understand you and is holding sharp scissors near your face.

I guess I am fortunate that I can still get an inexpensive haircut from a good stylist. Aveda Institute charges 12-15 dollars for cut and style in my area and they are really good. Most of their students go on to win awards and work in really expensive salons.

@vorpal_hamster: Do we go to the same stylist? All of the things you've mentioned are exactly why I continued to get my hair cut at my regular salon even when I moved out of state for college. She could give me a haircut that would last (with minimal spot-trimming by me) for 4 months.

@ElizabethD: I cut a big chunk of my bangs with safety scissors in 2nd grade a week before pictures...

Needless to say mom wasn't happy

@GuinevereRucker: Same boat here.

My wife started cutting my hair a year ago which saves like, what, $30-40 a month? And after the first few times of her "practice runs" which were sort of rough she got the hang of it and now it looks just as good as a salon/barber shop.

@chocolate1234: This. Last time I went to the salon (maybe three months ago), I wanted at least six inches cut from my hair, I wanted it layered, and I wanted my bangs reworked so they weren't bangs. This involved at least 20 minutes of flipping through magazines and stylist books, and discussing my routine in the morning, how much time I have to do my hair in the morning, how the humidity affects my hair, what kind of product I'm using, etc.

Most guys don't go nearly so in-depth.

I haven't cut my hair in nearly a year. It's wavy and hip length and my husband is crazy about it. It's a win/win situation because I'm lazy and cheap and he likes it long.

I usually do get a trim once a year and some highlights put in, but once a year is plenty of time in a salon for me!

@kateblack: Me too. I had a fabulous guy I went to in my teens who was moving to another state so he taught me how to do my own hair at my last cut. And it's been 10+ years now. I also cut my husband's hair, which was a much greater learning curve since short hair is much tougher to do well. He has curly hair, which helps, but it took a couple of years before he actually started getting complements on how amazing his hair looks. Yay me.

Hint for really long, curly hair - to get layers, flip it over your head, ponytail it, and cut it right in front of your face. Less than a minute and you're done. Where you ponytail, whether low or high, affects how extreme the layers are.

@ArcanaJ: "it sucks as it cuts!"

"well, it sure does suck"

@pb5000: or a pharm rep.

@H3ion: Hulk Hogan???? thought you got divorced. Was it because of the haircut thing?