Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for November 08, 2020

Drama Queen.

I’ve met people like Simon. I generally avoid them after the first time.

Most hairdressers are like this. I would be terrified to snip even two stray hairs because they always know. Most hairdressers are drama queens; that’s what makes them good at their jobs. :) That is the case in many professions. A bit like really good estate agents; the top performing agents are usually drama queens. My boss explained it one day to one of the admin staff. That’s what makes them top agents. :)

baloney. These are barbers by whatever name you call them. The more drama they can carry in their showmanship, the higher the price and don’t forget all those “special” products they sell. It goes back to Snake Oil and all those old patent remedies.

Quick! Buy something!

I trained my regular clients to cut their own bangs.

I know they’ll DO it… all I care about is that they don’t make them impossible to fix, cos they’ll blame me when I can’t put the hair back.

With most (but not all!) women’s bangs, that means don’t poke your scissors into the corners…

which will chop them off too short at the temples.

So here’s your lesson:

Comb any hair you’re even THINKING about cutting off towards the center of your forehead… and hold it there.

You can pinch it or twist it or hold it in pieces …

but ONLY use your scissors on the bits and clumps that reach to the same spot on the bridge of your nose,

or within a space about an inch wide.

NEVER point the scissors into, or close the blades on, anything in the corners of your forehead, or above your eyebrows….

Never try to cut in a straight line across your face.

Pulling all the hair to the same spot to cut, instead, makes it look the same length, but with a slight curve.

It will fall back into place tapering in the corners.

For most people the piecemeal raggedness will give it texture and fullness, and look MUCH better than your attempts at a straight line.

If it’s too long, you can try an 8th of an inch shorter…. but it’s amazing how small the difference is between too long and too short.

Remember… you’re only trying to look OK, till you get it fixed…

if it doesn’t… RELAX… give it a day to find its curl …. DON’T keep cutting more off!

If you are one of those rare people who wears ultra straight bangs with no taper in the corners… or short bangs way above your eyebrows…

I still suggest this longish taper till you can get to a hairdresser…. you might like it.

Or at least doing this first and only cutting any more in tiny increments … preferably with a day or two in between.

Your hairdresser will be happier that way.

I just let mine grow and from Feb. to now it has only had one trim and is quiet long. I like it but the front IS starting to bug me so I may have to go for a trim. I stopped cutting my own hair, or my families hair, when my son was 2 (1978), I accidently cut his ear just a nip…..guilty mom here.

My hairdresser promised she would never try to teach English if I would promise to never cut my own hair.

I had a friend, very talented but frumpy. At the end of summer her friends chipped in for a makeover in Montreal before going back north. She was gorgeous when they were done and turned a lot of heads. Then she had a shower and decided her bangs needed a trim. You can imagine the rest. Needless to say the free makeover never happened again

When my hair got long enough to sit on, I whacked the bottom four or five inches off. It’s not a good haircut, but not bad enough for passing strangers to remark on it. I’m sure when I eventually see a stylist, they will be appalled.

That hair dresser have a fit with me, my low income does not allow for even a cheap haircut, our daughter had to study and not a hair stylists, she dreads mine, with rest guys and me mom with my hair, she prefers the guys.

My hairdress put it to me this way. She would cut my bangs between appointment for free. If I cut them myself ther would be a $10.00 charge for fixing them. I stopped cutting my own bangs until COVID hit. Because of COVID I am back cutting my own bangs with permission. She also told me how to do it. The only appointment I have had with her since February was in September when I had my hair cut very short. It will grow back…someday

Love Great Clips. No drama.

All the forgoing makes me quite happy I’m a guy with a simple “buzz cut” I do on a regular basis with my Norelco beard trimmer.

At the moment, my hair has reached the “Albert Einstein” stage. I can usually resist the barber until it reaches “Benjamin Franklin…”

Back when I was young and couldn’t afford to pay for such things I would cut mine as short as my fingers would let, all over. My hair cutter retired last winter and I tried others which led me to…I can pay for a haircut I don’t like or I can cut my own quite short and with some wave that hides the goofs (to most but probably not the pros like Susan). To me looks the same or in some cases even a little better. With covid I don’t even have to go that direction. I sharpen scissors before and use electric clippers too. Almost always have a small goof on the left side back.

But I miss Barry the retired haircutting genius.

My hubby and I cut each others. Works out fine.

Glad my hairdresser is not this dramatic. But then, I’d only trim the stray fringe hairs that escaped his scissors because it decided to lay differently that day. Only thing he asked was, “you are using hair scissors, right?” (The answer was yes.I’ve since decided to grow out the bags, so now I just cuss at the stray hairs.