Yes, I cut my own hair!

Today I wanted to talk about something more uncommon I do that saves us a lot of money. I cut my own hair!

I know that sounds scary and it was to me for a while too. I started out just cutting layers into the front of my hair when I couldn't explain what I was wanting well enough to beauticians. Then I got desperate when it had been two years since I had a hair cut, I didn't know of anyone who could cut my hair, and wanted to take pictures with my newest baby for Mother's day the next day. So I talked my husband into cutting my hair. He was terrified but I walked him through exactly what I wanted done. He even cut layers into the back of my hair! I cut the front layers and goodness, I got a lot of compliments on that hair cut! I will try to find pictures of that hair cut and up date this when I do. He asked me to never ask him to do that again though because he was so afraid of messing up my hair. So I have honored that request. But, walking him through it helped me see that I knew exactly what needed to be done to cut my hair how I like it. I cut it a few more times over the years but most of the time I chickened out and paid someone to cut my hair. 

That all changed 4 years ago. We were in a new house in a new city and I had waited so long to cut my hair I was sick of it! So I cut just a few inches off to get me through until I could find someone to cut my hair. I figured it didn't have to be perfectly even because I could easily pay someone to trim it later. I left plenty of room for them to cut more off if they needed too. But to my surprise, I loved it! And it was plenty even! 

The next summer, I had my regular beautician cut my hair. She had been cutting my hair since I was a teenage until I moved from home. I would still have her cut my hair when I went back to North Carolina for a visit. I showed her a picture of my hair cut from the previous year and asked her to cut it that way. To my surprise, I didn't like it as well as my own cut. That really encouraged me to continue cutting my own hair in the future.

Two years ago, I had let it grow so long and ratty, I was sick of it. It took me months to work up the courage to cut it myself, but I had finally hit that point. I didn't care if I didn't cut it perfectly! Anything would be better than the mess that it currently was! So I grabbed my hair cutting scissors late at night when everyone was asleep and started cutting. I have had my hair long for most of my life except for a few times when I had it cut shorter for specific reasons. I would always grow it out right away. But I was sick of my long hair. I was sick of trying to style it! I would just end up throwing it up on my head. I was tired of seeing it in a bun all the time! I figured if I cut it shorter, I would actually wear my hair down because it wouldn't be so hot. 

And I was right! I wore my hair down a lot that year. This is when I really started loving my hair more for the first time in a while. It's when I really learned how to style it curly because it didn't take near as much effort. I have always been a 5 minute hair style kind of girl and that was definitely still true at this time. But I found a quick way to style my hair curly. I loved wearing my hair down and embraced the freedom the short hair gave me. I still grew it long over the winter, but I cut it short again the next spring.

Over that year, I thoroughly enjoyed styling my hair short. But as it got closer to fall, I noticed I kept looking back at pictures of my hair longer from that past winter and missing it. So I decided this spring to just trim it and keep growing it out long. 

This cut was much more intimidating because for the first time in years, I was trying to keep as much length as possible. And I knew I would want layers because I really like layers in my hair when it's long. So I broke it up into a few sections. First, I washed my hair and dried it without any heat or styling products. I was trying to get it as straight as possible without actually putting heat on my hair to straighten it. I ended up cutting about an inch off all the way around. I forgot to take pictures of cutting my hair this year, sorry! 

I left it like that for a week so I could notice little bits I missed and trim those up. I like to cut my hair when it's mostly straight so I have the option to wear it straight and it still look good. Then I washed it again and styled it curly. That allowed me to fine tune any parts that didn't look right once my hair was curly. Since that's how I usually wear it, it really matters how it looks in that state.

The next step was to cut layers into it. I love layers in my hair! I have learned, though, that if I ask for too many, it makes my hair look thin because the bottom layer has so little hair. I decided to cut layers into the top 1/4 of my hair and then live with that for a while to decide if I wanted more.

I also layered the front a few days later. It turned out great and I could not be more happy with my hair!

I am still determined NOT to wear my hair in a bun all the time, so I'm getting more creative with my styles this year. But I love my hair so much and am enjoying playing with it! I'm definitely going to let it keep growing out for the rest of the year!

P.S. I am loving these headbands! They are very comfortable and make it easy to get my hair out of my face while still keeping my hair down. I put a link to them on my "Stuff I Love" tab at the top of the blog.