Frugal Friday: Cutting Our Own Hair

It's time for Frugal Friday!

For the last five years, I have been cutting my own hair. At first I was very tentative and cut it in a simple long cut. But over time, I grew more adventurous. Yes, I have made a couple of mistakes, but nothing that couldn't be amended with a couple of bobby pins or some hot rollers for a few weeks. And I have learned from my haircutting mistakes to where I now give myself a decent layered long cut in the bathroom mirror in about 5 minutes.

Now for some caveats: My hair is thick and straight and fairly manageable. If it were a texture requiring a bit of extra care or shaping, then I would probably invest in professional haircuts. But since my hair is straightforward and my days are spent at home with my young daughters (and not, say, as a newsanchor), I save around $288 annually in haircutting, if you assume $40 cuts every 8 weeks with a 20% tip.

I also cut my 3-year-old daughter's hair. Her texture is even more forgiving as it has just a bit of wave, and I am not about to spend money sending her to a salon when the haircutting practice I've earned on my own head can be put to use on hers! Even if I would instead take her to a budget haircutting place every 8 weeks at $20/cut, with 20% tips, that's still $144 saved annually.

Since I'll be regularly cutting my baby's hair soon, that's a total of $576 + tax saved annually for the three of us just for me being willing to experiment with a pair of haircutting scissors at home. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? The one place I do invest is in the scissors - I spent over $13 on scissors specifically made to cut hair which have serrated edges. :)

What grooming tasks have you turned into DIY efforts to save money?