The Frugal Babe Hair Salon

by FrugalBabe on September 16, 2009

I cut my son’s hair yesterday.  I’ve been cutting my husband’s hair for several years, but this was a different story.  My husband basically has me shave his head with an electric trimmer on the shortest setting.  All one length – as short as possible – and it takes about four minutes.  Then he lets it grow for a few weeks, and we repeat.  I’m proud of the money it saves us, but a trained monkey could replace me when it comes to cutting my husband’s hair.  (shhhh… don’t tell him I said that – he thinks I’m essential)

Our son has very soft, fine hair with a slight wave.  He has what I think of as surfer hair – a bit shaggy and all over the place, with little curls here and there.  I knew that the waviness would help cover any errors, so I headed in.  I put him in his highchair and distracted him with food and various kitchen utensils – otherwise he just wanted to grab the scissors out of my hands.  He’s a touch more wiggly than my husband.  And I really didn’t know what I was doing.  I remember reading a post Kelly wrote about cutting a little boy’s hair, and tried to keep the basics in mind.  But a 16 month old doesn’t sit still or tilt his head on command.  So I was basically winging it.  I trimmed around his ears and the back of his neck, and then started lifting sections around his head and cutting vertically (I figured that would help to eliminate the bowl-on-the-head look).  After about 15 minutes, I was amazed by the transformation.  Gone was my little surfer-dude, and in his place was a somewhat clean-cut little boy.

I was thrilled.  We saved $10 – $20 (depending on the place, that’s the range for a kid’s cut in our town), and I developed a little more confidence in my ability to do new things.  I had absolutely no experience with cutting hair without an electric trimmer, and our son’s cut turned out great.  He was a good guinea pig, since he’s a toddler who doesn’t have to impress anyone with his haircut.  By the time he’s heading off to school someday, I should be an expert and he should be much better at sitting still.  And since this attempt was successful, I will continue to cut his hair for as long as he’ll let me.

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  4. A Little Splurge
  • http://ultimatemoneyblog.com Mrs. Money

    Awww… weren’t you sad it was his first haircut? :) He is growing up so fast!

  • http://wilnregina.com Regina W

    I’ve been cutting my husband’s hair for over a year now. When I first started doing it, I had never cut anyone’s hair, so I was terrified of how it was going to turn out. However, I discovered it was much easier than I expected and after just a few times (I cut his hair like 4 times a year), I’ve cut my time down from 1 hr to 30ish minutes. Now cutting a girl’s hair, I’ve not tried that yet… we’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it.

  • Cat

    Aww, soon that’ll be me. My little guy still has pretty short hair, but it’ll need a trim soon enough.

  • http://naturallyfrugal.wordpress.com Chloe (Naturally Frugal)

    I cut my boyfriend’s hair for his once and it took me about an hour. I think I snipped off the tiniest amount possible and then kept working at it. I know there is a better way to do it, so maybe once I have kids I can start practicing on them.

    Great post – I love finding new things that I can do at home that would otherwise cost me much more to do out in the “real world”.

  • http://radioventriloquist.blogspot.com GC

    my husband (hee hee) cuts his own and lines up his beard. So sexy, so frugal. I’m making every effort to do my own hair also. But it’s tough. I may have to cut it to make it a little easier.

  • http://nopinkhere.wordpress.com Gabriel

    I cut my husband’s and my son’s hair too. Actually, my husband has figured out that he CAN do his himself with the trimmers. I just go in and clean up the back of his neck (not even every time). Since he cuts his every two weeks, this saves us lots of money.
    My son however hates to have his hair cut. The scissors freak him out when they touch his skin and he’s getting worse about it, not better. So I put off doing it and use bribery and TV when I do finally go for it. He refuses to have the clippers near his head and every time we go by a barbershop he tells us he hates to have his hair cut there even though he’s never been.
    Other than frustration with my son, it’s WAY easier to come up with something decent than I expected.

  • Manda

    Hey Frugal Bage-

    Do you cut your hair?? I’ve been wanting to try on my own, but I’m pretty scared. I have long, fine, wavy hair (probably like your son ;) , and I have a tendency to not like my new haircut for a couple days. Any suggestions?

  • http://jessiesmoney.blogspot.com/ Jessie

    aww, great post! It’s wonderful you’ve found some confidence through that experience.

    i’m curious, right along side manda, if you cut your own hair?

  • FrugalBabe

    I don’t cut my own hair. I have long hair, and I don’t color it or use any heat or chemicals to style it, so it only needs to be cut once or twice a year. The expense is minimal since it’s so infrequent. I can’t imagine cutting my own hair – I’d probably do ok with the front and sides, but the back might be a bit of a mess. I have always been amazed by women who can put their own hair into perfect french braids and other elaborate styles… the best I can do on myself is a ponytail.

  • http://www.veganfamilyinc.com Sheri

    I cut my whole family’s hair too (and that’s a LOT of heads!). So far, no bowl cuts :)

    Good for you for giving a wiggly one year old his first haircut!

  • http://www.outofdebtagain.com Mrs. Accountability

    Way to go! I remember when my boys were little and I cut their hair the first time. I saved locks of their hair, and took before and after pictures. My oldest has alopecia areata, he started losing his hair when he was about three and is now completely bald. I still cut my husband’s and youngest son’s hair. I grow my own hair long and just twist it up in a bun. I’ve actually gotten very good at doing the french braid (on my own hair) years ago, it’s really easy once you get the hang of it and looks so neat! I taught myself the french twist, too, so easy to get a sophisticated look. Many of your posts about your little one are a trip down memory lane for me, thanks Frugal Babe. :-)

  • http://ulla20080622@gmail.com ed hardy

    I saved locks of their hair, and took before and after pictures. My oldest has alopecia areata, he started losing his hair when he was about three and is now completely bald. I still cut my husband’s and youngest son’s hair.

  • http://www.grovesfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com/ Kelly

    I cut my husband’s hair, if you can call it that. Every couple of weeks I go over his whole head with clippers with a 3 guard. Super simple and almost impossible to screw up. Definitely saves us some dough. Although, my mom was a hairdresser back in the day, when my sisters and I were growing up. She has a full salon in their basement. My husband would occasionally have my mom cut his hair, before he started doing the clipper over the whole head. And I have only paid once to have my hair done, which was when I was living away at college and decided on a whim to chop it all off. Otherwise, I head to my mom’s and we spend the afternoon chatting and I get my hair done and we have a great meal and Grandma and Grandpa get to see Chickie and everything is great. When it comes time for her to get a hair cut, I will probably just have my mom do it. Her hair is getting really long, but she is a girl, so that’s great!

  • http://www.thriftylittleblog.com Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog

    I’ve been to scared to cut my boyfriend’s hair (although he has offered), but I haved tried to shave my dog before. After a little practice, I’m pretty good and I save about $50 by doing it myself.

  • http://negotiationboard.com/ jennifer888

    Thanks for this article. It has given me the confidence to try to tackle my 13-month-old girl’s hair instead of spending at the kid salon. There will have to be plenty of distraction involved…

  • Miss T

    If your husband has a regular barber go and ask if you can watch and get a quick lesson. My husband was in the military and had the same barber for the last 7 years. When he was retiring I went in with him and she graciously walked me through the process and told me which clippers to use, etc. She did an excellent job and knew exactly what style he liked.

    So for the past year I’ve been cutting his hair – it’s gone from so-so to almost perfect! A good lesson goes a LONG way! :)

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