How to Cut Your Hair

I was going through posts that I hadn't published yet and found this one...

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I haven't had a real haircut in almost a year, and since that time, my hair has been thinned out and grown back a little strange, I have quite a few split ends, and overall, it's probably a good idea to get a haircut. Here's the thing though: I hate almost every haircut I get, so I never go back to the same person. 

Needless to say, my hair hasn't been looking spectacular, but I have to wear it up for work, so it doesn't bother me on a regular basis. I've evened up the ends a little, cut my bangs here and there, and put a few layers in the front over the past few months, but I knew that I could use a real trim. 

So I asked around for recommendations, and nobody knew a good hairstylist. So then I googled for instructions and found a YouTube video that was very easy and straightforward. I can't remember what I typed in to find it, so I can't link to it, but here's what I did. 

I straightened my hair. I have think, naturally wavy hair and I think that wetting my hair before it's cut is probably why I've disliked my past haircuts. So I straightened it... this is midway through.

And this is what we were working with. Uneven ends, and since I lost a lot of hair last summer, the ends were pretty thin. I began with a thin bottom section of hair and brought it to the front.

I used my fingers to guide the scissors on one side of my hair, then grabbed the second section and cut it at the same place I'd snipped the first hair off.

And this is what came of that (it was even, I promise) - so much better!

I then continued straightening and cutting layer by layer, brushing my hair to the front and using that bottom layer of hair as my guide.

This picture from the back is not accurate, because I know that it wasn't uneven at the end, but maybe this was taken halfway through? Either way, I probably need to get layers cut into it by someone who knows what they're doing. Also, I don't wear it straight, so "mostly even" works.

(I took a sort of better picture of it straightened later...)

I don't like my hair stick-straight (I think it's too long to look good that way on me), so I curled it with my straightener. That's the only way I curl my hair and it takes five minutes and stays all day. I didn't use hairspray because I wanted my hair to fall out a little bit and just look like a nice wave later.

I finished that up with a waterfall braid in the back because I was feeling fancy.

I only cut off about two inches (in some places I didn't cut that much; I was just evening things out), so even I can barely tell. One of my regular customers noticed one day when my hair was in a ponytail though: "Oh, you cut off your hair for summer, huh?" "Um, I guess so. It was really just a trim." "Well that's a shame. I really liked it long!" I wasn't sure what to say to that!

I would do this again, most definitely. Number one, because I don't mind getting mad at myself for a bad haircut, but I really hate spending money and then being dissatisfied with the results. And secondly, it was really easy to do and not as scary as cutting hair when it's wet. I cut Carson's hair nine times out of ten, but this was a thousand times easier (probably because you can make mistakes and no one will know on my hair). 

A Series of Updos.

I thought about doing a little series on hairstyles, but then I realized... I am not good at explaining these sorts of things. Still, I thought that it would be fun to gather a bunch of recent hairstyles I've done as ideas in case you're feeling inspired, and as a reminder for me so I can see what I've done. And again, I'm not good at describing what I do, so forgive me!

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For my job, I have to wear my hair up. If my hair is straightened, I'm fine with putting it in a ponytail. But if it's in its regular state? BAD, bad idea. It's nothing but a wavy mess (you'd be amazed how much it looks like Medusa). I also like to be able to see some hair from the front... I don't know why, but if it's all back and there's nothing interesting on the side or top, it feels strange to me. So I do a lot of experimenting and use a lot of bobby pins (it's thick) and here are some more recent styles I've done lately. 

And PS - best bobby pins? These ones from Sally Beauty Supply. It's $7 for 300 and they don't "stretch out" and they have the best grip. Mine are bronze, but they also come in black. 

The poofy bun. 

 This was originally tighter on my head, but it kind of hurt and looked funny. I just gathered my hair into a high ponytail, secured it with an elastic and twisted it into a bun, secured with half a million pins. I don't typically look in a mirror to do these, and if I do, I can't see both the front and back at the same time, so I use my iPhone to see if the bun is straight or what's going on back there.

The braided updo.

This one is more of a favorite, but I haven't been able to replicate it again well. I braided the front part, then gathered the rest of my hair into a bun and secured it. I have a really high forehead (read: I look like I'm balding if my hair is pulled back tightly. No really.), so I loosely gathered my bangs and tucked them into the braid like they were supposed to be there. I have a love hate relationship with my bangs, but lately it's been a little more "hate" - they get in the way.

To the side.

This one isn't perfectly executed. If my hair were shorter, I think it would have been nicer because it would have looked simpler. It's a low messy updo to the side (I gathered pieces of hair, twirled them around my finger, and pinned them individually), and I tried to swoop my bangs in to get them out of the way. The bangs were repinned about a thousand times because they didn't look like I wanted them to, and I still didn't love it. 

Half-crown.  

A half crown braid back into a bun.

Side bun. 

Oftentimes, I'll braid one side and twist the other into a side bun. I like this because it's an easy thing to do and can be a beach hairstyle or a fancy updo. 

Here's a side shot... this is what I do in side braids or side buns to help it all stay secure.

I hate the part of my bangs that's hanging down, but the side bun actually worked.

Waterfall braid.

This isn't an updo, but it was a fun not-at-work style. I gathered the very top section of my hair and did a braid that just went across the top... it's like a french braid except you start on one side and gather hair just from the top, not the bottom at all. Google "waterfall braid" and you'll see tons of inspiration. 

Crown Braid.

This crown braid always makes my arms ache to do, but it doesn't take very long. I do an inside out braid (it has another name, but I can't remember it) starting just like I do for the waterfall braid, but gathering the hair only on the outsides... this one took a lot of frustrated practice to do the first time, and I don't do it very often because I think the side profile looks too flat. It's fun though, and looks like I should be frolicking through a field. 

Twisty braided bun.I'd been wearing my hair like this all day before I thought to have Carson take a picture. This is one of the easiest braids out there. I part my hair like usual, then braid the side with less of a part in a little braid, all the way down. My hair is coarse, so I can braid it to the end without it unraveling. Then I do an inside out braid on the top and down the other side, all the way down. I gather all that hair and make a bun. I think that the braided ends make it look interesting.

Side braid.

This is a more common hairstyle and one you've probably seen pictures of a million times. A lot of people can just gather their hair into a side braid, but mine won't stay that way, so I start on one side with a french braid going toward the bottom of my hair and add my hair, braiding it till the end. This picture is a year old, as evidenced by our old apartment in the background.

 

A variation of that side braid is the one where I braid the top part of my hair and work it into a side braid. Sometimes I'll braid both sides and make them go into this braid. 

Or I'll twist one side and braid the other. Whatever works to make sure the thing stays.

Pretzel braid. 

My favorite named braid, and mostly because I love soft pretzels. Worst picture of it ever, but I divided my hair in two, french braided one side, twisted the other into a braid and made a figure eight on the side, so I guess it's a side bun variation. I love this one, especially when it's close to the base of my neck. 

Twisted chignon. 

This one... well, I like it but I'm not sure what I was trying to do. I started off pulling my hair like I was putting it half up. I twisted it to secure it, then pinned it. I braided the rest into a french braid, then pinned all of that up. It doesn't really look like that, I know... There was some twisting involved. 

Zig-zag braid.

This is another older picture, but I do this zig-zag braid quite a lot. I start with a waterfall braid, just taking hair from the front. When I reach the side, I just grab hair from that top underlayer (so, the "front" again, if that makes sense), and then the third time, I grab hair from the bottom, so that I'm getting all my hair. I can leave the end of the braid in a side braid, but it's usually pretty thin looking by that time, so I coil the hair up at the bottom and pin it. It takes a second or two to learn, but it's not a time consuming hairstyle. I find that I struggle more with what the front looks like than anything.

Bad Haircut.

Once upon a time, Carson needed his hair cut. It was okay on top, but the edges were getting a little long. Instead of just fixing it where it needed fixing, we decided that the whole head needed a trim. I've cut Carson's hair many times before, but this time, something just did not work. He wanted it shorter on the sides, longer on top. And we decided from looking at it that we should use the 3/4 inch hair trimmer guide.

We were wrong. 

We could not stop laughing when I finally looked at it from afar and Carson saw it in the mirror. 

It was absolutely terrible. Worse in person, if you can fathom that.

So now it's all the same length because we could not fix that and he looks a lot less like this guy.

Hairspray

This is a post with different hairstyles I've tried in the past few months. No words, just pictures. Shocking.