Haircutting for Dummies

My stepdaughter has been cutting my hair for years, and mostly does a good job. I got this book for her, and the last haircut I got was the best she's ever done. Lots of stuff about cutting women's hair in here, too.

I've been growing my hair for over five years. And the only way I've been able to do it is to avoid hairdressers entirely. No matter how strongly you tell any of them that you just want a tiny trim, no matter how sincerely they promise to cut "just an inch," sheaves of hair wind up on the salon floor. However, my hair didn't grow 100% evenly. After five years the ends were looking pretty ragged. But I was afraid to go to a hairdresser for fear of having five years of hair growing undone. Furthermore, my hair had been in an oval cut and I wanted one straight across. But, without losing a significant amount of hair. (I did a consultation with a local hairdresser who wanted to level my hair to the length of my ex-bangs, which are at least eight inches shorter than any of the rest of my hair, and which would have given me a short cut all around.) So I finally decided to take matters into my own hands. I bought a copy of _Haircutting for Dummies._ I read the relevant sections, which turned out to be only the ones on buying tools (most of which I had), a few basic rules, and then info on the one haircut I wanted. I marked these sections for my husband, and he spent about twenty minutes reading them. Then we spent twenty minutes cutting my hair--which included setting up a chair and a mirror in the bathroom. Even though my husband had never cut hair before in his life (nor have I) I emerged with a great cut and surprisingly little hair gone. If you are in my situation, I could not recommend this book more highly.

I can't believe how great the chapter is on compact cutting. I can now layer my daughters' hair and put in a few details in less than 15 minutes. The cuts look great, too. I would have never thought to comb all the hair to one point and snip...but honestly, it really works. Amazing.

Between watching my son's barber and using this book, I am getting pretty good at cutting his hair. The book's instructions are very clear. In general, it is hard to learn how to cut hair from just reading a book by itself. But, I think this is as good as any haircutting book can be. With some patience and practice you can save alot of money.