Updated! Originally published June 23, 2014.
Over the weekend, the boys in our family (my husband and four boys) got much-needed haircuts. It probably won’t surprise you that we take care of these haircuts ourselves at home.
Cutting our family’s hair happens to be a family tradition. Growing up, my mom always cut my hair and my siblings’ hair. My mom is talented at everything creative and artsy, so even when we were older my sisters and I trusted her to cut our hair.
My husband also grew up in a family where his mom cut all the kids’ hair. When he got older he learned to cut his own hair. To this day, my husband has never paid for a haircut.
Saving Money
How much you can save depends on how much you spend!
How much do your spend monthly or yearly on haircuts in your family?
Having never paid for a men’s/boys’ haircut, here’s a rough estimate. If I paid $10 per haircut (that’s a low guess) for each of my boys (husband and 4 sons) every month, that would be $600 per year.
The clipperseasily pay for themselves after one hair cutting session at our house!
And that’s just the for the boys. There’s also two daughters and me. Girls’ and women’s haircuts are more expensive, though they may not be as frequent.
Crunch a few numbers and see how much you could save by cutting your family’s hair.
Investments
The investment to cut your own hair is pretty minimal. It will pay for itself in a haircutor two. For girls’ hair, you’ll need a pair of basic, affordablehaircutting scissors
or even a simple haircutting kit that includes both straight scissors and teeth scissors. As an untrained stylist, you really don’t need anything fancy or expensive. The most important thing is to reserve your hair scissors just for hair so you don’t dull the blades.
For men and boys’ hair you’ll probably want clippers. My mom always cut my brother’s hair with scissors, but it takes more skill. Probably the best clippers are the ones your grandma used to cut your dad’s hair. They were made to last for generations and actually do!
If you didn’t inherit any clippers, there are many affordable name brand hair clippers on the market.Wahl, the classic brand your grandma’s clippers were, makes a very affordable set (currently priced at under $40 on Amazon) that consistently receives great reviews.
Learning
If you’re new to cutting hair, be brave and give it a try. Between blog tutorials and YouTube videos, you have plenty of instruction at your finger tips. The best thing about hair is that it grows back. Even if you make a mistake, you’ll have another chance to try in a couple of weeks!
If you start cutting your children’s hair when they are young, your skills will increase as their awareness increases. When they’re young, they couldn’t care less about what their hair looks like. If you tell them they look good, they will believe you! We have teenagers now but we’re still doing haircuts at home. My oldest son will show Mike a picture of a haircut he wants and Mike does a pretty good job at figuring out how to make it happen thanks to lots of years of practice.
Is it Worth it to YOU?
For some people, paying big bucks to get their hair cut (and colored, styled, etc) at the salon is worth every penny. It’s their form of self-care. That’s fine! We all have things that we’re willing to give up and things we just don’t want to sacrifice. If you are trying to find ways to reduce your spending in order to reach your financial goals, cutting your family’s hair at home is a great way to save money.
How About You?
- How much and how often do you pay for haircuts?
- Do you (or have you) cut your family’s hair to save money?
(top photo) All my kids came out with a head-full of hair, but this little guy takes the cake. He got his first haircut at 4 months (but obviously needed it much sooner).
(bottom photo) It took me a while to decide to finally cut my daughter’s hair. I didn’t want to cut off her cute little baby curls for fear they wouldn’t grow back (they didn’t). Finally, just before she turned three I cut her hair for the first time.
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