I am interested in the hair-related decisions facing us worldwide, and I know I am not alone in this. The home haircuts! The home dyeing! The decisions about what to do with the greys, if you normally dye them! The BANGS! I am so interested! I am especially interested in PANDEMIC-RELATED EXPERIMENTS (i.e., seeing what it looks like if the grey/natural grows out).
Elizabeth says more than half of her (high-school-aged) friends have already done a blue/pink/purple type color, but she may be exaggerating. I nearly cut my own hair, but then had the kind of perfect hair day that typically happens the morning of a haircut, and so I didn’t follow through. Then I discovered my hair was now long enough to braid it without the prickly braid-end bothering the back of my neck, so I’m leaving it alone for now.
We were a single-income family with a lot of kids, and ANY family not awash in extra money has to find the ways they personally find it easiest to reduce spending, and one of the ways we picked is that I learned to do basic haircuts. (My mother-in-law, inadvertently cementing my decision: “Well, WE were poor but I ALWAYS found money for a barber. I mean, let me tell you, I ALWAYS found money for THAT.”) I have a Wahl clipper set I can use for Paul and the boys, and I have basic haircutting scissors I can use for Elizabeth and me. In recent years I have relished having Paul and the boys go to a barber shop instead (the barber shop does a quicker, cleaner, and usually better job, and also I am glad not to have to do it), but last weekend I cut Paul’s hair in the driveway and it was nice to already know how. (Briefly I thought, “Oh! This is something I can offer to my friends and their families!!” Then remembered: “Oh. Wait. No.”)
I’ll be able to cut Edward’s hair, too, when it needs it: he just has a basic boy cut. Rob and Henry both have lonnnnnng hair: I can cut it if they suddenly feel the need to go shorter, but I wouldn’t normally expect them to need haircuts anytime soon, since it’s already been a year or two. Elizabeth has long hair too, and wears hers blunt-cut, and has already grown out her bangs, so that’s easy, and she generally just wants a trim if anything.
But I have been wondering about William. He has in the last year or so developed Style. He gets his hair cut every three weeks or so, and he has a hair dryer and a selection of hair products. I offered ahead of time to see if I could figure out how to cut it: it’s a normal clippers cut around the sides, and I think I could at least make an attempt at using the scissors on the longer top part, if I could mess with it a bit and see how long it is in various sections. But he declined my offer.
Then one morning about a week ago he took my clippers kit and used to it trim his own sides. (He also sorted the clipper guards into labeled baggies: 1-4, 5-8, and “other.”) Again I offered assistance (especially when I saw how he’d managed on the back of his head, and that he hadn’t done the edges), and again he declined. And a few days ago there was a lot of door-slamming and stomping around upstairs, and when he came down he’d scissors-trimmed the top. It looked pretty good, considering!
And then yesterday evening after dinner he went upstairs and came down with an all-over 1/8th-inch clippers cut. He does not want us to make a fuss about it. Our feeling is that a blonde-haired blue-eyed white boy should be a little careful about choosing to have a shaved head, but he points out that no one is going to see him for awhile, so…okay. This buys him some time so he doesn’t have to keep stressing out about managing a cut he doesn’t seem happy managing. He says what he’s going to do as it grows out is just run clippers around the sides and let the top grow longer.
TELL ME YOUR PLANS: What is your household doing about their HAIR? If anyone regularly dyes their hair, or regularly dyes the greys, WHAT IS THE PLAN? If anyone has a pixie cut, WHAT IS THE PLAN? Is anyone using this time to do something hair-awkward, like growing out dye/bangs/grey/pixie, or growing a beard/mustache, or SHAVING a beard/mustache? (Paul is talking about shaving off his beard/mustache, and I am squinty about it.)
We have two types of hair-having people in our house. My husband is very low-maintenance. The clippers, set to #1, all around. He does not have any hair on the top of his head, so this is easy. I do NOT like to cut people’s hair, but in this instance, I will do the needful, and it will be fine.
My hair, on the other hand! It has always been fine, and thin, and getting older hasn’t helped things. To combat this, I get regular highlights, which make my hair more texture-y, and give it some much-needed lift. It also has the added bonus of giving some blonde color to my dark brown hair, and I rather like that.
I’m currently in the second week of not having my regular maintenance, and I can see where this is going. I will NOT cut my bangs or any other part of my hair. I know my limitations, and it can only come to grief. As someone who does not wear makeup or care about clothes, my hair is my one vanity. Oh well, as you have so aptly stated, who will see it? Exactly NO ONE BUT ME.
I already had the clippers and scissors so I just cut my youngest son’s hair in the backyard. My older boy has been resisting a hair trim, but I think he’ll come around. Both of them have Standard Issue Boy Hair. My youngest son’s hair is the trickier of the two since it is so straight, but he’s more forgiving. I’m waiting to see what my husband decides to do. He’s threatening to go Mullet on me. And he’s already trying to grow a beard. I wish he wouldn’t. He keeps trying to stab me with his whiskers.
My daughter has a short, stylish haircut that was in need of a trim when this all went down. We’re taking a watch-and-wait approach. For now it’s growing out pretty well and I’m hoping I can ease her into a bob as this goes on.
I don’t really have a “cut” as much as “hair”. I’m lucky that it’s easy to grown out a shoulder length bob. I’m wondering if I can teach my husband to cut it for me?
There’s actually a local stylist who will walk you through an at-home haircut over FaceTime. I’m thinking of taking her up on that when it’s time for my husband’s haircut.
I have an undercut (back and sides clipper ed, long on top, very lesbian) and I have my partner clipper the back and sides. I’m leaving the top long and just growing it out I guess. I’m very glad we got clippers back in September and had the chance to figure them out. Also I wear a headscarf in public anyway so nobody is seeing my hair except at home. And, as a drag queen, I have a selection of wigs that I could wear if I wanted to.
My choices are probably a lot less complicated to make than yours, because I’m just a single person with long-ish hair. Here’s what I do: I started colouring my own hair with non-permanent dye (that still seems to be kind of permanent, enough so that there is a clear distinction between previously coloured hair and new hair) at least five years ago. It wasn’t because of greys so much, which I didn’t mind but were there, but my hair had over the years turned into a grey-ish blonde that just looked seriously drab. It took me a while to figure out how to best go about doing it myself, especially the back of the head, but it works well now. I even figured out a way to need less of it (from 1.5 packs to 1 pack) when they went and almost doubled the price a year ago. The nerve.
With cutting, I used to occasionally go to a hairdresser who did a nice job, but also never one that was so amazing I wished I could freeze my hair the way it was right after. So when money got tighter some time back, I first simply didn’t go for a longer time, and eventually when I started to feel really unkempt, I looked up Youtube-videos and picked one that a) didn’t take forever and 2) where the process seemed doable and the result looked reasonably nice. I likely could’ve spent a lot more time choosing, but my main goal was not to look like the thing from the woods anymore, so that was ok. I had some basic hair-cutting scissors, and again found the part where you take care of hair in the back a bit more difficult to follow correctly, but it was fine. My next attempt will be soon, please wish me luck.
I actually coloured my hair just yesterday, because I realized I didn’t like looking at myself/my hair in the mirror anymore. Since there is precious little variation in what I currently get to look at, I decided looking good for myself is high enough on my list of things that might make me feel better that I’d do it, even if I meet no one else. And I am pleased with the result.
Judith, are you experienced enough now that you can cut the back without video guidance? I’d be really interested in the video(s) you selected for the learning, I need to give my own longer-than-my-shoulders hair a trim, and lose motivation trying to dig through all the YouTube videos :)
Oh man, my hair. I have sort of an ombre thing going on, dark natural roots but with most of my hair being blonde. It was already pretty brassy before this started but now it’s AWFUL. I paid my stylist for a phone consult and she ordered me some toner and I’m going to do it at home. If this goes on for a very long time I’ll probably cut it to the shoulder and dye it back to my natural color.
I can and have trimmed it myself, I just have an all one length blunt cut.
My hair was due for a haircut last week and since it is quite short, it’s becoming quite a situation. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, no one can see me, who cares. I cut Ryan’s hair myself (pictures and story on Instagram if you missed it) and it went…okay. Matt has always cut his own (shaved head and besides, there are some parts that don’t require cutting anymore) and Elizabeth and Alex have long enough hair that it doesn’t matter. It’s really only me and Ryan and we will make it.
I encouraged Noah to get his hair cut maybe the second week he was home (he’s been home for four weeks) because I thought the barber might close soon and he laughed, but he did it and I’m glad because he doesn’t get it cut very often and he won’t need it again for months. (It grows up and out rather than down so it’s a matter of how big he wants it.)
Beth’s hair is longer than she likes it and she said she was considering letting North watch some You-tube videos and cut it but I’m honestly not sure if that was a joke or not. She does need to be seen on video conference calls, so that could be rash. Then again, having her hair too long makes her cranky and we don’t need that.
North has been growing their hair out because they are planning to shave their head this summer and they want the change to be as dramatic as possible (this is a pre-corona decision). It’s creeping down below their collar, which is the longest it’s been in years.
I have short hair that I usually get trimmed every four weeks (today should have been the day), so I will be into the cranky, wisps in my face stage very soon. I started to knit a headband the other night, so I can at least keep it out of my eyes. I don’t color my hair, so I don’t have to worry about that, but I don’t have the nerve to cut it myself, not yet, anyway!
We also have a Wahl clipper set, 3 boy’s haircuts add up quick. My husband has been cutting their hair for a year or so. Now thanks to the pandemic I have to cut his hair too – NOT a natural talent let me tell you. It is a fraught time. I keep seeing these articles about getting along with your spouse when stuck together 24-7; do not attempt to be their barber should be the main advice. Especially if their personal appearance is of vital importance to their emotional equilibrium. Aaargh.
I have long straight hair, usually trim my own ends anyway so will just continue.
Oh, I’m so excited! I was going to write a blog post on this too! Because, here’s the thing: I get my hair trimmed and coloured every 4-5 weeks. Which means that by the time my hair appointment rolls around, I have a wide stripe of grey, with a white halo around my face, surrounded by faded-orange hair. It’s not a great look. I am not, like many of my friends, using this as an excuse to go natural. NO. I have bought a few boxes of hair colour at the grocery store and I’m going to give it a whirl. We shall see. Also, I have been wondering for months – since I grew my layers out – if I should grow my hair long again (it’s above my shoulders now) and I guess the answer is YES. As for the guys in the house, well. I guess they are going to end up like Shaggy from Scooby Doo
I have a pixie cut that was in need of a trim and some, let’s say, style guidance back in early March. Now the situation is getting a bit ridiculous. I had my husband trim up the back of my head (right to the hairline). I guess I’m going in for the long slog to the bob stage.
I have had a Wahl clipper set for years for my husband and boys. My older daughter is growing out an undercut and I just cut the back to help her settle into a nice chin length cut. My younger daughter is just growing hers out.
You are not alone!! I’ve had a pixie cut of different styles for over 20 years and then a pandemic hit! It was turning into a mullet, so at one point I buzzed it to deal with it thinking that by the time I need my hair to have a professional’s touch COViD would be receding… WRONG!!!
I had always been good a cutting hair, I cut my spouses hair and he seems to like it, but I cannot say the same for his skills (sorry hon!)…. so I got a bit daring… trimmed the front and sides as little as possible and used a clipper (on my own) to deal with the nape of my neck…. its growing now into a bob of sorts (and I can live with that). I will likely grow my hair out so that Ill never have to worry about a mullet crisis during trying times again!
We are fortunate in this situation — my daughter and I can go literal months without haircuts (with varying results of scraggliness, but still) and my husband only in the past year or two started getting his hair cut by a stylist; prior to that, he cut his own hair and still has the clippers. I am (mildly) concerned about the grey being out of hand by whatever time it is safe to go back to some sort of “normal.” But not enough (yet) to compel me to try at-home hair dye, which I have never done before.
Same same. Scared to do home hair dye but am going to be fully gray by the time this is over if I don’t. :/
My 15-yo boy is looking might shaggy, and husband says he’s letting his grow out to look like Steve Stevens in the ‘80s. Ha!
I do a basic trim for my two girls. It’s my husband who is going to be difficult. I used to own a clipper and did his hair but this was a dozen years ago. The clipper is long gone.
He likes it short and I would happily buy new clippers except our equivalent to Ebay in NZ has a no deliveries of non essential items policy. I guess I am not yet desperate enough to buy it elsewhere, but we are only on day 11.
When I dropped off the weekly shopping for my parents, my dad also asked if I had clippers. Mum has been attempting to cut his hair but it’s not quite the same as a clippered cut.
Suzanne I had to Google Steve Stevens…ha!
Oops, meant to address this to Lee!
I am very low maintenance. After almost three years living here, I finally found a hair cut person I adore and she chopped my hair. I was excited to be able to keep it shorter and was due for my first trim in March. Oh well, I don’t have to do anything to it and will just get a bigger trim whenever we are able. My 13 yr old daughter is in a similar boat. Not ideal but can wait.
My husband, on the other hand, is the issue. Ideally he’d get his hair cut every two weeks, four weeks if it’s a real disaster. He got it cut right before we became homebound and he is stressed about his hair already. He is Very Particular and wants to get clippers so I can do it at home for him. I do NOT want the pressure of messing up his hair when I already know it is something I am not good at. It’s definitely going to be an issue here.
I just wrote a post about how lucky the boys are that no one ended up with a mohawk when I cut their hair while furious that Lad flew back to NY without our permission. (Long story- that was 2 weeks ago). Like you I have always cut the hair in the family. Not mine but I can wait. I do not dye my hair.
I thoroughly messed up Curly’s hair with a thinning shears in May and it is not a bad thing to be stuck home while we continue to wait for it to grow back.
Our two girls and myself are the easiest. We all have straight fine hair without bangs and the girls are young so they don’t have a style. I just cut the 7y hair because she knotted it and then ripped out a clump so I cut off the ends so it’s not scraggly. The little will likely be fine without her hair being trimmed until we can actually see our stylist again (we all go together so every so often I ask him to trim their hair). Mine generally grows out fine with the cut I have. I can’t manage to style my hair without needing an extra pair of arms/hands so cutting my own hair is not up for consideration. At varying times I consider doing something different with it while we’re all home – dying it a random color or something – but then thinking about sourcing the color and actually doing it and having to clean up the inevitable mess brings me back to my senses.
My husband used to be somewhat easy as he kept his hair long, but dyed a different color. However, he went short a while ago so I guess we’ll see what he ends up doing. We can only darken up the color where his hair has already bleached so he’ll look progressively more and more grown out. If this continues into summer, I can imagine cutting the color off so he keeps the shorter style; his hair is somewhat curly so that would theoretically hide any mistakes on my part.
No one in my house iad mentioned it, and I hope they don’t, because last fall I gave away the Wahl set I had from when the boys were little and didn’t like a barber.
I still have some scissors, I guess, if things get dire.
This is me. When we were young and broke I used to cut my husband’s hair (not much of it to cut) and later my son’s. But I haven’t done that for a decade and don’t have the clippers any more. I’m also thinking I’m not sure whether I have hair cutting scissors.
My own hair is usually cut every six weeks, and I was due when this started. I will just look bushy and unkempt until my layers finish doing whatever they do. Worse things happen at sea.
I bought clippers to cut my son’s hair when he was a toddler. About 3 years ago he decided that instead of my clipper skills, he wanted a long and floppy on top and clippered short on the sides hair cut. My husband was apparently never impressed enough with my cutting skills because he continued to go to random people at the Great Clips near his office. He has been continuing to shave because he spends all winter with a beard and doesn’t want to re-grow it right now. We will see when/if they get desperate enough for me to cut their hair. My daughter and I both have shoulder length layered bobs with no bangs and we will be fine waiting for our stylist to cut it eventually.
Excellent talk. I’ll be taking the good scissors to my already Too Much Hair. I seem to have decided I don’t care if it goes white, because it was red and so is just fading to a golden marmalade? My four year old already needed a haircut a month ago and is going from beatle moptop to urchin with alacrity. We do have a clippers for my husband (who has learnt to do his own, like a good prepper) so these will be taken out one future day when he cant see anymore, and we’re feeling brave.
I’d already been growing out my hair, and I color it at home, so I’m fine as long as all the salon-dyees don’t create a shortage of home color kits. But my husband has beautifully wavy silver hair with lots of cowlicks that takes real skill to cut. As in, 9 out of 10 stylists get it wrong. I’m way too afraid to cut it myself – I used to trim my girls’ long hair and bangs and had to use the scotch tape trick to get it even. So he’s just going to look shaggy for a while.
I have had a pixie cut for 20 years and decided last fall to start growing it out, just to see. Around about March 10th I decided I was Over It and that all the things I hated about my hair had not in fact changed over the past 20 years. And then we received our shelter-in-place order before I could see my stylist so I am now stuck with what I am calling my Chris Farley cut. As much as I hate it, however, no part of me is tempted to cut it myself so on we will go.
I had just gotten the worlds shortest pixie, so imma be able to ignore my own hair for a while. Thank the lordt. RoommateHubby has a cut I could do, but he doesn’t want me to. It was already long before the shelter-in-place order came down, so now it’s downright gnarly. I think he enjoys looking like a bit of a maniac. Malachi has mixed hair and I’ve been the one cutting it for a couple years. So if he decides he wants to go shorter I’ll just sit outside with him and trim curl by curl.
I’m very lucky in that I don’t have grays, and while I do go to a very fancy (read: expensive) stylist to do my color and cut, it’s only 3-4 times a year, and I’ve got a while before I need it. I go blonder, but I’m already blonde, so any regrowth looks fine. My current style is an asymmetric lob without layers or bangs, so it doesn’t look weird as it grows, IMO.
I’m a little more worried about my husband. He has a Style, and there is no way I’d try to trim his hair. Luckily, he got a haircut like 2 days before lockdown started. At worst, his hair will start to look like Justin Bieber’s old style, but since he’s not working right how, he wears a hat literally every single time he leaves the house anyway.
My bangs are so long now that I clipped them up the other day in barrettes. My son freaked out and told me he couldn’t look at me- even after I showed him pics of a younger, bang-less me.
I am using the time to see how I feel about my grays. I don’t think the video conferencing cameras are good enough to make me feel self conscious with colleagues yet.
So, so far, just letting my style just fade away…
I’m luck in the hair dept. I can go forever without a cut, and my color is my own. My feel, on the other hand, are quickly becoming hooves without their regular pedicure.
My FEET, of course.
Of all the trivial things that are getting me down during isolation, this is the worst! I have side swept bangs that need a trim every six weeks or so. I last got them trimmed in February, and the woman cut them wayyyyy shorter than I wanted, so they’ve been growing back since. I should have gotten them trimmed in March, but I generally try to stretch as long as I can between trims and they didn’t realllly need it. (Dear self, if you’re having a baby at the end of March, just do all the things before that!) Anyway, now my bangs are rapidly reaching the point where they flop in my eye and drive me crazy, and there is no end in sight! My husband offered to trim them, but noooooo. So I may need to figure out a different hairstyle v soon. (Also apparently all my hair is going to fall out soon anyway? Anyone know when that happens? Baby is two weeks old.)
Ha, I remember my hair falling out, I think it was at about 3 months, maybe? I was shocked and dismayed, no one warned me, and I was loving my long, shiny, lush pregnancy hair!
Also received no warning about my hair falling out at the onset of menopause. I quit taking birth control pills at age 50 and bam! I’m now 52 and trying to grow out a very noticeable 3 inch-long layer within my below-shoulder, all one length curly hair. Good thing salons are closed, I was getting tempted to do a big chop.
fwiw I had hair loss when I went off birth control in my 20s. After I had kids (at 29 and 33) it was the same. I know gradual hair loss is a part of menopause but I would bet the birth control made it worse/more sudden. Why don’t they tell us??
I used to stretch out my haircolor-and-cut appointments to every six weeks or longer, but I have so much gray now that lately I had been calling my hairdresser at three weeks and going promptly every four. I’m at two weeks out now and already have roots showing. Next week it will get really obvious. My husband has wanted me to stop coloring for years, because he thinks I will look like Rogue from the X-Men. What I am really going to look like is a badger or a skunk.
I actually LOL’d because H started greying in his late 20s but he did it in the dignified/cool way – at the temples first so he looked distinguished and even if we grew out his hair he could have pulled a Woverine-type look. If I stopped dying my hair, I’d have a wide white/grey stripe at the top just like a skunk. I don’t claim to know a lot about comic book characters, but I’m pretty sure that none of them have a grey/white stripe at the top of their head right on their part (not cool ones anyhow…)
Exactly, Maggie!
Hats are the answer here for now. My husband gets trimmed up every 4-6 weeks, and about the same for our 10yo. The 10yo has a hard-part, stylish cut that I won’t touch. I don’t get cuts often and made the unfortunate decision to get bangs in mid-February. I can disguise them or clip them back pretty well until they grow out. I have used box dye for ages. If I get an itch for a change, I’ll add a box of color to my grocery order.
I did buy clippers for our standard poodles who were due for grooming when this started. I’m easing in to trimming their curls because they track in dirt, get hot, and are difficult to brush the longer it gets.
I couldn’t stand mine a second longer and took the scissors to it. I have zero skills, have never been a girly type, but I own caps. I typically wear it very, very short in the summer, so I tried to leave enough so it can be repaired by my stylist, although she will roll her eyes. Lucky for me, I have seen that behavior before (think teenage girl) and managed to live through it. Chances are I can do so again. Meanwhile, I am alone in the country and am seeing no one, might as well be comfortable.
Meanwhile, I want to express sincere gratitude to you Swistle, and to those who comment here. You are a huge part of my sanity these days. Thank you.
I cut my husband’s hair for the first time about ten days ago. He usually has a cut every two weeks and is particular. We do have a clipper set and thankfully he knew which number to use where, generally. Think former military guy with a civilian but still military-esque cut, which is what he is. It turned out… fine. No one would point and laugh. He is a fan of ball caps anyway.
Mine is to my shoulders in long layers. I had an appointment for last week which obviously cancelled, but I can probably go a couple months before things get too bad. I don’t color my hair. I would however very much like an eyebrow wax. That situation is becoming unpleasant.
I had an appointment booked to have my bob length hair cut into a pixie (have done this about 3 times so far, my husband is pretty used to the oscillation) the day we shut down. Three weeks in I am feeling this was a good coincidence… Back when I had an undercut I was happy for my husband to keep it in line with his beard trimmers, but I feel a full pixie might be tough to maintain.
I plan to just keep letting my hair grow, and if the tufties on my neck start to annoy me, maybe cut in my undercut again. I do have some hair cutting scissors so maybe if it starts getting a bit much I can trim my ends. But to be honest, I spent a lot of time with it braided off my face anyway.
My husband’s hair grows super fast and thick and at awkward angles it is difficult to cut so it doesn’t stick out at the sides. He keeps threatening to shave his head a la William, but as of yet hasn’t. He has decided he is going to grow his beard long again rather than keep clipping it. I give that decision about another two weeks before he starts getting irritated again!
Who knew this would be such a consideration!!
My hair is a short bob that I get cut every 7-8 weeks or so. I got it cut the week before the shut down (like March 12th), so I’m good to go for a while still. I suspect that it will start to drive me crazy in a few weeks. But it won’t be that bad. I don’t color my hair, but I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few weeks examining my hair and wondering how gray it is. (I have light brown hair where the gray kind of blends in and the few gray hairs I have are the same texture as my regular hair.)
This DID get me to thinking about my parents. My Dad keeps his hair fairly short and my mom has a very short hair cut. I know she had an appointment the week after I did, so she’s probably good for a while, but she has the type of hair that never really grows down it kind of grows out. ;)
Husband thankfully received a Flowbee for his recent birthday so he does it himself. College kid with a fancy haircut shaved his head with clippers the very night he came home. I have super thick wavy/curly hair that I usually pay someone an absurd amount of money to cut 3x a year and… it’s already looking a little triangle-y. I’ll just be doing ponytail and baseball cap at some point.
I have purchased several headbands. I need to stretch them out because I have a big head and a lot of hair, so after awhile I get a headache. the headbands are saving me right now.
I fortunately have pretty easy hair: shoulder-length, pretty straight, no layers, no dye routine. I can either give it a very tiny trim if the split-end situation gets untenable or just let it go and grow it out a bit. Either approach should be fine, though hopefully I remain this zen about it a month down the road.
My husband has thick, curly hair that he keeps pretty short with regular trips to a particular barber he likes. It’s already getting a little shaggier than he normally prefers, but we have agreed for the sake of our relationship that I will not be giving any haircuts. Good news for me is that I like his hair shaggy. I cannot say the same for the beard he is currently growing to see whether it will stop being so patchy on his cheeks. (Spoiler alert: I do not think it will.)
My husband has long curly hair that he never gets cut anyway so he will be fine. I have a pixie cut that normally gets cut every six weeks. I was thinking about letting it grow out a bit but now I’m remembering how unhappy I get with it in the last week before my cut is due. Maybe I’ll order some clippers online. Fortunately I like my grey hair so I don’t have to worry about colouring it.
My sons get what I guess are ordinary boy cuts every 6 weeks or so. Fortunately they all got haircuts right before everything went sideways so we’re not desperate yet. I do not feel confident giving them a trim, so I’m tempted to wait it out. Especially my one son with corkscrew curls. We finally found someone who does a nice job with his hair and I hate to undo it. My husband shaves his own head so he’s set. I do wish he would grow out his beard while he’s not in the office, but alas it is almost summer and we live in a very hot part of the states, so I doubt it will happen. I have chin length hair that I have cut and colored every 6-8 weeks. I am going to try my best to leave it alone. There will be grays and it will be limp and sad, but I can barely style my hair, much less color it. If this mess stretches into summer I may change my tune.
It’s just me and my husband, luckily he got his hair cut before the hunker down. I was on spring break, had a day off the next week and was going to get the my hair cut-nope! I have bangs and short layers around my face, and I am absolutely kicking myself I didn’t get the cut.
I will throw something out here right now. I started going gray in high school, with the strands coming in, so I know I don’t have the same response as other people do-my great grandmother had the exact same hair color as I did (lock of hair in a family bible) and she was gray by 24. I started coloring my hair in my 30’s into first half of my 40’s. The decision to stop coloring my hair is one of the best I’ve ever made. Not to have that line at the roots? Freedom! The hardest part was growing it out. The funny thing, I get so many compliments on my hair. I will be in the grocery store and someone will stop me to say how nice it is. I never got any compliments when I was dying it. The sweetest thing? I’m a substitute teacher, and the little kids come up and touch my hair, and say “I love your hair!”. I think it reminds them of grandma, but I’ll take it!
I am lucky that my last haircut, in late January, was shorter than expected. My next appointment, in March, was just as the state was shutting down. I paid my stylist directly (had her Venmo from when she bought GS cookies!). But so far the layered grow out looks good. I may get desperate later but before I started regular hair cuts about a year ago I could go years between cuts. I am going to have to figure out my husband’s hair. We have clippers already… Our girls both want to let their hair grow anyway.
My hairstylist was fired from her salon the weekend I was supposed to have an (every six weeks) appointment with her, so it’s been at least 10, maybe 12 weeks already. I guess we are going to be shaggy up in here. She texted me a couple days ago, offering to come to the house, and just…no. But I’m going to Venmo her the price of a haircut through the duration. She’s my one regular service expense.
My son has thick curly hair, and we’d just found a stylist he liked, and to all our regrets he asked for a very small trim the last time he saw her about a month ago. He looks a bit like a Truffula tree at the moment.
My husband usually goes to the barber across the street from us. He went just before the shut down, and he has hats. We do have a set of clippers if it comes down to it. I’d just rather not.
Hear ye hear ye, everyone who wants to cut her own hair get thee a Feather Razor. So much easier than scissors. I maintain my lob with this every 6-8 weeks (I learned how on youtube). There is a learning curve but then it’s so much cheaper than the salon! I do miss having someone play with my hair, though. Hubby buzzes his hair and beard. We are cheap and it takes way less time, too.
Nothing to do with haircuts or hair care, but apparently this pandemic has caused a renewed interest in THE CAKE. Most long-time readers will know exactly which cake I am referring to. It’s featured in the NY Times today as “Made-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake” with a note that it’s vegan, but the comments all highlight the orgins of the recipe! I’m probably the 100+ person to alert you to this, but of course I immediately thought of Swistle and her loyal readership when I read the article.
I *was* all hung-ho with growing out bangs, forgoing the heat styling, forgoing makeup, letting my brows fill in to re-shape them… and likewise with the frumpy clothes and leaving piles and messes to work on a little at a time…. I was LETTING THINGS GO…
And then, Zoom. And FaceTime. And the kids’ classmates, friends, teachers, etc. are suddenly IN MY HOME (virtually) all the time. This is NOT the social distancing I had in mind!! :(
I have long hair that I trim myself maybe once a year. Trimmed last month before this all happened so I’m good. But…MY EYEBROWS. People talk about hair being their one vanity. I need to get my brows waxed every other month or else I look like my brother. Damn. Eyebrows.
I cut my husband’s hair with his beard trimmer. One son has regular boy hair and got it cut right before the salons closed. The other one really needs his hair cut but so far doesn’t want me to try it.
My husband is going to need a haircut really soon, and I’ll probably have to learn. His mother cut his hair until he went to college (it was seriously a bowl cut with man bangs, I’m sorry to say). When he got to college, he just let his hair grow past his shoulder blades for two years. Finally went to a barber when he was getting ready to go on a study abroad trip to Australia where he would be wilderness camping for extended periods of time – he didn’t want to have long hair for weeks at a time without consistent access to showers.
As for me, I had a haircut right before hairstylists were shut down in my state and I’m growing it out anyway. However! I henna my hair which is a messy and annoying process, and my moral dilemma was that the process requires disposable gloves. I’d needed to do it for a while right before the shutdown,and I wondered if it was morally questionable for me to use two of the remaining eight disposable gloves in the package I had to henna my hair. Should I be donating the whole package to PPE collection efforts? Should I be saving the gloves in case, I dunno, we have to perform an emergency home surgery or something?
I finally bit the bullet and hennaed last weekend and used two of the gloves. So now we have six left. I’m going to try to not repeat the process again for a while.
This is MY TOPIC!!! I have cut my hair for years. All styles: long, short, VERY short. Clippers and scissors. The last few years I’ve done shorter clipper cuts at the back and sides and longer at the top, flopped to the side in the summer. In the winter I scissor the whole thing and yes, I do the back by feel and by turning my head and side-eyeing as far as I can.
I work in an office and normally just lighten the top/front, but with the new work-from-home situation I’m not in meetings with senior executives besides the odd Zoom with my own management, so I’ve done some colour. It may be similar to what Elizabeth’s friends are doing, as it’s blue, purple and pink. Google “peacock ore” and chances are you’ll find pictures of rocks that are the colours of my hair. My daughter calls it “galaxy hair”.
I have often cut my daughter’s hair, and my son lets me cut his too (and I did last week). The last holdout is my husband, who normally goes to a fancy barber. I think he’ll crack though, given enough time. He shaved off his beard when this first hit, but seems to be growing it back already.
Here’s a tip that I figured out as a teenager for adding blond highlights or chunks (or, in my case, lightening the top of my entire head): there’s a kit you can get that’s normally used by women for lightening arm hair or faint fuzzy mustaches. I use that on my hair. It’s either a powder and a cream, or two creams, depending on the brand. It won’t work well for really dark hair, but it’s fine for my medium brown hair.
People are often astonished when I say I cut and colour my own hair. I was once offered $200 cash when I was on vacation in Hawaii to cut someone’s hair when she found out I did mine and my daughter’s. She said she hadn’t been able to find anyone good to cut her hair since she’d moved to Kona. I turned it down because I didn’t have the time or any of my tools, but I sure loved that she asked. It was super-flattering!
Oh hey, if you can see my avatar, that is my winter cut. The blond? Mustache lightener!
I, thankfully, had my hair trimmed and colored back to a similar shade as my natural color just before everything started here. The others in my family – not so lucky. I bought clippers – one of the last at our Target available for pickup. My husband and I both worked on our son’s hair, though he was nervous so we didn’t take a lot off. I talked my husband into letting all of kids take turns cutting his hair, then used the clippers to cut it fairly short – though not military short. My youngest desperately needed the ends of her hair evened out, so I did that one evening. Overall, everyone looks fine – but the experience is not inspiring me to want to forgo professional haircuts when they become available again in the future.
In mid-February, my thick curly hair was driving me nuts. Half of it wasn’t curling right, it wouldn’t go up and stay up in my normal ponytale/bun, it was just weird. I impulsively cut 3-4 inches off, two inches shorter than normal (turns out, half of it was an inch longer than the other. Thanks December haircut!).
It was the best decision I’ve made all year, because it is just now getting to the length I normally cut it to, and the end of March is when I would normally have gotten a haircut.
Thank goodness the kids and I got a trim in late February, so we can probably go 6 months without going absolutely crazy. My daughter has been growing her bangs out and they’re just about there, to the same length as her hair (plus she seems to have an ability to withstand much more Hair Annoyance than I do). My son just turned 3 and has a little bit of a (super cute) mullet; I have trimmed his bangs before and can do it again. I’m actually glad we didn’t get him the “traditional” short boys’ cut my husband wanted – I specifically did not want to have to get him regular haircuts, haha.
My husband is starting to go a little crazy, but he usually lets it grow pretty long then gets it clippered. We do have clippers so we can probably handle it.
I tried to trim both Chris and Felix’s hair, with 0 experience and just a quick YouTube tutorial as guidance. I succeeded in immediately shaving off one of Chris’s sideburns. Felix screams and flails the entire time clippers are near his head, so I mainly just got the hair around his ears trimmed and now he has A Very 90s situation with the short sides + floppy long hair on top look going.
Personally I’m just letting my already-fairly-long hair go and continue to get scragglier. My eyebrows are bothering me much more! I don’t have the fortitude to pluck everything that requires plucking, so they are just going to be…. very thick and unruly, I guess. But I’ll be going for an eyebrow wax even before a hair appointment when this is over.
Like you, I have some experience with home haircuts and I caught myself thinking, “I could offer these around the street” and then it was like, “Oh, no.” It’s so weird how we all have to pull together, and yet act alone. Hm.
Anyway, my husband actually clippers his own head and has been doing so for years now, so we’re all good there. My youngest daughter has a highly structured fancy hairdresser cut, swishy and shoulder length with many layers and shaping and whatnot. I offered to try to trim it but she’s decided not to risk me touching it, and to just let it grow out for as long as the pandemic lasts – when she was very young she had long hair so it’ll be a return to using all the hairclips and elastics and headbands in her drawer, I guess.
My middle daughter has a shaved undercut with a longer bit on top and she let it grow for quite some time before agreeing to let me have a crack at it. I would say it went – medium. I didn’t get a great edge on the shaved part and I think I made the top part a little lopsided. But then she home-dyed the whole thing bright orange and it’s kind of working. I think we are both willing to have me try again and I’m sure I’ll get good at it.
My son has long, past-his-shoulders hair and I usually am the one to trim it for him about twice a year so we’re also good to go there.
It’s me that I’m worried most about. At least I have a very low maintenance cut with no bangs, it can grow out to Crystal Gail levels I guess over the next year or so, but I may dig out some old hats and scarves so I don’t look quite so flower child. It would have to get pretty serious for me to let my husband or one of the kids whack away at it.
My 17 year old dyed her hair pink. The 15 year old is probably going to bleach her hair this week, and then try some colors out. The 12 year old is terrified that if she changes her hair color, it will never grow back (she has hair that never seems to want to grow). I’ll probably have one of my kids cut my hair if it gets too long- but I had 10 inches cut off a month before the Bad Times, so I should be good for a long time. My husband is the one I worry about most- he gets his hair cut every two weeks. He has not had a haircut now for three weeks. He’s looking shaggy, but won’t let me near him with scissors or clippers.
As to your son- he just has his summa whiffle, as we’d say in Massachusetts.
I have never been more aware of how low-maintenance I am! The memes circulating that show how awful women will look after 6 weeks of quarantine – bushy unibrow, 2′ roots, gross nails with acrylic hanging on awkwardly – yeah, I can’t relate to those at all. I’ve had a mani/pedi once in my life (and I will never endure the torture known as a pedicure EVER again; I’m far too ticklish), I’ve never had my eyebrows waxed. I have had my hair colored and highlighted and balayaged – but I’ve also done all of those techniques at home too. Sure, results have been mixed (no doubt!) but I’m perfectly happy using a box dye.
Regarding cuts, I typically get my hair cut every 8-10 weeks. I was due in late March, so that will be my biggest “ugh” regarding my hair. My mom could give me a trim if we suit up in PPE I guess. She typically cuts my daughters’ hair 3-4 times a year. We have clippers, so my husband does our son’s hair, then he does his own, and I clean up the ears and neckline. He does go somewhere for a better cut once every 3 months or so.
It hasn’t been something that has weighed heavily on me – yet!
The first Saturday of this my girls begged for “dyed tips”, and since my usual excuse of being a distraction at school is GONE, we went for it. They have long straight hair so I don’t plan on going near it with scissors, and now one is turquoise and one is pink at the ends.
My son has fast-growing thick hair in a regular boy haircut, that unfortunately, we’ve already messed up. My husband tried clippering to at least “clean it up” and we stopped as it became closer and closer to a terrible mistake. The kid doesn’t care but we might just have to buzz it.
My husband’s hair I will clipper if it gets too annoying for him; it will also look terrible but I’ll be the one looking at it. Perhaps I should watch some YouTube to see if I up my game?
I’m not letting anyone near mine
I have a pixie cut! Currently I am in denial that I will need to cut it, but when I can no longer deny, I’ll cut it myself. That’s what I used to do when I had one in college. I hope I’m not misremembering my skill level, but I was younger, with less clearly-defined standards, so this is a distinct possibility. Hmm.
We have all kinds of hair in our house but probably the most high maintenance is my husband’s hair. Previously he got it cut about every 4 weeks because he has extremely thick hair that he keeps quite short in what I’m going to call a basic businessman cut. His hair is starting to look raggedy but there is no way on earth I’m going to try cutting it. I’m terrible at that and no amount of You Tube watching is going to fix that I’ve never done it before, I have no skills, and we don’t have the right tools. Luckily everyone in my state is in the same position – we’re all going to look rough around the edges but no one sees us so who cares? Youngest’s hair is long with a slight wave. I can blunt cut it fairly easily but it’s not necessary. Oldest has amazing hair that receives compliments from random people all the time – it’s thick, curly, and has natural highlights (frankly it’s ridiculous). He wears it long and hardly ever gets it cut – like 3x a year maybe. He got it cut just before all hell broke loose so he’s fine. My hair is fine and blah so it looks better when shorter but I’ll just wear it up (keeps it from tickling my face and wanting me to touch my face anyway so silver lining). I’ve colored my own hair at home for decades so I’ll just keep doing that. My eyebrows are a whole different story and they’re going to be absolutely unhinged by the time this is all over…
Amazingly, I decided *before* the pandemic to grow my pixie cut. It is going as well as growing a pixie can go. I am missing my stylist for the mullet maintenance, however.
My FIL is a barber so my husband has more or less never had his hair cut by anybody else, but my FIL is also not social distancing properly, so he is not in our quarantine bubble. My husband’s hair is getting looooong, and I am getting concerned, but he is not, so it will be a new season in our marriage, is what. He did shave off his beard (which he’s only been wearing for about 3 years), to better fit a mask should he need to wear one. I miss the look, but with the longer hair, we would have been in hobo territory pretty quick, so it’s probably good overall. Also, I like a smooth face on the “how it feels” front, so that’s a nice change.
My girls are little and both have easy to maintain hair. The oldest has very thick, straight hair that starts to tangle badly as the ends get longer/more damaged, but she got a bob about a month before quarantine, so the growing out won’t be particularly problematic for several more months. The youngest cut a chunk out of her hair in October and has a strip of bangs growing down right in the middle of her forehead. Right about now is when I would have taken her in to cut more bangs to either side for a bit of normalcy, but we are not in normal times, nor are we seeing anyone, so I will probably just have her start using a barrette until she can sweep them to the side more easily.
I have been getting a shag-adjacent cut with long, side-swept bangs for the past six months. It takes various levels of styling to achieve a look I like, depending on how long it is (the shorter layers tend to bulge out a bit over my ears in a way I hate), but it’s the kind of cut that will start to be easier to style as it gets longer, so I’m not even going to worry about cutting it. If I tried, I would eliminate some of the layers, and they’re the only thing that keep my hair looking even remotely decent. Never dyed my hair, and so far, any gray is hidden in the lighter streaks of blond. It is a lucky break that I am not worried about hair for any of us except seeing my husband in a new, “hippie” light.
I cut my own hair anyway… number 3 all over! All y’all worried about your pixies growing out, I recommend giving the buzz a try. It’s life changing!
BF-roommate usually goes to a barber, because he likes different lengths on top/sides, but we’ll probably do it ourselves in a couple weeks. If nothing else he’ll go short all over for summer and he’ll be fine.
I have a cooler-than-I-am lesbian undercut (I am a lesbian; just not a cool one) and my plan for the pandemic is: DESPAIR. We don’t have clippers, nor does my wife know how to use them, and so I will merely become increasingly shaggy and weird and upset about it the longer this goes on. Which is such a small problem in the scheme of things but it is making me feel all kinds of things.
My son is 2 and has long, delicate baby curls all over his head, which our hairdresser usually trims when I bring him in, but now his hair is in his eyes and I will be administering what I assume will be a terrible uneven bangs chop to my beautiful toddler, so my plan for him is also: DESPAIR.
My hair-cutting skills and supplies are much like yours. When I was in university, this was a skill I offered to my fellow students who were as broke as I was. I used to cut my husband’s hair until we had kids and nobody had time for that anymore.
My F44 hair is long enough for a pony tail and I have no bangs. Daughter F10 same. I have never covered my greys. So nothing new for me or her.
My husband M44 and younger son M8 had had a haircut not long before isolation began, so their hair is not too bad. If they ask for a cut, I will give them one.
My husband is unable to grow a beard or mustache properly so he is just going a lot longer between shaves. He just shaved for the first time in 3.5-4 weeks, I think.
My older son M12 desperately needs and wants a cut and I keep putting him off because my workload for my job (I am working from home) has exploded. But the poor kid can barely see or hold his head upright since holding his head askew keeps it out of his eyes.
Nobody has proposed radical cuts. Nor hair colours, which sounds fun, but I have deliberately never dyed my hair because I don’t want to have to grow my roots back out. We’ll see if my workload decreases and I get bored maybe some purple hair could happen. Daughter is reading over my shoulder and now intrigued with the possibility of dyeing the ends of her hair or some streaks.
Noone seems to have mentioned the root colour sprays… I’m in Australia but assume you have something similar over there! I use L’Oreal Paris Magic Retouch. It’s cheap, lasts ages, and is just enough to cover the grey stripe along my part in between hairdresser appointments…
Though obviously if this goes on many many months, it could be a losing battle!