Talk about a traumatic hair memory: when I was in kindergarten, my friend and I decided to play and like many 6 year old girls, we decided to cut each other's hair. I went first and she gave me a terrible fringe (opens in new tab). Then it was my turn to cut her hair and she backed off before I could cut the parting. Trust issues ensued. But if you think this experience taught me to leave the hair scissors to the professionals, you're wrong (opens in new tab). Over the years I have had multiple friends give me different cuts.

Patient hairstylists, whom I humbly rely on when my mistakes become obvious, have shared their insights on what I did wrong and how to avoid doing it again (their most common advice: leave it to the professionals. Weird.) As an amateur, I can't recommend doing major cuts at home, but I have done it and regretted it, for trims and minor cuts. Learn how to cut your own hair without messing it up, from the tools you need to the techniques you should try.

My lovely friend Sarah used to give me a pixie cut in her bedroom back in the day. On second thought, it actually looked good. My mother, unimpressed with my DIY haircut, brought me to the salon to get it nicely shaped and not look one bit like the "I cut my hair because I was sad" style. The stylist looked at it and said, "This isn't that bad; it's just a little too much. But your friend didn't use scissors."

That's when I realized that scissors are scissors, but different tools make all the difference when cutting hair. Garnier's celebrity stylist, Millie Morales (opens in new tab), told me an important "don't do" for haircuts: "Don't use regular scissors. Scissors for haircuts are very important because they are sharp and easy to control". If you use a blade that is not sharp enough, the ends of the hair will look frayed and unprofessional. Even if the goal is to cut off split ends, using scissors that are not sharp will make dry, brittle hair even worse.

If you're trying to get scissors into your own head, YouTube videos are your new best friend. Video tutorials and step-by-step advice from professionals will help you decide when to put the scissors in. Articles (like this one) and photos may give you some guidance, but without seeing them in action, you don't really know what to expect.

Some advice on choosing videos to watch: if you really plan to cut hair alone, don't watch videos of stylists cutting other people's hair. While you may learn a lot, you won't get much information in terms of understanding the angles. Likewise, try to find videos featuring hair models with the same texture and hair quality as you. If you have straight hair and want to cut off an inch, watching a woman with curly hair do a pixie cut won't be of much use to you.

My favorite haircut videos include: Alexa Chung is funny and her British accent is soothing. My future BFF Alexa is not a hair expert, just does a little trimming herself, so this video gives me realistic expectations of cutting my own hair.

Hair stylists will shampoo your hair before they put the scissors in, but we don't have their expertise, so cutting your hair dry gives you an accurate idea of how your cut will look. Wet hair looks longer, so the haircut might be a little shorter than we were aiming for. Morales recommends that hair be clean and fresh, but some hair types may be better with a dry cut. Curly hair, in particular, looks very different when it is wet than when it is dry and natural.

The second reason a dry cut is a good idea is this: no matter how careful you are, you will inevitably get hair on it. After the cut, jump in the shower, rinse off the itchy hair, and style your new hair as usual. If I feel like I didn't cut enough, I rinse and repeat. It's much better than realizing you just wanted fresh ends and now you have a bob.

Celebrity stylist Jonathan Wright (open in new tab) has advice we all need to heed: don't create new styles at home. For those who are not stylists, he recommends "trimming the ends of your hair down to the very last possible inch.

Morales recommends going slow and avoiding drastic changes. If, after trimming, you feel the need to cut a little more, swing the scissors up again. It's much better to realize you didn't cut enough than to look in the mirror and see an unexpected pixie cut.

Patience is key for the amateur home stylist. While it may seem like fun to brush up your hair and cut off major sections without thinking, sectioning and going slow will yield the most successful results.

Untangle Hair

The first step is to untangle the hair. Morales recommends using a residue-free detangler such as Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Detangle (opens in new tab) ($5).

Section Your Hair

Use a pin tail comb (opens in new tab) (comb with spikes on one end) to separate hair into manageable sections. Wright recommends, "Separate your hair into two sides. Then comb through the hair and barely trim the ends."

Begin cutting (slowly)

If you are simply going to trim off the ends, Morales recommends using the tips of hair scissors for more control and less chance of a fiasco. If you're just going for a light trim, be your best, self-sufficient self.

If you want a dramatic change, it may be in your best interest to wait a little longer until you can go see a stylist. Also, if you want to repair damaged hair but don't want to pick up a pair of scissors ...... and it might be worth investing in a good hair mask (opens in a new tab).

There are many reasons why cutting your own hair is a good skill to have. But let's not forget that salon employees and stylists have really suffered as a result of the closure of COVID-19. Once it is safe to re-enter a local salon, impress the stylists with your new skills.

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