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Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

I don’t even pay $30 for a haircut…

I thought it was supposed to be expensive? Don't you lecture me with your fancy and expensive haircut? Though I didn't watch Dragon Ball that long, so I don't know. Maybe he is belittling him that his haircut is so cheap?

The episode dropped in 1992 (the dub in 2008). I imagine $30 was egregious at that point.

Oh man you’re probably right about intent.

My wife cuts mine and the kids, takes about 5 minutes and no problem with our double crowns. Before then I'd get a haircut whenever I had the time, usually once every 6-9 months. At one point I went for 5 cuts in a row (about 3 years) getting a haircut on a different continent each time.

Lucky. Mine started at $15 + tip and slowly creeped up to $20 until New Years 2020 when every decent barber seemingly unionized and went to $40/cut.

[something something it wasn’t like this under the XYZ administration]

always had a feeling balding and not having the hormones to grow beard had its benefits

I kinda wish I could test going the full bald shaved head thing… before doing it.

You missed your window. March of 2020 was the perfect time to try something like this.

If you go for a very short buzz you'll have a good idea of your head shape, and whether it'll help or hurt if you go hairless.

I've heard that shaving it is actually a lot of work, so investing in some good clippers and buzzing is likely easier.

Been bald for two years roundabout a decade ago, before and after that having long hair. And oh yes, bald is like 10x more work - at least if you go for bowling-ball-grade of baldness. Never shave when you are in a rush and enter a public transport 5 minutes later.

Yeah I imagine it’s a pretty big process. The skin up there is sensitive and prone to cuts I imagine.

Beware a possible unobvious side effect if you have light coloured hair: my hair colour went darker after getting shaved in my 20s. I regret the colour change, because I liked the old colour more, and it never regressed to the lighter colour. I suspect it was caused by UV sunlight on the follicles or something?

Have a go at it here: https://www.happilybald.com/what-would-i-look-like-bald/

Even cheaper if you cut your own hair. I've already recouped the cost of equipment many times over.

Works best when you're not going for some fancy look though and just want something clean and simple.

I give myself a buzzcut every two weeks. 21mm on top, 5mm on the sides and back, slanted cutter on 5 in the trasition zone. If it goes bad I can always do 5mm all over. Hardest is to catch the whispy fuckers around the bald spot.

I also do my kids hair, though the girls keep theirs long so thats just a matter of brushing it real neat and make a straight edge. The boy is too small to take to a hairdresser anyway.

I also do my wife's hair. She is the only one where some thought and planning is required. I'm amazed that she lets me.

The back? How do you do the back of your head? Any tips? Wife? I just got out of jail and I'm broke so I bought some uber cheap clippers and have been cutting my own for months now. This from a guy who wouldn't blink at spending $250 on a hair cut before he got locked up lol

Much easier if you're happy with a cut that simply involves running clippers over your entire head.

I start by use a number 5 guard (can't remember the actual cutting depth measurement) and run it over my entire head for a base level. Then I use progressively shorter guards on the sides and back, usually down to a 2. I will then also use the 2 to clean up around my temples and hairline to get a nice clean look.

As for the back, just gotta get used to finding a comfortable grip with your bent behind your head and use your other hand to touch the guard and your head at the same time as you go to get a feel for where it is and how it's oriented. A hand mirror is useful too as you can use your free hand to hold it behind you and see what you're doing by looking at it in your bathroom mirror.

Unless you're really skilled (I'm not), just go for a very short, simple cut. If you have someone who lives with you who can help you use a trimmer on your hairline on your neck, that's very helpful. Frankly I can't tell the difference between cutting my own hair and when I would pay $30 for the same cut.

If your set is like ours, the numbers stand for eighths of an inch -- so the 5 is 5/8ths, the 2 is a quarter inch, the 8 is 1 inch, etc.

I have a mirror like this one

https://www.wayfair.com/decor-pillows/pdp/rebrilliant-clemen...

(Except mine was way cheaper, Ikea probably) oposite my main bathroom mirror. So facing the swing arm mirror I can see the back of my head and since it's through two mirrors the hand actually moves like you'd expect when you look at it.

I do the same thing but with just a handheld mirror. It's not that bad.

Hold your hair between your fingers like the barber does, cut (with scissors or electric trimmer) on the side away from your scalp. Repeat all over the back of your head until there are no long bits left.

The secret to cutting your own hair is learning to quit while you're behind.

I just run over every spot a couple times from several directions, then feel for long parts to target them individually. It's not efficient, but it gets done eventually.

$250 on a hair cut before he got locked up lol

There are easier ways of getting a cheap hair cut. :) Welcome back!

You had to pay in honeybuns in jail :p

I do my son’s hair as well. Unfortunately for me (or maybe him), it’s pretty curly while mine is completely straight, so I’m pretty clueless on how to handle it. If I do it sheet enough it looks nice and clean. The double, counter rotating cowlicks on him makes it difficult too.

I've got a man bun presently and find you can just cut the bundle where the hair tie goes. Got a stubble trimmer too that does the sticky out bits.

lol no doubt $15 is top for me (and $5 tip). All I get is a head shave, it literally takes them 5 minutes tops.

Mine maybe when inflation-adjusted.

Barber schools always need people to practice on. $8 + tip.

My haircut is like PROD. Not gonna put an intern on it. :P

Until last month, I hadn't gotten a paid haircut since the start of the pandemic. Got a decent pair of clippers with a taper guard, and did "okay" except for the edging on the back, which I learned to just not worry about (though my wife has done it a couple of times, and it comes out decent then)

If you have a baseball cap you can hold the brim (pointed down!) against the back of your neck and trim along it for something half decent :)

Great tip - I'll have to try that

It would be easier if we could reject bad hair pull requests.

You can consider the last two years to be a staging environment, depending on your industry.

Made that mistake once, never again

“Soon after that I started going to therapy. Someone told me that New York University was offering talk therapy on a pay-what-you-can basis. They charged less because the therapists were all in training. It was like barber school: you show up, they randomly assign a young therapist to you, and he or she starts giving your mental health a crude, halting trim. If this does not sound appealing to you, you are wrong. You should always pay full price for a haircut, but if you have a chance to buy discount therapy you should grab it, because the markup on that shit is insane.”

— John Hodgman, Vacationland

It really depends on what you get done. I could probably do my own with a set of sheers and an extra mirror to get the back :) .

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