In my entire 24 years of life, I’ve been to a hairdresser twice.
Every other time I got my hair cut and styled, it was by my mom or myself or a friend.
So I know that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to have decent looking hair.
(Of course, it helps that my hair is pretty low maintenance.)

Most people who have been around the frugal/DIY bloggosphere long enough have probably heard about the “Easy, 5 minute, Do-it-yourself layered haircut” in which you just have to “make a high ponytail and chop it off to get a choppy, layered look”.
I’d heard so many rave reviews about that haircut, that when I discovered that my kids had lice and I decided that I needed a haircut, because checking my own hair for lice was very difficult with long hair, I decided to try it out.

So, here’s a video showing how to do it.

If you can’t see the video, basically what you do is you put your hair in a very neat ponytail all the way at the top of your head, on your hairline, in the exact middle of your head. You then use another ponytail to mark off where you want to cut the ponytail, and then chop it off there.
It’s supposed to give you beautiful lustrous locks, because the position that the hair is in makes it naturally be layered.

So I did that.
After hearing that my friend, Bobbie, loved her haircut, I was hoping I would too…

Well, first let me say that I contemplated cutting the ponytail pretty short, but then decided to cut the ponytail off 3-4 inches below the first ponytail holder…
Thank God for that….
If I hadn’t, who knows what it would have been like…

I’ve had lots of layered haircuts in my life, and was expecting a standard layered cut, with layers framing my face.
Instead, I ended up with bangs for the first time since I was 3 years old.
I guess it’s a good thing bangs are in style again.
I guess it’s a good thing my husband thinks its cute.

Because I don’t.

It looks like I have a mullet.
Seriously.
Short bangs that gradually get longer… but the shortest reaches the middle part of my forehead, a little too short than I’d do if I would decide to give myself bangs…
And the longest is still pretty long- longer than shoulder length.
I actually went and trimmed the back so my hair length wouldn’t differ by at least a foot and a half…

So yea, semi mullet. Short, layered, bangy hair on top. Long straight hair in the back…
Definitely not the look I would have chosen!
At least hair grows out!

Another big issue with this haircut is if you actually want to put your hair up, it’s near impossible! I used 3 ponytails, including one at the very top of my head, one towards the middle, and one at the nape of my neck to try to hold my hair away from my face, but it didn’t work! Only 4 clips later (in addition to those 3 ponytaill holders) I am actually able to keep my hair out of my face…

I might have ruined the haircut because I didn’t use the sharpest scissors, so the ponytail didn’t cut straight across, but I am not sure that better scissors would have solved the issue…

A few pluses though- its very easy to take care of…
It gives my hair more body.
It was easy…
But I don’t think I’ll be doing it again.

If you want to cut your hair at home, and you’re tempted to try this style, cut it much longer than you think you’ll want. Because you can always cut hair shorter, but you can’t cut it longer again. I think this haircut can work if you leave at least 8 inches of the ponytail before you cut it off…

But if you just want to cut your hair yourself, I recommend just giving yourself your own layered haircut by parting your hair in the back, bringing your hair to the sides, and cutting it layered. It’s pretty forgiving when you cut layered hair- slight imperfections aren’t obvious. Straight cut hair takes more expertise. Layered is pretty easy.

So, there you have it.

Sorry for the lack of pictures- my phone inadvertently got left at my mom’s house the other day…

Have you heard of the ponytail DIY layered haircut? Did you ever do it for yourself or others? How did it come out? Mullet-like, or did I do something wrong?
Where do you usually cut your hair? At home? Barber/hairdresser? At home? What type of hairstyle do you usually sport?